2nd Bn Royal Sussex, later 10th Bn Parachute Regt

Hi Carole

The Tenth Battalion the Parachute Regiment were formed at Kabrit from a nucleus of men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment on 1/1/1943. However, the first parachute course for the battalion was on 17/12/42 at Kabrit. 2 Royal Sussex Regiment initially provided 8 officers including the Lt Col K.B.I Smythe, 31 senior ranks, 24 junior ranks and 104 other ranks. The Tenth Battalion was initially called 'S' Battalion until being given the designation The Tenth Battalion, The Parachute Regiment on 3/2/43.

If you have any further questions about the history of 10 PARA please ask. I also have some knowledge on 2 Royal Sussex Regiment.

Graham

Graham,
Welcome to the forum and your first post too......I have a question on the 10th about 19th September 1944...do you have a location (grid reference) where the unit's RAP was and therefore the location of the death of the RMO Captain Drayson?

 

Owen,

There was a Guards influence in some parachute battalions....several RSMs i.e Gay and Lord were wooden tops and also some of the officers....des Voeux and Bromley-Martin...but no specific Guards Parachute Battalion till post-war.....
Also more of the battalions in the 6th AB Division were based on infantry regts...realisitically in the 1st the only one was the 10th....

 

airborne medic

Despite having been on a number of Arnhem battlefield tours including one conducted by Captain Booty the Tenths adjutant at Arnhem I do not have knowledge of any specific location for the 10th's RAP on the 19th September. Given the fluid and chaotic nature of the battle in and around Oosterbeek I would be interested to know myself where the RAP might have been located and how, if at all, it would have operated under such difficult circumstances. The Battalion war diary for the period covering the Arnhem battle is blank and thus it offers no help as to who was where, and when, during the Arnhem battle.

To an earlier question, I have a particular interest in the history of the Tenth Battalion as I served with the Battalion for many years. Some years back I researched the Battalion war Diary at the PRO, mainly for personal interest, I have kept the notes made at the time and that is where the information about the formation of the Battalion has come.

 

Captain Jasper Booty was HQ 4th Para Bde HQ

 

airborne medic

Despite having been on a number of Arnhem battlefield tours including one conducted by Captain Booty the Tenths adjutant at Arnhem I do not have knowledge of any specific location for the 10th's RAP on the 19th September. Given the fluid and chaotic nature of the battle in and around Oosterbeek I would be interested to know myself where the RAP might have been located and how, if at all, it would have operated under such difficult circumstances. The Battalion war diary for the period covering the Arnhem battle is blank and thus it offers no help as to who was where, and when, during the Arnhem battle.

To an earlier question, I have a particular interest in the history of the Tenth Battalion as I served with the Battalion for many years. Some years back I researched the Battalion war Diary at the PRO, mainly for personal interest, I have kept the notes made at the time and that is where the information about the formation of the Battalion has come.

When and where you with the 10th DofYs or at a Company??

We have a rough idea where the 10th's RAP was located but on the various times I've been in the woods with a group and a very knowledgeable Dutch friend on the 10th it's always been a likely topic of debate.....perhaps pm me to discuss???

 

Jasper Booty role at Arnhem was 'Staff Captain' in 4th Brigade HQ...basically a job which involves making sure the Brigadier's and Brigade Major's orders are passed across effectively.....

He also in later days organised a parachute jump of vets into the sea off Poole....perhaps called 'The Leaping 70's'....

 

Von Poop,

It was to raise money for charity......they were all in their 70's..hence the name....probably won't happen today due to service constraints and the health and safety police....the Depot trained them, the RAF flew them and the Marines pulled them out of the water in Studland Bay.....

 

I stand corrected on Jasper Booty's role at Arnhem. I should have checked before posting.

airborne medic: without divulging too much public information I served in three different companies of 10 PARA at two different locations from the early 1980's to the mid 1990s. Can I ask why are you particularly interested in the location of the Tenth's RAP on the 19th September?

 

Tenth,
I'll pm you....

 

Tenth and I have been pm'ing on various things including the 10ths RAP at Arnhem but thought the froum might like to share the 'official war establishment' for a parachute battalion - i.e. attached RAMC personnel:
Headquarters - 1 Medical Officer, 1 Sergeant and 1 Nursing Orderly (private)
HQ Company 1 Corporal and 3 NO's
Each Rifle Company 1 Corporal and 3 NO's

This makes a total of 1 Officer, 1 Sergeant, 4 Corporals and 13 NO's....total 19...
Presumably Support Company fended for itself!

 

airborne medic: does this mean that the battalion RAP consisted of three RAMC attached personnel?

Were all the battalion medics RAMC attached rather than medically trained infantrymen as is often the case today?

 

That's what the establishment said...and I'm fairly confident in saying that the battalion medics were all RAMC rather than RMA's as you would recognise.
Can I suggest you look at page 84 of 'Red Berets and Red Crosses' as there is a table which shows that approx 580 RAMC personnel went on OMG and apart from the three field ambulances they were spread amongst 18 different units......

 

If my maths are correct then roughly 1 in 19 men of the 1st Airborne Brigade were medics.

 

Oops, I should have said '1st Airborne Division'.

 

That's right about 5%.....three field ambulances and then those attached to the units......

With regard to the relatively low numbers in a RAP, please remember that in theory the 9 infantry units in 1st AB were all supported by a section from one of the 3 FA's which gave them an extra 1 MO and about 19 men.....

 

I stand corrected on Jasper Booty's role at Arnhem. I should have checked before posting.

airborne medic: without divulging too much public information I served in three different companies of 10 PARA at two different locations from the early 1980's to the mid 1990s. Can I ask why are you particularly interested in the location of the Tenth's RAP on the 19th September?

Tenth, have a look at my Arnhem album Images, there are a number taken from the 10th Para Battle Marker Cerimony, you might recongnise one or two faces.

Phil

 

The middle guys arent any 10th Arnhem vets, and I wonder if any of the others are, most of the orginal members have to official Tenth tie

 

The middle guys arent any 10th Arnhem vets, and I wonder if any of the others are, most of the orginal members have to official Tenth tie

Philip, the guys are from the Croydon Branch of the PRA, my understanding is that the 10th was know as the London Branch, and have there regimental colours in the Hartestein.

Given that 10th served recently he may know some of the faces of the people in the Photograph.

Phil