7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion
The 7th Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, formed by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was raised in November 1942 by the conversion of the 10th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry to parachute duties. It was initially assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, part of 1st Airborne Division, but moved to the 5th Parachute Brigade, alongside the 12th and 13th Parachute battalions, of the 6th Airborne Division soon afterwards.
Cap badge of the Parachute Regiment
Lieutenant Colonel R. G. Pine-Coffin escorting the King and Queen during an inspection of the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion, which Pine-Coffin commanded, 1943.
Parachute training
Men of the 7th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, under Lieutenant S Dunsford, on patrol in the Kramat quarter of Batavia (Jakarta), December 1945.
Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)
The Parachute Regiment, colloquially known as the Paras, is the airborne and infantry regiment of the British Army. The first battalion is part of the Special Forces Support Group under the operational command of the Director Special Forces. The other battalions are the parachute infantry component of the British Army's rapid response formation, 16 Air Assault Brigade. The Paras, along with the Guards, are the only line infantry regiment of the British Army that has not been amalgamated with another unit since the end of the Second World War.
British parachute troops on exercise in Norwich 23 June 1941
Parachute training (1942)
British paratrooper of the 8th Parachute Battalion armed with the Sten gun wearing the airborne forces steel helmet and the Denison Smock (1943).
September 1953 parachute exercise by the 16th Airborne Division