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On May 25th the battalion left Bulford and moved to its transit camp at Tilshead, where it was sealed in with elaborate precautions to prevent exit from, or unauthorised entry into, the camp. A briefing room was set up in the camp in which the Intelligence Section, under Lieut Mills, worked day and night preparing models and displaying the photographs, and other exhibits, to the best advantage and in making large scale maps for use at the battalion briefing.

In a parachute operation it is of vital importance for everyone to know the plan as a whole as anyone may well be dropped in the wrong spot and end up by fighting in some company, or even battalion, other than their own. There is, however, a natural tendency for a man to concentrate on his own particular job and only give half his attention to other peoples'. Briefing had to be done extremely thoroughly and a mass of detail had to be absorbed

The entire battalion was assembled in a suitable place, actually the Garrison Cinema, and there the Commanding Officer outlined the Divisional and Brigade plans but was careful not to mention which unit was to do any particular job. Lieut Mills then took the stage and described the topography of the area, information of the known and suspected enemy positions in it, probable attitude of the civilians and a number of other relevant points. The battalion then broke for a smoke and a chat and finally the CO took the stage once more but this time in a silence that was almost overpowering. With the aid of the large scale map he pointed out which of the roles had been allotted to the battalion and then ran through the battalion plan in outline, again being careful not to name any specific company at any time.

During the remaining days at Tilshead the briefing room was allotted to companies and the various commanders briefed their men in their own particular jobs with the comforting knowledge that the general plan was already known and the men could safely be allowed to concentrate on their own job.

The briefing room was only a small hut of limited capacity but by careful allocation and a strict 'No Smoking' rule every soldier had, at least, three separate hours in there with his own officer and access to every photograph and model.

The company commanders had been issued with their green tickets two days before going to Tilshead and had been fully briefed by the CO in the Divisional briefing house.

The battalion plan had to be a double one because no one could say whether, or not, the bridges would be captured, or if they were captured, whether they would be blown or not. In either event though the main landing was to be at 0500 hrs on the night before D day and the battalion Rendezvous (RV) was to be a feature at the West and of the DZ.

If the Coup de Main party had managed to get the bridges intact, Howard was to signal this success by blowing Victory Vs on a whistle and firing it from a bren, and the battalion would double across both of them and go straight into its pre-arranged positions to the West of the canal. This was the ideal plan but it seemed almost too good to hope for.