6th Airborne Division advance to the River Seine
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The 6th Airborne Division advance to the River Seine occurred in August 1944, in the later stages of the Battle of Normandy, following the German Army's defeat in the Falaise Pocket, during the Second World War.
Men of the 6th Airlanding Brigade
British commando and parachute troops in Normandy
Men of the 6th Airborne Division crossing the remnants of the final bridge at Pont L'Eveque on 24 August. The devastation caused during the two-day battle, particularly due to the fires, is plain to see.
A captured German half track mounting a 20 mm gun, which was used by the 6th Airborne Division to shoot down an attacking aircraft on 28 August 1944
Richard Gale (British Army officer)
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General Sir Richard Nelson "Windy" Gale, was a senior officer in the British Army who served in both world wars. In the First World War he was awarded the Military Cross in 1918 whilst serving as a junior officer in the Machine Gun Corps. During the Second World War he served with 1st Parachute Brigade and then the 6th Airborne Division during the D-Day landings and Operation Tonga in 1944. After the end of the conflict, Gale remained in the army and eventually, in 1958, succeeded Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Richard Gale (British Army officer)
Brigadier Gale (left) in conversation with Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Down (third from right), CO of the 1st Parachute Battalion, during an inspection of Down's battalion at RAF Ringway, 1941.
Major-General Richard Gale talking to troops of the 5th Parachute Brigade, in front of an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle, June 1944.
Major-General Richard Gale, GOC 6th Airborne Division, addresses his men, 4 June 1944.