The battalion was raised during the Second World War around volunteers from the Royal Sussex Regiment at Kibrit in the Middle East.

Impressed by the success of German airborne operations, during the Battle of France, the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops.

[2] The standards set for British airborne troops was extremely high, and from the first group of 3,500 volunteers only 500 men were accepted to go forward to parachute training.

[11] By 1944 a headquarters or support company, was added to the battalion, comprising five platoons: motor transport, signals, mortar, machine-gun and anti-tank.

[13][15] Airborne soldiers were expected to fight against superior numbers of the enemy, armed with heavy weapons, including artillery and tanks.

Military exercises included capturing and holding airborne bridgeheads, road or rail bridges and coastal fortifications.

[18] Slapstick was in part a deception operation to divert German forces from the main Allied landings and also an attempt to seize intact the Italian ports of Taranto, Bari and Brindisi.

[23] During their assault on the roadblock, the divisional commander Major-General George F. Hopkinson observing the action, was hit by a burst of machine gun fire and killed.

[24] At the same time, the 156th Parachute Battalion at San Basilio, carried out a successful flank attack on Fallschirmjaeger defending the town.

[20] Playing no further part in operations in Italy, the battalion were withdrawn by sea to the United Kingdom, arriving in November 1943.

[18] The 10th Battalion and the rest of the 4th Parachute Brigade landed to the west of Arnhem on the second day of the battle 18 September 1944.

The battalion started to pull back but found most of their intended new positions already occupied by the Germans and by 15:00 had lost communications with brigade.

Part of the rearguard left behind was commanded by Captain Lionel Queripel who was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions during the withdrawal.

[34] Casualties had continued to mount and by 20 September the German tactics were to bombard the British positions with tank and mortar fire.

[37] A German self propelled gun now drove up and down the battalions position, shooting high explosive shells into any buildings they believed to be defended.

[40] By 23 September the battalions position was subjected to constant mortar and artillery fire and incursions by tanks and infantry were becoming more and more frequent.

[41] On 24 September the decision was made by Lieutenant-General Horrocks commander XXX Corps to withdraw what was left of the division south of the Rhine.

The 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment Memorial at Burrough on the Hill was completed and unveiled in September 2019 by Friends of the Tenth.

[46] A memorial garden has also been created looking over and across to the valley where the battalion practised parachute drops and training exercises in the summer of 1944.

The Battalion also formed part of the 5th Airborne Brigade, with greater training emphasis being placed on CQB, FIBUA, additional night jumps, and support roles in hostage rescue, and evacuation.

[citation needed] Each year, to remember Operation Market Garden, men from 10 Para would parachute from RAF Hercules aircraft onto Ginkel Heath near Arnhem.