Airborne Strip & 1st AB Division
 

The Airborne strip was introduced late 1942 and I believe was targeting Air landing Brigades as well as Airborne units that were being formed at the time (3rd, 4th and 5th Para Brigades) mainly for 6th AB Division.
The strip was relatively short lived and was ordered in Sept 1944 to be removed by the end of Dec, although many troops continued to wear it until the end of the war.
I doing a bit of research on 3rd Para Bat, I was struck by the fact that the strips were rarely worn within the 1st Para Brigade (1st to 3rd Bat). Almost all the photos taken in 1944 show no signs of the strip (see a few examples below)

https://paradata.org.uk/media/4326?m...n=Group+photos
https://paradata.org.uk/media/4324?m...n=Group+photos

Could it be an indication that the original nucleus of Airborne units somehow despised these strips as being the sign of newcomers (or worse, non Para units)? I read somewhere the experience of a soldier being transferred to another battalion and having to removed the strips from his uniform because they were not fitting the 'esprit de corps'.
I would be happy to have your opinion.

I thought the strip was for non parachute troops to show their status as airborne troops rather than just as infantry/signals etc.... No disrespect to infantry or signals etc...

worn by all and sundry. cannot beat an armful !

Airborne Strips
 

My understanding was that the Airborne strip was introduced to distinquish operational glider borne personnel i.e. soldiers without para wings from those non operational troops who performed purely administrative roles with the Airborne Divisions. It's use by all types of unit, esp within 6th Airborne, was due to a misunderstanding of its intended use, coupled with the '"if it's available, then let's use it to further distinguish us from the common herd" syndrome....

By definition, Parachute Regiment troops should not have needed it, and it would have been only the Airlanding Brigade infantry and corps units who should have worn it, but the reality was different.

Read the post by Badjez in this thread;

http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ad.php?t=36812

Jack

I agree in part, but I don't understand who the "non operational troops who performed purely administrative roles with the Airborne Divisions" might have been. I cannot believe that there was a non-combatant element who were exempt from going "by air to battle" on the Establishment of an AB Div.
Mike

Mike

As I understand it, these would be the essential admin troops who would not deploy by air - clerks, typists, storemen, laundries etc, who kept the Divisions running whilst in camp. They would follow on as the 'tail' after an airborne deployment (e.g. the seaborne tail following on after 6th Airborne's D-Day assault or the tail who met the remnants of 1st Airborne south of the Rhine after Arnhem). They don't add combat power, so don't need to go in by air or use valuable air assets, but nevertheless were on the strength of the Divisions.

Colin

Other than rear echelon there is plenty of evidence to be found of clerks, storemen, attached trades and specialists etc who deployed with the initial Airborne operations on DDay and Market Garden with many becoming casualties, they are in effect soldiers first and when/if conditions allowed would go on to do their alternative roles in supporting the Bn's, units they were with.
Paul

Good points from both respondents, but I think that in reality men of all arms/trades will have worn AIRBORNE if they could reasonably get away with it - especially those who through no fault of their own were entitled to neither parachute wings nor the glider badge. One book records that post-Arnhem 1 AB Div PW on arrival in PW camps were greeted by scornful long term (Post Dunkirk) prisoners with comments along the lines of "Airborne? More like effing stillborne....." Mike

Thanks guys.
There's plenty of evidence for 6th AB paratroopers wearing the strips but so far I didn't find any member of the 1st AB Para Battalion with 'AIRBORNE' on their sleeves.

Airborne strips and 1st Airborne Division
 

The original all-volunteer Parachute battalions in 1st Abn Div date from the time when their shoulder titles were the simple light blue on maroon "Parachute" with a number underneath version. No doubt they set the tone within the Division and their form of shoulder title was seen as the standard, as worn by veteran's of North Africa and Sicily. The 6th Airborne came later, by which time the dark blue on light blue "Parachute Regiment" shoulder titles had been prescribed by regulations, and that is what they wore. I recall reading 'Arnhem Spearhead' by James Sims when he described his arrival in 2 Para Bn and had his Airborne strips removed by the veterans who said only glider borne troops were entitled to wear them.

I have not looked but it would be useful to look at photos of the Parachute Regiment battalions in the later formed 4th Para Bde of 1st Abn Div to see what their practice was......

I think another factor may have been that 1 AB Div had, by early 1944 fought in North Africa, Sicily and Italy before returning to UK in Nov/Dec 43. This experience will have resulted across the Division in a reassessment of what was important in life. Whilst in Oman I worked with a remarkable man who had fought in Palestine, Iraq and Syria in the Life Guards in 4 Cavalry Brigade. He and others returned to join 2 HCR in the Guards Armoured Division. By the standards of the time the units of Guards Armoured Division were pretty restrained in what they wore on BD. But he told me that he and his friends who had served in the Levant and ME thought the proliferation of cloth insignia on most soldiers' BD was absurd and unnecessary. Another comment below:
Attachment 170557Attachment 170558

Thanks! this is exactly what I had in mind. 'Arnhem Spearhead', is it a good reading?

I have attached 2 group photos of 10th Bat (4th Brigade) June 1944
https://paradata.org.uk/media/6670?m...n=Group+photos
https://paradata.org.uk/media/6670?m...n=Group+photos

No stripes but the new Parachute Reg blue shoulder patches.
As a comparison, members of 3rd Bat were rather using the old Parachute red (not maroon) patches.
I'll do more digging.

I think the decision to discontinue the stripes was motivated by practical considerations. With the stripes one inch below Pegasus patches, very little room was left for the rank chevrons.

Yes, worth reading. At the time of publication in 1978 one of the first published non officer accounts of the battle. Published by the IWM, who obviously thought it worthwhile enough. How many other individual soldiers stories have they published?

Rgds, Thomas.