The battalion's first combat action was in 1943, when it participated in an amphibious landing, Operation Slapstick, at the port of Taranto in Italy.

When the 1st Airborne Division left Italy, the battalion, still with the 2nd Parachute Brigade, remained behind, where it took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino.

Soon after the invasion, the battalion returned to Italy and took part in a second combat parachute jump, Operation Manna in Greece.

Impressed by the success of German airborne operations during the Battle of France, the then British Prime Minister, 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 were extremely high, and from the first group of 3,500 volunteers only 500 men were accepted to go forward to parachute training.

[12][14] Airborne soldiers were expected to fight against superior numbers of the enemy armed with heavy weapons including artillery and tanks, so training was designed to encourage a spirit of self-discipline, self-reliance and aggressiveness.

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

[15][nb 2] The 1st Airborne Division, now under Major General George Frederick "Hoppy" Hopkinson, including the 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion, was sent to Tunisia in 1943, to prepare for operations in Sicily and Italy.

The first British landing, Operation Ladbroke, was carried out by the 1st Airlanding Brigade (consisting of glider infantry) over the night of 9–10 July.

The only casualties incurred during the operation were fifty-eight men from the 6th Parachute Battalion who drowned after their transport ship HMS Abdiel hit a mine in the harbour.

During fighting around the town and airfield of Gioia del Colle the divisional commander, Major-General Hopkinson, was killed and replaced by Brigadier Ernest Down.

[21] In June 1944, a small detachment of sixty men commanded by Captain Fitzroy-Smith took part in Operation Hasty, a parachute landing behind German lines near Trasacco.

While the villages were being secured patrols were sent out to make contact with the American 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team in the area of La Motte.

Adverse weather affected the drop and caused a number of casualties, and prevented the remainder of the brigade landing.

Plans were formed for a surgical team to travel by glider the next day to support the 4th Battalion's medical officer on the airfield.

[24] High winds caused a number of casualties; from the 1,900 men taking part three were killed and ninety-seven wounded.

After the war they returned to England for a short time, before with the complete brigade joined the 6th Airborne Division serving in Palestine.