History of the Unit

When the war began the Royal Ulster Rifles 1^st Battalion was located in India .  In June of 1940 the Regiment returned to the United Kingdom . In October of 1941 it was decided that the 1^st Battalion would be converted to glider borne troops. In November 1941 they began their training.  The battalion  in the United Kingdom until June 6, 1944.

D-Day to the End:
The 1^st Battalion was tapped to participate in D-Day.  At approximately 2100, on June 6, 1944, the first elements of the Battalion landed in France On the morning of June 7, 1944 D Coy secured the town of Longueval in Normandy .  During the night of June 7, D Coy was subjected to almost continuous mortar fire and German infiltration attempts.  On June 8 the battalion continued to be engaged with the Germans. D Coy sent out a reconnaissance patrol to Colombelle believing the 21^st Panzer Division was located there.  The patrol resulted in a firefight with the Germans.  "D" Company was split into two strong patrols of two platoons each. One, under Major Dyball, was to proceed up the river to Colonbelles (reported clear of enemy by civilian sources) and then to Ste. Honorine.   The other-under Captain K. H. Donelly, was to start an hour later and move directly to Ste. Honorine. Major Dyball's party, accompanied by the Intelligence Officer, and Lieutenant A. A. Milliken as Interpreter, left Longueval at 1000 hours and moved up the tow-path to a point on the outskirts of Colonbelles, where it turned up through a wood and debouched on the main road opposite some cottages on the fringe of the town. Contact with French civilians was made and it was discovered that a party of about twenty Germans had gone up the road towards Longueval. It was also learned that a force about two hundred Germans had left earlier by the Ste. Honorine road and approximately the same number were in Colonbelles itself; with armored cars. Almost immediately it was discovered that the party of twenty were returning along the road, and Major Dyball decided to ambush this party.

The enemy came down the road and when a grenade thrown by Major Dyball exploded in their midst, were mown down by concentrated fire from Brens, Stens and rifles at short range. In a few seconds the entire party was lying in the road.  The rear party of the enemy patrol opened intense fire with an M.G. 34.  There were indications that an armored car was approaching from Colonbelles.  Since the enemy was known to be in some strength, it was decided to withdraw. This operation was carried out successfully but some casualties were suffered by the platoon crossing the road to rejoin the main body and it had to lie up for some time. A subsequent patrol again contacted the civilians and learned that eleven enemy dead and a number of wounded were left on the road as the patrol withdrew.  D Coy’s casualties were two killed and one wounded. It was also learned from civilian sources that the enemy in Colonbelles were perturbed and annoyed as a result of this operation and threatened severe reprisals on the civilians whom they suspected of having given information.

D Coy continued to engage the Germans from June 9 until June 13.  On June 13 D Coy, the rest of 1^st Battion and the 5^th Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders successfully captured the town of Ste. Honorine .  D Coy was then sent that night to assist the 12^th parachute Battalion in the defense of Breville.  D Coy continued to be engaged in fighting with the Germans until the end of August 1944.  At that point the entire Battalion, including D Coy returned to the United Kingdom .
In December of 1944 1^st Battalion returned to France .  December 26, D Coy was assigned to guard the bridge of the river Meuse at Dinant.  On January 9, 1945 D Coy, along with A Coy, supported a group of Sherman tanks were ordered to advance on foot to Nassogne.  D Coy engaged in minor skirmishes with the Germans during this period.

1^st Battalion was slated to participate in Operation Varsity.  The assault on the river Rhine was due to begin on March 24, 1945. An airborne element was due to drop in the morning around 7 miles north-east of Wesel .

D -Coy. was to land on LZ U1 and seize the bridge over the River Ijssel.  D-Coy’s gliders suffered damaged from anti aircraft fire. The gliders carrying "D" Company were due to land as close as possible to the bridge. The first glider, carrying the Company Commander, landed at 10.25 a.m.  It crashed one hundred and fifty yards from the bridge as planned. It was the first to hit the deck, but it was only a matter of seconds before two other gliders crashed quite close. Unfortunately, these last two gliders did not contain any of his party. As Major Dyball's glider crashed, all those in the front were thrown out through the nose. Those in the back did manage to get out through the door; during which the glider was being riddled by machine gun bullets from a range of seventy-five yards.  Luckily only one man was killed and three were wounded. As the man who was killed was the wireless operator, Major Dyball could not get in touch with any of his front platoons.  One good thing about the crash was that one of the wings had made a small trench in the ground.  This trench provided cover for seven of his party. In a matter of seconds they had a Bren in action and took out the enemy Machine Gun, but then another one started up some thirty yards to its left. There were still no signs of the other platoons. Major Dyball decided he would make a dash across the open and get into a small wood and see if he could contact anyone there. The Bren provided covering fire, and he managed to contact two glider pilots, two men from the 52nd, and a few Royal Engineers. They had got into a good firing position covering the house he wished to assault. He then moved the rest of his H.Q. into the wood which they cleared, killing two Germans. They then took up a position from where a continuous trench ran up to the house and bridge. The Germans were still holding the house, although D Coy could see a few retreating. Then a small party of Germans advanced. The Germans approached to within twenty yards, then someone threw a grenade. Unfortunately it did not fall into the trench, though it exploded by its side. At once all hands went up and all of the Germans surrendered. Major Dyball, with two glider pilots and another two, went off down the trench towards the house. As they got to the house 21 Platoon arrived from the other side of the road after having cleared the house and capturing twenty-five prisoners. Then another twenty-five prisoners were rounded up. Major Dyball then went across the bridge and found that 22 Platoon had done their job in clearing the houses. The Platoon Commander had been killed, but the Platoon Sergeant, although wounded in the head, arm, leg and thigh had led the platoon against strong opposition, which had been entrenched. The bridge was in the D Coy’s hands.    A defense was quickly organized, consisting of four groups made up of the two platoons, Company H.Q., some glider pilots, anti-tank gunners without their guns, and a few men from the 52nd.  D Coy achieved their objective despite large causalities and only having two of their four platoons.

On April 18 the battalion was ordered toward Rosche.  Once again, D Coy was leading the way and encountered self propelled guns and tanks.  D Coy engaged the enemy drove them off and captured some of the equipment The remainder of the month was quiet for DCoy.  On April 29 they moved from Allenbostel 24 miles by foot to Thomasburg, and crossed the River Elbe that night at Lauenburg, and then crossed the Elbe-Traue Canal before ending up at Sweedorf. During this crossing a number of German frogmen were spotted in the river aiming to plant some high explosives to disrupt matters. On May 1 the Battalion moved to the town of Gresse, south-east of Hamburg , with no resistance being met on the way, and prepared for the final advance to the River Elbe.  The Battalion was ordered to advance on to Wismar . By nightfall they had reached Barnekow. Here, the Battalion discovered some American POWs and refugees.

It was in this area that the Battalion remained, with Russian troops nearby.