Another letter to Pegasus written by Allen Parry, who commanded A Company of the 9th Parachute Battalion and who was delegated by Lt-Col Terence Otway to take the attack in on the Merville Battery on D-Day. To: The Editor, 'Pegasus' Dear Donald Thank you for publishing my letter concerning Pte Corteil and 'Glen' in the last edition of Pegasus. This was in reply to Lt Cdr Goldstraw's letter (page 127 Dec 88). Being one of 'Yesterday's Men' you will, I hope, forgive me for saying that in my letter I referred to the "9th Parachute Battalion" and not "9 PARA". Never in my life have I used this, to me, loathsome abbreviation - neither will I ever use it. 'X, Y or Z' PARA is a post-war abbreviation. It most certainly did not exist during the war or, indeed, for some years after it. We were 'X, Y or Z' Parachute Battalion (or Bn); this was abbreviated in all official documents, such as Operational Orders, to 'X, Y or Z' Para Bn. Normally we referred to ourselves as, for instance, '9th Parachute Battalion'. The Parachute Regiment did not exist, as far as I know, as a permanent Regiment of the British Army Order of Battle until, I believe, 1958. All wartime, and post-war, formed Parachute Battalions (they numbered '1' to '17') were disbanded; this includes the original 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions which, on paper, ceased to exist in the summer of 1948 in Germany. They were immediately 'resurrected' as there new Battalions bearing the same designation. Even then, as far as I can recall (I was at that time serving in HQ 16 Para Bde as GSOII concerned with Staff Duties and, thus, intimately involved with the 'death' and 'resurrection' of those three Battalions) the abbreviation continued to be '1 Para Bn', '2 Para Bn' and '3 Para Bn'. As I served an aggregate of 12 years in AB Forces in various capacities, both in War and Peace, I request, with the greatest respect, that in editing future references to wartime, and immediate post-war, Parachute Battalions you will use war-time abbreviations. My guess is that a large majority of All Ranks who served in those Battalions would much prefer, if given the option, to use their wartime nomenclature. To me, personally, '9 PARA' is absolute anathema! Yours sincerely, Allen Parry, Lt Col. (Editorial Comment: What can I say! except to offer sincere apologies to all wartime and immediate post-war Members of Parachute Battalions)
Some people do tend to get their knickers in a twist over minor issues! Perhaps someone should have pointed out to him that there was also 156th PARA Bn, which he missed out of his list of "all" wartime and post-war para battalions.
Being one of 'Yesterday's Men' you will, I hope, forgive me for saying that in my letter I referred to the "9th Parachute Battalion" and not "9 PARA". Never in my life have I used this, to me, loathsome abbreviation - neither will I ever use it. ... All wartime, and post-war, formed Parachute Battalions (they numbered '1' to '17') were disbanded; this includes the original 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions which, on paper, ceased to exist in the summer of 1948 in Germany. They were immediately 'resurrected' as there [sic - three?] new Battalions bearing the same designation. Even then, as far as I can recall (I was at that time serving in HQ 16 Para Bde as GSOII concerned with Staff Duties and, thus, intimately involved with the 'death' and 'resurrection' of those three Battalions) the abbreviation continued to be '1 Para Bn', '2 Para Bn' and '3 Para Bn'. Colonel Blimp still lives! What a lot of hot air over what everyone understands to mean the same. .... and then he shoots himself in the foot by using that very same "loathsome" abbreviation for the three immediately reformed battalions.... Old soldiers never die, they merely foam at the mouth....
When corresponding I will use the full title of a Battalion ,but in day to day conversations will use the abbreviation Para If a soldiers name comes up in conversation I might say" Oh yes he was 1 Para",Not "Oh yes he was !st Battalion the Parachute Regiment" But I still meet on occasion ex wartime Para's who will pull me up for using the abbreviation.
It would appear that Lt Col Parry was not aware of such abbreviations being used by the Airborne Signals Division in April 1943
From Field Service Pocket Book Part I - Pamphlet No. 3, Abbreviations 1944 (Source: The Vickers Machine Gun)
Interesting stuff. I posted the letter after I was shown it by a forum member when asking if there was any mileage in what Middlebrook wrote in Arnhem 1944. For those unfamiliar with the book below is the quote in full. The modern terms 1st Para or 1 PARA, signifying the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, were not used during the war and are disliked by many wartime men; units were usually referred to simply as the '1st Battalion', '156 Battalion', etc., and that is how they will be described in this book.
I know the parent unit was the Army Air Corps on creation and in WW2, but if you’re a numbered battalion then you must be part of a regiment: For example, if you go up the scale ( hope this makes sense) 1 platoon, A Coy, 7th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, 6 Airborne Div. Army Air Corps. You can clearly see in this picture from 1944 the words “Parachute Regiment” Alex
