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of great anxiety within the division whether their reputation would make them an automatic choice for employment in the invasion. The 6th Division could not compete against this reputation because they still had to win their spurs.

Eventually the two divisions were pitted against each other in the biggest exercise of airborne troops ever held in the country. The Corps Commander, Lieut Gen FAM Browning, DSO, when speaking to a gathering of officers and senior NCOs at Bulford, said that he expected this clash to be a hairy affair. It most certainly was so. Both sides were on their toes and the stakes were very high; it was fought out in a friendly, but keen, spirit in the peaceful country- side around

The commanding officer addressed the battalion before they moved off for the exercise and pointed out the great importance of the occasion; he called for an extra special effort from everyone - and he got it too. The battalion had the honour of being specially named by Gen Gale, at his conference after the exercise, for its alertness in beating off an early morning attack on the last day, and felt that it was a good position for getting an important job.

During the next few weeks it was important not to undermine this good position by any thoughtless lapse on the part of an individual member of the battalion. Special attention was paid to all matters of discipline and, in order to avoid a large number of minor charges appearing on the conduct sheets, a special period known as "Ginger Week" was instituted

A Ginger Week is a conscious effort by the whole battalion to ginger itself up for a period of seven days. No single infringement of the smallest regulation was allowed to pass unnoticed and offenders were assembled daily on the square to be drilled till they sweated. The whole week was a period of considerable amusement and was appreciated even by those unlucky enough to find themselves gingered.

All this time it was noticeable that something more than mere training was afoot. More and more officers would lock themselves away in their rooms of an evening and work late into the night but refuse to tell others what they were working on. These were the ones who had been admitted to the select bond who held a green ticket giving them free entry to a small house tucked away behind Divisional Headquarters, near Netheravon.

This house, despite its innocent appearance, contained one of the most carefully guarded secrets in the World. In it was not only the complete plan of action for the Airborne troops in the coming invasion but also all the apparatus for demonstrating this plan in the most minute detail.

The apparatus was a wonder in itself and was a revelation to all who saw it of the completeness of the Allied Intelligence. There were as many maps as would be required, all of them accurate up to the minute, aerial photographs of all sizes covering the entire area from every angle and height, volumes. of information reports from which could be gleaned even the names of civil officials of tiny villages and, finally, models of the area which were so accurate that distances and angles could be measured from them with confidence.