#1st commando battalion

[rhk111sblog]

Another Chinese Company is building an Automotive Factory in Thailand; Indonesia is inviting China to invest in their Water Infrastructure; Chinese Troops arrive in Singapore for a Joint Military Training; Another Chinese Company is investing Usd 500 million to build a Factory in Vietnam, and an All-Police Band goes Viral in Malaysia for singing a Chinese Song

[bantarleton]

To commemorate the anniversary of D-Day, a short thread of photos colourised by DBColour (Colourising History on Facebook). Descriptions run from top-to-bottom.

Piper Bill Millin, seen here landing on Sword Beach with his bagpipes with Lord Lovat’s Commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade. IWM B 5103.

Commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade after landing on Queen Red beach, Sword area, 6 June 1944. British Airborne troops smile from the door of their Horsa glider as they prepare to fly out as part of the second drop on Normandy on the night of 6th June 1944. LCI(L) 135 of the 2nd Canadian (262nd RN) Flotilla carrying personnel of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the Highland Light Infantry of Canada en route to France on D-Day, 6 June 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN Nº. 3205043) Film still from the D-Day landings showing commandos aboard a landing craft on their approach to Sword Beach, 6 June 1944.

LCA (Landing Craft Assault) containing soldiers from the Winnipeg Rifles head for the Normandy Juno beach - June 6, 1944.

Commandos approach Sword Beach in a Landing Craft Infantry (LCI). Ahead, the beach is crowded with tanks and vehicles of 27th Armoured Brigade and 79th Armoured Division.

Troops of 3rd Infantry Division on Queen Red beach, Sword area, circa 0845 hrs, 6 June 1944. In the foreground are sappers of 84 Field Company Royal Engineers. Behind them, medical orderlies of 8 Field Ambulance, RAMC, can be seen assisting wounded men.

A Horsa glider near the Caen Canal bridge at Benouville, 8 June 1944. No. 91 (PF800), carried Major John Howard and Lieutenant Den Brotheridge of No.1 Platoon, 'D' Co., 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in the early hours of D-Day. © IWM B 5232

[amarriageoftrueminds]

If The Howlies were real...

I've been thinking about Steve's time during the war, and wondering if anyone has any headcanons about, eg. where he was stationed, how exactly the Howling Commando mission planning went, etc?

In the comics, Steve isn't assigned to the 107 but to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division (aka the ‘Big Red One’.)

They were part of D-Day landings, on Omaha Beach.

In deleted scenes / clips from the Smithsonian, it’s implied that Steve was also a part of D-Day: 

(That’s General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander.)

(These landing craft 👆 were only used at D-Day. Although it’s possible this is propaganda footage of a rehearsal.)

If the Howlies had the same set up as the 26th, then Steve and the guys would’ve been stationed in Swanage, Dorset:

(Members of ‘A’ Company 26th Infantry Regiment US Army, billeted at Craigside in the High Street opposite Purbeck House Hotel, Swanage, around 1943 – 44.)

That’s 114 miles south west of Camp Griffiss in Bushy Park, Teddington, where General Eisenhower had his SHAEF HQ, starting from January 1944

(before that his HQ was at No.20 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, in London -- aka ‘Little America’ or ‘Eisenhower Platz’ -- a couple of miles northwest of Churchill’s War Rooms, which inspired the underground bunker HQ seen in CATFA.)

Thousands of American troops, including the 26th Infantry, started arriving in Dorset in November 1943 -- which is also when Steve arrived in England after rescuing the 107!

While in Dorset, the US troops were largely engaged in rehearsing for Operation Overlord, aka D-Day. 

One such rehearsal was the disastrous Operation Smash, on the 18th April, 1944, which was a live-ammunition practice for beach landings at Normandy. (Disastrous because six men accidentally drowned when their Valentine semi-submersible tank... sank.)

Operation Smash was staged in Studland Bay (that’s 4.5 miles north of Swanage). Present to observe were: Winston Churchill, King George VI, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and Acting Admiral Louis Mountbatten. They did so from ‘Fort Henry,’ a 90 foot long bunker (built and named by Canadian engineers in 1943 -- so it would’ve been there by the time Steve n’ Co got there -- and it’s still there today!) overlooking the bay. 

The US troops moved on from Swanage in late April 1944, and departed England entirely (from nearby places like Weymouth, Poole Quay, Portland Harbour, etc.) on 5th June 1944. D-Day was on the 6th.

In the deleted scene from Avengers, Steve is clearly shown crossing  the Ludendorff Bridge:

...But this is impossible!

Because that bridge (at Remagen) was only captured on the 7th of March 1945:

(9th Armored Division in Remagen, Germany, recorded 9th March, 1945).

...and Steve had already crashed the Valkyrie 6 days prior!

(So unless that bridge was captured earlier, possibly because of Steve n’ Co., that footage can’t be right! 

CATFA does have a habit of putting the US Army in places they had no business being yet at that time of the war -- i.e. showing the US Army right up at the North of Italy, when in reality the Nazis still held it. 

(In fact, Mussolini’s Nazi puppet republic, the Republic of Salò, was nicknamed after a lake in Brescia... which is 200-ish miles further south than the US Army are shown in November ‘43.)

So I guess it’s possible that Steve & Co really were in Remagen, Germany, and crossing the Ludendorff Bridge before March ‘45! 

Or (perhaps more likely) we’re supposed to read it as some generic bridge in Western Europe, captured on D-Day (a la Pegasus bridge). 

.

Where exactly the Hydra factories were (and thus most Howlie missions) is not categorically stated. However, what Steve says / taking rough guesses from the map we see in Krausberg...

...it looks like the Howlies would’ve had missions in: Italy, France, (then) Czechoslovakia, Poland, and... Greece. 

(The script also mentions Belgium and Russia, which are neither shown on the map nor mentioned. However, there is a shot of them creeping through snowy forests, which looks very much like the Ardennes. That might put them in Belgium as part of the Battle of the Bulge -- which in turn gives us a date that could be the ‘difficult winter’ mentioned in the Smithsonian footage.)

If the Howlies were an active team from say 14th November 1943 -- 1st March 1945 (when Steve went down in the Valkyrie) 

That’s 473 days / or 1 year, 3 months, 15 days / or 15 months, 15 days.

If they had 9 missions total during that time...

6 Hydra factories around Europe

+ 1 winter mission to save over a 1000 men (as mentioned in Smithsonian; could be Battle of the Bulge? 🤔)

+ 1 D-Day mission (possibly including amphibious landings &/or bridge captures)

+ 1 Zola-capture mission, probably somewhere in the Alps. 

+ 1 Valkyrie mission makes 10. 

...That would give them 52.5 days (less than two months) to both plan, travel in and out, and execute each mission. That seems like a pretty tight turnaround, especially if each factory was different enough to warrant a new/fresh plan. 

(One difficulty never mentioned because their raids are relegated to a montage: the fact that Hydra factories appear to be staffed by slave labour. Means the Howlies can’t just bust in guns blazing! Or, at least, I don’t think Steve would stand for it. They’d have to free the workers first, and hopefully they’d be workers both physically capable and willing to join in the fight.)

In the film, they are never shown being back in the UK between these missions,  right up until the last Valkyrie mission in 1945, and dialogue seems to suggest there hasn’t been any personal contact between them and the HQ staff in between. 

(It does seem a bit nuts to be shipping them out and back every time, rather than just keeping them on the continent. Also nuts to be planning their most important Valkyrie mission only the day before. But anyway...) 

In order to take part in D-Day, they had to have been back to England at least once, to receive those highly classified orders and to rehearse (can’t be discussing details of D-Day over radio!) 

Also, they couldn’t have been allowed to go haring off attacking Hydra bases any old where, because it might have been inconvenient for D-Day (ie. if the Nazis increased defenses in certain places just because Captain America had been sighted there recently.)

TPTB could have used the Howlies as a diversion, sending them on dummy missions designed to make the Nazis think D-Day is going to happen somewhere else. I think Greece and Italy would be a great way to convince the Nazis that an invasion will be coming from the south, not the north! They could even have used doubles of the Howlies to throw the Nazis off the scent, as part of the Ghost Army (they did this IRL with Bernard Montgomery!) 

Maybe the SSR would be advised to keep the Howlies’ real missions as far away from Normandy as possible, earlier on, and then the reverse right before D-Day? (ie. damage Hydra’s factories that are nearest to Normandy, close to D-Day, so that they can’t supply weapons and don’t have enough time to rebuild).

Other possibilities: 

If they were not stationed in the UK between missions, and weren’t with the US Army of occupation (because it hadn’t invaded that part of Europe yet) Steve & Co. might have been living undercover in Nazi-occupied territory in the run up to missions against local Hydra bases (in, eg. France and Poland. Chance for Frenchy to get his Maquis on!) Very dangerous, very nerve-wracking, very Inglourious Basterds of them. Also potentially very dangerous for the locals, too, since there would surely be reprisals against them after any successful anti-Hydra attack by Howlies. 

IRL There was a concentration camp called Terezin in Czechoslovakia, near-ish where that one Hydra base is shown. (It’s the one that the Nazis famously filmed a propaganda movie in, after cleaning it up and deporting a bunch of people to Auschwitz to seemingly reduce overcrowded living conditions, to fool the visiting Red Cross.) So Steve and the Howlies might have gone off-mission to go and liberate that; could be that was a source of slave labour for the nearby Hydra factory.  (From a character POV, Terezin was known for having a big artistic culture among the inmates, and surely Steve would feel empathy for those used in propaganda, having been made to do that himself.)

Logically speaking, I would’ve expected that last Hydra base to be in Holland or Denmark -- not Greece -- to complete the ring of bases formed around Germany. 🤔 Maybe even more likely to be Denmark, since the Tesseract (which kicked off the whole Hydra supremacy thing) was discovered in Tønsberg, SE Norway.

[scotianostra]

On March 1st 1910, David Niven, actor and author, was born.

Despite his lifelong claim to have been born a Scot, in Kirriemuir, he was actually born in Belgravia, but let’s not take that away from, who wouldn’t rather be Scottish than English? 😉 The actors Donald Crisp and James Robertson Justice were two others who although pinned there colours to Scotland, were actually born in England. Niven though served in the Highland Light Infantry, (despite asking for any regiment but the HLI) in the early 1930s.

Many of you out there will be of Scottish descent either researched, known or simply because you have a Scottish name, one of my friends has a broad English accent but was born and brought up near Inverness and a lot of people up the north of Scotland claim to be “more” Scottish than those in the south, what a load of nonsense that is.

Niven wanted to be Scottish and that’s good enough for me and the same goes for any of you out there. Being Scottish, as well as being born here can be a state of mind in my humble opinion. Niven’s Scottish heritage came from his paternal grandfather, David Graham Niven, he was from St Martin’s, a village in Perthshire, and was killed in WW1 during the Gallipoli campaign.

He resigned his commission in the army in 1933 and made his way to the USA, where, still chasing the Scottish connection, spendingt time as a whisky salesman, then joining a rodeo, before arriving in Hollywood in the mid 1930’s. Early appearances in films include Barbary Coast and Mutiny on the Bounty, but blink and you’ll miss him. His first starring role was in Thank You, Jeeves! as Bertie Wooster

Other films include A Matter of Life and Death, Around the World in 80 Days, The Guns of Navarone and The Pink Panther. My favourite was The Bishops Wife and he played Bonnie Prince Charlie in the film of the same name.

At the outbreak of World War II Niven returned home and rejoined the army, the Government at the time advised actors to stay in Holywood at the time, and he was alone in refusing this advice, he was assigned to a motor training battalion. He wanted something more exciting, however, and transferred into the Commandos, his training was at Inverailort House in the Highlands. On his return to Hollywood afterwards the Americans awarded him with Legion of Merit, the highest military award that can be given to a non US citizen. Niven never talked much about his time during the war, but did see action a few days after D Day and at Battle of the Bulge.

He is also well known as the author of the bestselling autobiography, The Moon’s a Balloon. His career fluctuated in the 50’s but he endured that and came back bigger than ever, he played Bond in the original Casino Royale, but his greatest achievement was winning an Oscar in the film Separate Tables, becoming the only person to win an academy award while hosting the ceremony!

So David Niven maybe not “Scottish” in the true sense of the word, but certainly Proud to be seen as a Scot.

[talesofwar]

Capitaine Jean Graziani, born in Algeria in the same town Albert Camus was born. Joined the US Army at the age of 16 in 1942 after allied forces landed in Algeria before being kicked out because of his age. Joined the French resistance, shipping him to Scotland to be trained as an SAS demolition specialist before being parachuted in occupied France to delay the German retreat of 1944, destroying bridges, railways and sabotaging a hundred phone lines. He will serve in the 3rd BCCP paratrooper regiment in Indochina, leading a commando unit behind enemy lines before being captured by the Viet Minh during an attempt to rescue an encircle column of the 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion. He will stay 4 years in a prisoner camp despite two escapes attempts, his last enabling hime to sail 60km along the Song Gain river on a makeshift raft. He would later be assigned to a counter-insurgency unit in Algeria where he will be killed on January 6, 1959 after being hit with submachine gun fire in the guts during an operation in Kabylie. He had enough time to give his watch to a good friend of him during his helicopter transfer. The journey of this shock troop officer pictures very well the journey of many French officers during the post WW2 colonial wars and their ambiguity. Often pulled from the ranks of the resistance to fight tyranny, they ressorted to the same techniques to maintain France's grasp on its colonial empire. Many of them ended in jail or as outcasts, torn and disabused by their experience of violence mixed with politics and the slow decay of their empire and youth ideals.

[casbooks]

Books of 2023

Book 30 of 2023

Title: To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam Authors: Tom A. Johnson ISBN: 9780451222183 Tags: AC-47 Spooky, B-52 Stratofortress, CH-47 Chinook, CH-54 Tarhe, EOD, LAO Laos, LAO Laotian Civil War (1959-1975), LAO Operation Commando Hunt (1968-1972) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Shining Brass / Prairie Fire / Phu Dong (1965-1975) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), O-1 Bird Dog, OH-13 Sioux, OH-23 Raven, OV-1 Mohawk, Pathfinders, UH-1 Huey, US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, US USA 11th Aviation Group, US USA 11th Aviation Support Group, US USA 12th Cavalry Regiment, US USA 12th Cavalry Regiment - 2/12, US USA 15th Medical Det. - Mercy, US USA 173rd Airborne Brigade - Sky Soldiers, US USA 1st Cavalry Division, US USA 1st Cavalry Division - 11th Pathfinder Co., US USA 20th Aerial Rocket Artillery Bn, US USA 20th Aerial Rocket Artillery Bn - 2/20 - Blue Max, US USA 227th Assault Helicopter Bn, US USA 227th Assault Helicopter Bn - C/227, US USA 228th Assault Helicopter Bn, US USA 229th Assault Helicopter Bn, US USA 229th Assault Helicopter Bn - A/229 - Bandit, US USA 229th Assault Helicopter Bn - A/229 - Python, US USA 229th Assault Helicopter Bn - B/229 - Preachers, US USA 229th Assault Helicopter Bn - D/229 - Smiling Tiger, US USA 229th Assault Helicopter Bn - D/229 - Tom Cat, US USA 478th Aviation Co, US USA 7th Cavalry Regiment, US USA 7th Cavalry Regiment - 1/7 - C Troop, US USA 7th Cavalry Regiment - 2/7, US USA 8th Cavalry Regiment, US USA 8th Cavalry Regiment - 1/8, US USA 8th Cavalry Regiment - 1/8 - B Troop, US USA 8th Cavalry Regiment - 1/8 - C Troop, US USA 8th Cavalry Regiment - 2/8, US USA 8th Engineer Bn, US USA 9th Cavalry Regiment, US USA 9th Cavalry Regiment - 1/9, US USA 9th Cavalry Regiment - 1/9 - C Troop, US USA Fort Polk LA, US USA Fort Rucker AL, US USA Fort Rucker AL - Hanchey Army Air Field, US USA Fort Wolters TX (1963-1973), US USA General Creighton Abrams, US USA General John "Jack" Norton, US USA General John Tolson, US USA LRRP Team (Vietnam War), US USA United States Army, US USA USSF Green Berets, US USA USSF Special Forces, US USMC 3rd MarDiv, US USMC United States Marine Corps, US USN Construction Battalions (Seabees), US USN SEALS, US USN United States Navy, USA 5th SFG, VNM 1968 Tet Offensive (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM A Louie Airstrip, VNM A Shau Valley, VNM An Khe, VNM An Lao Valley, VNM Ba To Airstrip, VNM Battle of Hue City (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Khe Sanh (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Bong Son, VNM Bong Son Pass, VNM Bong Son River, VNM Camp Evans (Vietnam War), VNM Camp Radcliff (Vietnam War), VNM Cay Giep Mountains, VNM Central Highlands, VNM Command and Control North/FOB-4 (Vietnam War), VNM Da Nang, VNM Dak To, VNM Dam Tra-O Lake, VNM Dia Dong, VNM Dong Ha, VNM DRV NVA 22nd Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 325C Division, VNM DRV NVA 325C Division - 7th Bn, VNM DRV NVA 325C Division - 9th Bn, VNM DRV NVA 3rd Division, VNM DRV NVA North Vietnamese Army, VNM DRV VC Viet Cong, VNM Highway 1, VNM Highway 19, VNM Hill 450, VNM Hill 814 (LZ Peanuts) (Vietnam War), VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail (Vietnam War), VNM Hon Kon (Hong Kong Mountain) / (Signal Mountain), VNM Hue, VNM Hue Phu Bai, VNM I Corps (Vietnam War), VNM II Corps (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Bird (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Dog (Vietnam War), VNM LZ El Paso (Vietnam War), VNM LZ English (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Geronimo (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Laramie (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Pat (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Pepper (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Sally (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Sandra (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Sharon (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Signal Hill (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Stud (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Thor (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Tiger (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Tom (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Two Bits (Vietnam War), VNM LZ Vicki (Vietnam War), VNM Marble Mountain, VNM Nui Mot (The Rockpile), VNM Operation Arc Light (1965-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Delaware / Lam Son 216 (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Jeb Stuart (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Pegasus / Lam Son 207 (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Pershing (1967-1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Phan Rang Air Base, VNM Phu Cat Mountains, VNM Quang Tri, VNM Quang Tri Province, VNM Qui Nhon, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM Song Ba, VNM Song Chal Truc, VNM Song Re, VNM Song Re Valley, VNM Tam Quan, VNM US MACV Military Assistance Command Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM US MACVSOG (1964-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM US UH-1 Huey Firefly Missions (Vietnam War), VNM US USAF Phu Cat Air Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC DHCB Dong Ha Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC KSCB Khe Sanh Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC MMAF Marble Mountain Air Facility, VNM US USMC QTCB Quang Tri Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975) Rating: ★★★★ (4 Stars) Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Aviation.US Army.Helos.Slicks, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Laotian Civil War.Aviation.Helos

Description: **The riveting memoir of a Vietnam War helicopter pilot. “When you step into a Huey with Tom Johnson, you’re in for the real thing. No one has previously captured the Vietnam helicopter experience with such gripping authority.”—Robert F. Dorr, author of Chopper   **   From June 1967 to June 1968, Tom Johnson accumulated an astonishing 1,600 flying hours piloting the UH-1 “Iroquois”—better known as the “Huey”—as part of the famous First Air Cavalry Division. His battalion was one of the most decorated units of the Vietnam War, and helped redefine modern warfare. Johnson’s riveting memoir takes us into key battles and rescue missions, including those for Hue and Khe Sanh. In harrowing detail, he tells of being shot down in the battle of A Shau Valley, of surviving enemy attacks during the Tet Offensive, and of a death-defying nighttime river rescue, in which only the bare feet of soldiers hanging off the Huey’s skids kept the helicopter from plunging under water. From dangerous missions to narrow escapes, Johnson’s memoir vividly captures the adrenaline rush and the horror of war, and takes you on a ride you’ll never forget.

[militaryleak]

Royal Thai Army and US Army Special Forces Conclude Exercise Balance Torch 24-3

In a display of enhanced joint capabilities, the Royal Thai Army (RTA) and the United States Army (US Army) successfully concluded Exercise Balance Torch 24-3 on February 15, 2024, following the opening ceremony on January 26, 2024. The culminating event featured a parachute jump from a Lockheed Martin MC-130J Commando II special operations transport aircraft of the United States Air Force (USAF) at Khok Sung Public Place, Taku Subdistrict, Pak Thong Chai District, Wang Nakhon Ratchasima. This parachuting field, strategically located between the Special Warfare Command, Royal Thai Army Hospital, and the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) of the US Army, commonly known as the "Green Berets," witnessed the collaboration between the Thai side, represented by the 2nd Infantry Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division from the 2nd Army Region, and their U.S. counterparts.

In a display of enhanced joint capabilities, the Royal Thai Army (RTA) and the United States Army (US Army) successfully concluded Exercise Balance Torch 24-3 on February 15, 2024, following the opening ceremony on January 26, 2024. The culminating event featured a parachute jump from a Lockheed Martin MC-130J Commando II special operations transport aircraft of the United States Air Force (USAF)…

[wikiuntamed]

Five steps of Wikipedia for Friday, 5th January 2024

Welcome, chào mừng, hoş geldiniz, أهلا بك (ahlan bika) 🤗 Five steps of Wikipedia from "Faisal Al-Essa" to "1st Paratroopers Battalion (Belgium)". 🪜👣

Start page 👣🏁: Faisal Al-Essa "Faisal Al-Essa (Arabic: فيصل العيسى; born January 1, 1982), Saudi Arabian actor...."

Step 1️⃣ 👣: Arabic "Arabic (اَلْعَرَبِيَّة, al-ʿarabiyyah [alʕaraˈbijːah] ; عَرَبِيّ, ʿarabī [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij]) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world. Having emerged in the first millennium BC, it is named after the Arab people; the term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0? by Keteracel at English Wikipedia

Step 2️⃣ 👣: Abbasid Caliphate "The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; Arabic: الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, romanized: al-Khilāfah al-ʿAbbāsiyyah) or Abbasid Empire was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom..."

Image by Ec.Domnowall

Step 3️⃣ 👣: 2003 invasion of Iraq "The United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United..."

Image by Lance Cpl. Brian L. Wickliffe, U.S. Marine Corps

Step 4️⃣ 👣: 10th Special Forces Group (United States) "The 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (10th SFG (A), or 10th Group) is an active duty United States Army Special Forces (SF) Group. 10th Group is designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare (UW), foreign internal defense (FID), direct action (DA),..."

Image by US Army

Step 5️⃣ 👣: 1st Paratroopers Battalion (Belgium) "The 1st Paratroopers Battalion (French: 1er Bataillon Parachutiste, Dutch: 1 Bataljon Parachutisten) or 1 PARA was a military formation of the Belgian Army and part of the Para-Commando Brigade from 1946 to 2011. Its regimental traditions, including its badge and motto, were heavily influenced by..."

Image

[barbucomedie]

Officer's Uniform of the 1st (Airborne) Battalion The Border Regiment from the British Empire dated to 1944 on display at the Cumbria Museum of Military Life in Carlisle, England

After seeing how effective the Nazis airborne operations were during the invasion of France the British War Office was directed to create an airborne force. In 1940 the No. 2 Commando assumed parachute duties and after some success other regiments were also changed including 1st Battalion The Border Regiment which was re trained into the 1st (Airborne) Battalion The Border Regiment. The airborne regiments wore the Helmet Steel Airborne Troop (HSAT) instead fo the more common Brodie helmet used by British and Commonwealth forces. As well as that they used one of the first pieces of camaflaged uniform in the British Army, the Denison Smock. It proved so effective, other special operations units used the uniform as well.

They fought at the Battle of Arnhem, part of the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. There they were instructed to Arnhem road bridge in the Netherlands alongside other airborne battalions, the Glider Pilot Regiment and the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade (Poland). The battle was a failure for the allies as the small Allied force was not relieved in time and overwhelmed by the fascist forces.

Photographs taken by myself 2023

[nando161mando]

❗️Fire in the Military Outpost of Invaders in Dersim 🔥

In the evening hours, a fire of unknown cause broke out in the 1st Commando Battalion of the 51st Commando Brigade of the invading Turkish army in Pertek district.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.31

314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as successor to the late Pope Miltiades. 1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X of Sweden. 1504 – The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples. 1578 – Eighty Years' War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons. 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James. 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital. 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina). 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee. 1848 – John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders. 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University. 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification. 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief of all Confederate armies. 1891 – History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto. 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion. 1901 – Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia. 1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia. 1917 – World War I: Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. 1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships. 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Suinula massacre, which changes the nature of the war in a more hostile direction, takes place in Kangasala. 1919 – The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours. 1928 – Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata. 1942 – World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore. 1943 – World War II: German field marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles. 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands. 1944 – World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy. 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War. 1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed. 1945 – World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula. 1946 – Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia). 1946 – The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par. 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago. 1950 – President Truman orders the development of thermonuclear weapons. 1951 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to the Korean War is adopted. 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom. 1957 – Eight people (five total crew from two aircraft and three on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet. 1958 – Cold War: Space Race: The first successful American satellite detects the Van Allen radiation belt. 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: The chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space. 1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program. 1968 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive. 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia. 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon. 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit. 1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II. 1988 – Doug Williams becomes the first African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and leads the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII. 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400. 2000 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard. 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. 2001 – Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan. 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people. 2018 – Both a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse occur. 2019 – Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. 2020 – The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state. 2022 – Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy.

[scotianostra]

On March 1st 1910, David Niven, actor and author, was born.

Despite his lifelong claim to have been born a Scot, in Kirriemuir, he was actually born in Belgravia, but let’s not take that away from, who wouldn’t rather be Scottish than English?  ;)  The actors Donald Crisp and James Robertson Justice were two others who although pinned there colours to Scotland, were actually born in England.  Niven though served in  the Highland Light Infantry, (despite asking for any regiment but the HLI) in the early 1930s.

 Many of you out there will be of Scottish descent either researched, known or simply because you have a Scottish name, one of my friends has a broad English accent but was born and brought up near Inverness and a lot of people up the north of Scotland claim to be “more” Scottish than those in the south, what a load of nonsense that is.

Niven wanted to be Scottish and that’s good enough for me and the same goes for any of you out there. Being Scottish, as well as being born here can be a state of mind in my humble opinion. Niven’s Scottish heritage came from his paternal grandfather, David Graham Niven, he was from St Martin’s, a village in Perthshire, and was killed in WW1 during the Gallipoli campaign.

He resigned his commission in the army in 1933 and made his way to the USA, where, still chasing the Scottish connection, spendingt time as a whisky salesman, then joining a rodeo, before arriving in Hollywood in the mid 1930’s. Early appearances in films include Barbary Coast and Mutiny on the Bounty, but blink and you’ll miss him. His first starring role was in Thank You, Jeeves! as Bertie Wooster

Other films include A Matter of Life and Death, Around the World in 80 Days, The Guns of Navarone and The Pink Panther. My favourite was The Bishops Wife and he played  Bonnie Prince Charlie in the film of the same name.

At the outbreak of World War II Niven returned home and rejoined the army, the Government at the time advised actors to stay in Holywood at the time, and he was alone in refusing this advice, he was assigned to a motor training battalion. He wanted something more exciting, however, and transferred into the Commandos, his training was at Inverailort House in the Highlands. On his return to Hollywood afterwards the Americans awarded him with Legion of Merit, the highest military award that can be given to a non US citizen. Niven never talked much about his time during the war, but did see action a few days after D Day and at Battle of the Bulge.

He is also well known as the author of the bestselling autobiography, The Moon’s a Balloon. His career fluctuated in the 50’s but he endured that and came back bigger than ever, he played Bond in the original Casino Royale, but his greatest achievement was winning an Oscar in the film Separate Tables, becoming the only person to win an academy award while hosting the ceremony!

So David Niven maybe not “Scottish” in the true sense of the word, but certainly Proud to be seen as a Scot.

[bantarleton]

Reg Curtis, No. 2 Commando, 11th SAS, 1st Parachute Battalion Reg Curtis fought through France and Belgium to Dunkirk as a Grenadier Guardsman before volunteering in 1940 to join No. 2 Commando and become one of Britain’s first paratroopers. He took part in experimental parachute training as a member of the 11th SAS Battalion, later to become the 1st Parachute Battalion, the founding battalion of The Parachute Regiment. In 1942/3 he fought with 1st Para as part of the 1st Parachute Brigade in Tunisia, where they earned the name ‘Red Devils’ from the enemy. He was part of the group who held the Primosole Bridge in Sicily in 1943. He was badly wounded trying to reach the Arnhem Bridge during the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 and after the battle had his right leg amputated. He was one of the few members of the original 1st Parachute Battalion to survive the war and when he passed away in 2016 was the last man standing from the small group who remained close-knit for the rest of their lives and called themselves No. 2 Commando, 11th SAS, 1st Parachute Battalion.

[youngcheesecaketale]

Clonetober #22 Captain Gregor Laughter

CC-5576 (short for CC-5576-39) aka “Gregor” has always been a great soldier and a GREAT CLONE COMMANDO CAPTAIN when he was serving with his Clone Brothers in his “Foxtrot Group” as SGT 1ST CLASS of the 212 ATTACK BATTALION. He always likes to make his Clone Brothers and others laugh BUT there are 2 Clone Brothers that are hard to make them laugh. The Clones are CC-3636 aka “Commander “Wolffe” and CC-1010 aka “Commander Fox”. I’m going to do some role play with jokes in this story.

Gregor: HEY WOLFFE! HEY FOX! I have a joke for you guys.

Fox: Let me guess. You are also trying to see if you can make us laugh. Right?

Gregor: Yes. WAIT! How do you….

Wolffe: We know because Fives, Hardcase, Anakin, and Wrecker have been trying to see who can make us laugh. Cody and Rex are also doing it.

Gregor: WHAT?! Fives told me that it was just me vs him.

Fox: Well. It looks like Hardcase found out and told others. So far none of them have been able to make us laugh. Do you think you can? You have 3 chances.

Gregor: YES SIR!

Fox: Alright. Tell us a joke.

Gregor: OK. What do you call an ant who fights crime?

Wolffe: A vigilANTe.

Gregor: A vigil..WAIT?! How do you know…..

Fox: Fives told us that one. OK. That’s number 1. What else do you have?

Gregor: OK. Here’s a great one! What do you call a pirate droid?

Wolffe: Arr-2 D2.

Gregor: A…..NO! WHO TOLD YOU THAT ONE?

Fox: Hardcase then Wrecker said it to us earlier before Hardcase came to tell us. That’s 2. You have 1 left.

Gregor: OK. Let me think…I GOT ONE. Why did the…..

Wolffe: The chicken crossed the road. To get to the other side.

Gregor: To…..UHHH! How come I can’t make you guys laugh?

Fox: Because we heard that one from Anakin. That was 3. Sorry Brother. Better luck next time.

Just before Gregor was about to leave, Senator Riyo Chuchi storms in the BASE and yells at Fox.

Riyo: YOU ARE IN TROUBLE MISTER!

Fox: WHAT?! (trying to not chuckle) What did I do?

Riyo: You didn’t put any of your night clothes in the hamper. OH. NO. You DIDN’T SEE THAT YOU threw YOUR DIRTY UNDERWEAR on ME when you were trying to throw it into the dirty hamper because you WERE in a HURRY

Wolffe: (hold his breath and trying not to laugh)

Fox: I’m so s…..

Riyo: OH NO. NO! You DIDN’T stop there!! When I was getting ready, YOU LEFT YOUR HOLOPAD IN THE BATHROOM! Cody tried to call you which made me jump and made me MESS UP MY MAKE-UP!

Wolffe and Fox: (still trying to hold in their laughter)

Riyo: Also, YOU FORGOT TO GET GAS FOR THE OTHER VEHICLE! I was SO LATE that I had to call for a TAXI but the guy who gave me a ride to the SENATE BUILDING but I DIDN’T KNOW THAT HE DROVE A CONVERTIBLE. HE ACCIDENTLY HIT A BUTTON THAT MADE THE CAR ROOF GO DOWN. He was trying to get it back up but it was STUCK! I RODE IN THAT VEHICLE IN THE RAIN!

After Riyo had said that, Fox and Wolffe couldn’t hold in their laughter. They just laughed SO HARD that Wolffe ALMOST PEED HIMSELF! Fox was rolling on the flooring and just laughing. Gregor was shocked that RIYO was able to make THEM LAUGH. I forgot to mention that Riyo had a big LONG LIPSTICK SMEARED that went from her lips to HALFWAY toward her RIGHT EYE. Her mascara was also SMEARED due to the rain and she was soaking WET! Looks like she WON THE BET and it also looks like FOX will be sleeping on the couch tonight.

Thank you for reading my story. Please let me know how you liked it and if you want me to tag you in some of my stories. 

@twistedstitcher27 @laz-laz-ace-pilot @etainskirata @criivik @ahsokatano-thetogruta @catawampuscorner @goateeculture @megantron13 @kixthecondomfairy @crazymeee1997

[sfc-paulchambers]

25 OCT 1983 -OPERATION URGENT FURY (GRENADA) After a coup within the People's Revolutionary Government on the small Caribbean island of Grenada -with suspected Cuban involvement, and about 700 Americans attending medical schools there, the United States launched a hasty invasion, Operation URGENT FURY. At 0500 on 25 Oct 1983, soldiers of the 1st and 2d Battalions (Ranger), 75th Infantry began an airborne operation to secure Point Salinas Airport against anti-aircraft fire. Once on the ground, they removed obstacles People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) and Cuban defenders had placed to block the runway. Assisted by Air Force AC-13O gunships, the Rangers secured the airfield by 0735, neutralized enemy anti-aircraft weapons, and captured many Cubans. Almost simultaneously, a company of the 2d Battalion, 8th Marines landed by helicopter on the east coast and secured Pearls Airport against light resistance. In the meantime, lightly armed Navy Sea Air Land (SEAL) commandos secured the British Governor General, Sir Paul, at his residence in St. George's, but were surrounded by RPA troops with armored vehicles. The SEALs resisted with Navy, Marine and Air Force air support until a force of marines with tanks and amphibious vehicles that landed at Grand Mal Bay linked up with them. The Rangers then moved to evacuate American students and neutralize enemy resistance while two brigades of the 82d Airborne Division arrived to join the fight. Operations continued against decreasing resistance over the next several days as Grenadian civilians welcomed the American troops as liberators. When they were withdrawn on 15 December, nearly 7,000 American military personnel, mostly Army, had served on Grenada at some point, of whom about 2,500 had engaged 1,500 PRA soldiers and 700 armed Cuban defenders in combat. Posted @withregram • @armyhistory #Grenada #UrgentFury #Armyhistory #USArmy #thisdayinarmyhistory (at Middle Tennessee Area) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVc5G97AVNw/?utm_medium=tumblr

[greatworldwar2]

• D-Day: Sword Beach

Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France that commenced on June 6th, 1944.

Following the Fall of France in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill vowed to return to continental Europe and liberate the Nazi German-occupied nations. The Western Allies agreed to open a Second Front in northern Europe in 1942 to aid the Soviet Union. However, with resources for an invasion lacking, it was postponed. The decision to postpone the invasion was due to wanting to see the Battle of the Atlantic to its closure, the lack of landing craft, invading Sicily in July 1943, and Italy in September following the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa in May 1943 resulted in the postponement of any assault on northern Europe till 1944.

Having succeeded in opening up an offensive front in southern Europe, gaining valuable experience in amphibious assaults and inland fighting, Allied planners returned to the plans to invade Northern France. Now scheduled for June 5th, 1944, the beaches of Normandy were selected as landing sites, with a zone of operations extending from the Cotentin Peninsula to Caen. Operation Overlord called for the British Second Army to assault between the River Orne and Port en Bessin, capture the German-occupied city of Caen and form a front line from Caumont-l'Éventé to the south-east of Caen, in order to acquire airfields and protect the left flank of the United States First Army while it captured Cherbourg. Overlord would constitute the largest amphibious operation in military history. After delays, due to both logistical difficulties and poor weather, the D-Day of Overlord was moved to June 6th, 1944.

The coastline of Normandy was divided into seventeen sectors, with codenames using a spelling alphabet, from Able, west of Omaha, to Roger on the east flank of Sword. Eight further sectors were added when the invasion was extended to include Utah on the Cotentin Peninsula. The Anglo-Canadian assault landings on D-Day were to be carried out by the British Second Army, under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey. The Second Army's I Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General John Crocker, was assigned to take Sword. 6th Beach Group was deployed to assist the troops and landing craft landing on Sword and to develop the beach maintenance area. Sword stretched about 5 miles (8.0 km) from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in the west to the mouth of the River Orne in the east. It was further sub-divided into four landing sectors; from west to east these sectors were 'Oboe' (from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer to Luc-sur-Mer), 'Peter' (from Luc-sur-Mer to Lion-sur-Mer), 'Queen' (from Lion-sur-Mer to La Brèche d'Hermanville), and finally 'Roger' (from La Brèche d'Hermanville to Ouistreham).

The sector chosen for the assault was the 1.8 miles (2.9 km) wide 'White' and 'Red' beaches of 'Queen' sector, as shallow reefs blocked access to the other sectors. Two infantry battalions supported by DD tanks would lead the assault followed up by the commandos and the rest of the division; the landing was due to start at 07:25 hours; the division would be the last assault division to land. Under the command of Field Marshals Erwin Rommel and Gerd von Rundstedt, the defences of the Atlantic Wall were heavily upgraded; in the first six months of 1944, 1.2 million tons of steel and 17.3 million cubic yards of concrete were laid. The coast of northern France was also studded with four million antitank and anti-personnel mines, and 500,000 beach obstacles. On and behind Sword, twenty strongpoints, including several artillery batteries, were constructed. The coastline was littered with wooden stakes, mines, hedgehogs, and Dragon’s teeth, while along the top of the beach, the Germans had constructed a network of trenches, gun pits, mortar pits, and machine gun nests. Barbed wire surrounded these positions and lined the beach.

The assault on Sword began at about 03:00 with the aerial and naval bombardment of German coastal defences and artillery sites. The landing was to be concentrated on Queen Red and Queen White in front of Hermanville-sur-Mer, other approaches having proven impassable due to shoals. At 07:25, the first units set off for the beach. These were the amphibious DD tanks of the 13th/18th Hussars; they were followed closely by the 8th Infantry Brigade, and by Royal Engineers in AVREs. The engineers set to work clearing mines and obstacles under a steady hail of small arms fire and artillery fire from Périers Ridge just south of Hermanville. Resistance on the beach was initially fairly strong, with wrecked vehicles piling up and casualties mounting; however, with most of their armoured vehicles successfully landed, the British were able to quickly secure the immediate area. By 09:30 the engineers had cleared seven of the eight exits from the beach, allowing the inland advance to begin.

British and French commandos encountered tough resistance in the seaside town of Ouistreham, on Sword's eastern extremity, but were able to clear it of enemy strongpoints. By 13:00, the 1st Special Service Brigade had reached the bridges on the River Orne and the Caen Canal, linking up with paratroops of the 6th Airborne Division, who were holding the bridges, after earlier disabling German gun batteries in a fierce night-time battle earlier. On the western flank of Sword, commandos of the 4th Special Service Brigade moved out to secure Lion-sur-Mer and effect a link up with Canadian forces at Juno Beach, but encountered strong resistance and were pinned down by heavy fire for several hours. Meanwhile, around the main landing area, the men of the 3rd Infantry Division had secured Hermanville-sur-Mer by 10:00, but were finding tougher going as they slowly fought their way up Périers Ridge and moved inland. It was gradually becoming apparent that the British would not be able to make the hook-up with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division necessary to protect its right flank in an immediate assault on Caen. Troops of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry continued down the Hermanville-Caen road, reaching Biéville-Beuville, close to Caen, but were supported by only a few self-propelled guns, their flanks exposed.

The 21st Panzer Division, with its formidable inventory of some 127 Panzer IV tanks, was intended for use as a rapid response force; on the morning of June 6th, however, its commander, Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger, was in Paris, and Rommel was in Germany. The division was unable to finalize orders and preparations for a counterattack until late in the day. At about 17:00, two thrusts were launched, east and west of the River Orne. Taking advantage of the gap between the Sword and Juno sectors, elements of the 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment were able to reach the coast at Lion-sur-Mer by 8:00 p.m.; however, with few flak units and very little support from the Luftwaffe, they too suffered devastating losses to Allied aircraft. When 250 Gliders of the British 6th Airlanding Brigade overflew their positions, on their way to reinforce the Orne bridgehead in Operation Mallard, the Germans, believing they were about to be cut off, retired.

By the end of D-Day, 28,845 men of I Corps had come ashore across Sword. British losses in the Sword area amounted to 683 men. The British and Canadians were able to link up and resume the drive on Caen the following day, but three days into the invasion, the advance was halted. On June 7th, Operation Perch, a pincer attack by the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and XXX Corps was launched to encircle Caen from the east and west flanks. The 21st Panzer Division halted the 51st Division advance and the XXX Corps attack resulted in the Battle of Villers-Bocage and the withdrawal of the leading elements of the 7th Armoured Division.