13/18 H to move to br area at H+4 hrs. Landing strips or 6 Airldg Bde were response of 263 Fd Coy RE (3 Br Div).

Force JOHN was composed of 78 men from A B C D Sqns carrying 6 Airborne Div HQ, 5 Para Bde, 4 Airldg A Tk Bty, and some F00s. D Sqn carrying 4 Airldg A Tk Bty fought as gun numbers but the remainder formed force JOHN in an inf role until released to beaches. (Also role of helping RE).

Area JOHN was 113735.

Took up posn 113735 with 52 men. Later increased with 20 men from 2 Wing.

Held posn until 0735 hrs D+1 when relieved by 6 Cdo. Area IAN 098775 was similar.

Op "TONGA"

Task: To land a special force of 9 Para Bn RE inside the perimeter defs of 4 gun CD Bty 155776. The Bty having been previously bombed by Lancasters with 4000 lb bombs.

Gliders were to be released over coast at 5000 ft and make crash landing in bty.
Fitted with Rebecca, and arrester parachutes.
Eureka to be set up 500x South of Bty and 3" mor flares fire to illuminate bty.

No. 27

Very bad weather. Difficult to locate target owing to darkness and damage done by bombing. No Eureka sigs received and no flares seen.

Made six runs over target in spite of intense flak. At last saw triangle of lights and a flashing red A. Pilot released and plane landed 50x to East of Bty. Arrester parachute caught and prevented plane actually landing in Bty.

Tps fought until Bty was taken. Pilots went with tps to AMFREVILLE, took PWs to Div HQ, and moved to beaches at D+1.

No. 28

Bad weather. Cloud. Circled Bty four times with lights on. Released and landed 200x away. Fought German patrol, linked up with 9 Para Bn and got back to beaches D+1.

No.28A

Landed England. Tow rope broke through bad weather.

"COUP DE MAIN" Force

Task: To land 5 gliders in two fds adjacent to the brs over the R ORNE and CANAL DE CAEN secretly to achieve surprise and capture brs intact.

Execution:

4 Airldg A Tk Bty RA
Landed at apex of triangular fd (X) close to br. Ran into mud and barbed wire.

3 Airldg A Tk Btv RA
Landed behind No. 4 Airldg A Tk Bty RA. Hit wire and mud. Pilots fought with party. Saw Sgt Oxf Bucks KO tk with PIAT

C in C West
Landed correctly in X but hit bank. 1 passenger killed, MO concussed, some injured.

53 Airldg Lt Regt RA
Tug mistook R DIVES for R ORNE and glider landed on br 218761 on R DIVES. Got back to own lines via BASSENVILLES - BOIS DE BAVANT - RANVILLE.

2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regt
Landed 500x North of Br in LZ "Y". Found br taken when arrived.

CSDIC (UK)
Landed near hr in correct LZ "Y" in fd full of cows.

Op "MALLARD" was code word for fly in of Airldg Bde evening 6 Jun.

"D" Sqn
In this Sqn glider crews were trained as gun numbers and joined gun crews.
Nine reports by glider pilots included. They accounted for 4 tks and one armd car.

WD 2 Wing, Glider Pilot Regt 5 Jun 44

2 Wing Glider Pilot Regt
108 crews took part in Op MALLARD

2.