DID 1/6 SCALE WWII BRITISH COMBAT SUSPENDER WITH GEAR, MADE FOR 12″ FIGURES, FROM SERGEANT CHARLIE, AIRBORNE 1st DIVISION ‘RED DEVILS’ BOX, K80136A

Description

DID 1/6 SCALE WWII BRITISH COMBAT SUSPENDERS WITH GEAR FROM SERGEANT CHARLIE, AIRBORNE 1st DIVISION ‘RED DEVILS’ BOX FROM PRODUCT NUMBER K80136A ITEM IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION NOTES1: THIS ITEM CAME OUT OF A NEW BOXED FIGURE, IT HASN’T BEEN HANDLED EXCEPT BY ME WHEN I TOOK IT OUT OF THE BOX. NOTES2: ITEMS INCLUDED: BRITISH COMBAT SUSPENDERS WITH GEAR. NOTES3: THERE ARE NOT ANY ACTION FIGURES IN THIS ITEM. DISCLAIMER: OUR PRODUCTS ARE FOR ADULTS ONLY, NOT CHILDREN. OUR PRODUCTS ARE FOR HISTORIC EDUCATION PURPOSES ONLY, AND ARE NOT INTENDED TO GLORIFY, NOR EXPLOIT THE HORRORS AND ATROCITIES OF WAR. More on the British 1st Airborne ‘Red Devils’ Division:

The 1st Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during WWII. The division was formed in late 1941 during WWII, after the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, demanded an airborne force, and was initially under command of Major-General Frederick A. M. Browning. The division was one of the two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, with the other being the 6th Airborne Division, created in May 1943, using former units of the 1st Airborne Division.

The divisions first 2 missions – Operation Biting, a parachute landing in France, and Operation Freshman, a glider mission in Norway – were both raids. Part of the division was sent to North Africa at the end of 1942, where it fought in the Tunisia Campaign, and when the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943, the division undertook 2 brigade sized landings. The first Operation Ladbroke, carried out by glider infantry of the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the second, Operation Fustian, by the 1st Parachute Brigade, were far from completely successful. The 1st Airborne Division then took part in a mostly diversionary amphibious landing, code named Operation Slapstick, as part of the Allied invasion of Italy, in September 1943.

In December, most of the the 1st Airborne Division (minus the 2nd Parachute Brigade) returned to England, and began training and preparing for the Allied invasion of Normandy. It was not involved in the Normandy Landings in June 1944, being held in reserve. In September 1944 the 1st Airborne took part in Operation Market Garden. The division, with the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade temporarily attached, landing 60 miles (97km) behind German lines, to capture crossings on the River Rhine, and fought in the Battle of Arnhem. After failing to achieve its objectives, the division was surrounded and took very heavy casualties, but held out for 9 days before the survivors were evacuated.

The remnants of the 1st Airborne Division was returned to England soon after. The division never fully recovered from their losses at Arnhem and the 4th Parachute Brigade was disbanded. Just after the end of the war in Europe, the depleted formation took part in Operation Doomsday in Norway in May 1945. They were tasked with the disarmament and repatriation of the German occupation army. The first Airborne Division then returned to England and was disbanded in November 1945.