The 8th Parachute Battalion fought in Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in France on D-Day, the Normandy Campaign, and the break out to the River Seine.

Withdrawn to England in September 1944, the German winter offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge saw the battalion return to the continent.

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

[12][14] 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.

[15][nb 3] On 6 June 1944, the 8th Parachute Battalion landed in Normandy on their own drop zone 'K' between Cuverville and Touffréville 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south of the main force at Ranville.

[18] When the commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson arrived at the battalion rendezvous point (RVP) at 01:20, he found only thirty paratroopers and a small group of engineers with a jeep and trailer who were supposed to demolish the bridges.

After a brief fire-fight the paratroopers captured a number of Germans from the 21st Panzer Division and then made their way to the bridge, which they discovered had been demolished already.

Once the engineers had widened the length of bridge demolished using their explosives, the party retreated back to the battalion at the crossroad.

[20] Having achieved its objective, the battalion then moved north and took up positions near Le Mesnil to widen the airborne bridgehead formed by the division.

The southernmost point in a 4 miles (6.4 km) defensive line formed by the 3rd Parachute Brigade, stretching northwards from the woods, to Les Mesnil and then Le Plein.

Isolated from the rest of the division, they were assisted in their defence by the dense woods, which broke up infantry assaults and made armoured vehicle attacks impossible.

Supported by the Cromwell tanks of the 6th Airborne Division Reconnaissance Regiment the battalion gradually overcome the German strong points and captured the town.

[22] After the liberation of Beuzeville the 6th Airborne Division having reached Honfleur on the River Seine was ordered to hold their positions.

In command on the northern sector Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery ordered the 6th Airborne division, refitting in England to move to Belgium and form a defensive line along the River Meuse.

However 'B' Company and the Machine Gun Platoon landed in the wrong place and came under fire from defensive positions manned by German parachutists.

By the next day two of the Battalions companies had crossed the canal securing a bridgehead on the eastern bank in the face of heavy German artillery barrages.

[26] In October 1945, the 6th Airborne Division was sent to the British Mandate of Palestine on internal security duties, the 3rd Parachute Brigade being based in the Lydda district, which included Tel Aviv.

[27] On 13 November, the 8th Battalion was sent into Tel Aviv, to deal with riots by the Jewish population, following the publication of a white paper on Palestine.