The battalion fought in a number of actions in Italy, Greece and the south of France, where they carried out their only parachute assault of the war, during Operation Dragoon.

At the end of the war, now attached to the 6th Airborne Division, the battalion was posted to Palestine, in an internal security role.

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.

[3] 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.

[14][16] Initially the 5th Battalion wore a Balmoral bonnet instead of the beret, with the cap badge backed by a Hunting Stewart tartan patch.

[17] 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.

The battalion was the last unit of the brigade to land but quickly seized their objective, a small town 12 miles (19 km) to the east of Taranto.

[21][22] The battalion, along with the rest of the 2nd Parachute Brigade, were then paraded for the Pope in Rome, and carried out training in the Naples area in preparation for the invasion of the south of France.

As a result of adverse weather conditions many of the transport aircraft were off course and instead of landing on the selected drop zone (DZ) they were scattered over a wide area of the countryside.

[23] The second group to the north east of Fayence headed towards the DZ, and had reached Tourettes village when they heard firing.

[23] In October 1944, the battalion was part of Operation Manna: a British force sent to secure the Greek capital of Athens following the German withdrawal from the Balkans.

[24] In December 1944, fighting broke out in Athens between the British-backed Greek government and the country's communist-led resistance movement, EAM-ELAS.

The 2nd Parachute Brigade returned to the capital and became involved in intense street fighting against EAM-ELAS in December and early January 1945.

[21] At the end of the war the battalion had returned to England, and the brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, now the imperial strategic reserve.

Unrest in the British mandate of Palestine, required an increase of troops and the division was sent to the area in an internal security role.

On 25 April 1946 the battalion was involved in an incident where eight men guarding a car park in Tel Aviv were murdered by members of the Stern Gang.

[25] In February 1948 the 2nd Parachute Brigade left the 6th Airborne Division and moved to Germany where it became part of the British Army on the Rhine.