Henry Hall

The 1st Airlanding Light Regiment, Royal Artillery, was a specialized airborne unit of the British Army formed in 1943 during World War II to provide artillery support for the 1st Airborne Division. Equipped with lightweight 75mm Pack Howitzers, the regiment was designed to deploy via gliders, enabling rapid insertion into battle zones. It first saw action in Operation Slapstick, part of the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943, landing at Taranto to support ground operations, though it remained in Italy with the British Eighth Army after the division’s withdrawal. In 1944, the regiment participated in Operation Market Garden, glider-landing in the Netherlands to support the Arnhem bridgehead, where it formed a defensive perimeter around Oosterbeek under intense German assault, suffering heavy losses (200 missing, 38 killed of 372 men). Reformed after Arnhem, the regiment was sent to Norway in May 1945 to disarm German forces but saw no further combat, exemplifying the innovative yet costly role of airborne artillery in the war.