British airborne operations in North Africa

British airborne operations in North Africa
Part of the Tunisian campaign of World War II
Officers of the 2nd Parachute Battalion resting near Beja after returning from a drop on Depienne.
Date November 1942 – April 1943 Location Algeria Tunisia Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany  Italy
Commanders and leaders
Edwin Flavell	Unknown
Strength
Brigade	Various
Casualties and losses
1,700[1]	Unknown

The British airborne operations in North Africa were conducted by British paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Edwin Flavell, as part of the Tunisian campaign of World War II, over the period between November 1942 and April 1943.

When planning began for Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942, it was decided to attach the 1st Parachute Brigade, part of the 1st Airborne Division, to the Allied forces taking part, as an American airborne unit, the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was also to be used during the invasion. After a short period of training and being brought up to operational strength, mainly with men from the 2nd Parachute Brigade, also part of the 1st Airborne Division, the brigade was deployed to North Africa in November 1942.

Units from the 1st Para Brigade dropped near Bône on 12 November, then near Souk el-Arba and Béja on 13 November, and at Pont Du Fahs on 29 November, seizing airfields, fighting as infantry after each action and linking up with an Allied armoured force, supporting it until December. Due to the inability of units of the British First Army to link up with the Pont Du Fahs force, the 2nd Parachute Battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel John Frost, was forced to retreat over fifty miles towards the nearest Allied units; it was attacked several times during the retreat, and although it reached Allied lines safely it had taken more than 250 casualties.

For the next four months the 1st Para Brigade was used in a ground role, serving under several formations and advancing with Allied ground forces; it suffered heavy casualties on several occasions but also took large numbers of Axis prisoners. The brigade was transferred out of the front in mid-April 1943 and left to rejoin the rest of the 1st Airborne Division to train for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.