page_title: 5th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)
section_title: Far East
hierarchical_section_title: 5th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom) / Operational history / Far East
caption_attribution_description: English: Men of the 12th Yorkshire Battalion, 5th Parachute Brigade, search suspects rounded up in Batavia during the operation to take control of all civil administration buildings in the city.
context_page_description: The 5th Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces formation of brigade strength, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Created during 1943, the brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, serving alongside the 3rd Parachute Brigade and the 6th Airlanding Brigade.
  The brigade first saw action in the British airborne landings on D-Day Operation Tonga, where it was responsible for capturing bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne in Operation Deadstick. The brigade remained in Normandy until September 1944, by which time it had advanced to the mouth of the River Seine. Its next engagement was in reaction to the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. This was followed by Operation Varsity, the last Allied airborne mission of the war. After this, the brigade advanced across Germany, reaching the Baltic Sea by the end of fighting in the European theatre.
  The brigade was then sent to India as the division's advance party, but the war ended before it could begin operations. Instead the brigade became involved in disarming the Japanese forces in Malaya and Singapore, to restore British sovereignty.
context_section_description: Now that the war in Europe was over, plans were made to form an airborne corps comprising the 6th Airborne Division and 44th Indian Airborne Division for service against Japanese forces in the Far East. The corps would be used in operations to recapture Malaya and Singapore. The division's advance party, based partly on the 5th Parachute Brigade, arrived in India in July 1945. The brigade travelled ahead of the rest of the division as it had been intended to use them for Operation Zipper, an independent mission in Burma. They would have landed in Malaya, between Singapore and the Japanese forces in Burma. Reinforcements would then arrive by sea and attack northwards and southwards, while the brigade carried out another airborne landing on Singapore itself. However, following the Japanese surrender, all these plans changed, and the remainder of the 6th Airborne Division were sent to Palestine. Instead of carrying out an airborne landing, the 5th Parachute Brigade travelled by sea, leaving Bombay on 9 September and arriving at Morib in Malaya on 17 September. Only the 7th and 12th Parachute battalions landed, and they re-embarked the next day to sail for Singapore as part of Operation Tiderace; they arrived on 21 September. The brigade, now part of XV Corps, became the island's garrison. In December the 23rd Indian Infantry Division was sent from Seremban to Java, and the brigade was moved to replace them.
  By 17 December the situation in Java had worsened, and the brigade was moved again, sent as reinforcements to assist the Indian division. They arrived at Batavia three days later. The brigade's mission was to restore law and order and disarm the Japanese military forces in the area. They were told to expect to remain in Java until relieved by units of the Royal Netherlands Army. Under the command of the 23rd Indian Infantry Division, the brigade carried out Operation Pounce, clearing the town and surrounding region of dissidents. In January 1946 they were moved to garrison Semarang.
  At the time Semarang had a population of around 210,000, a mixture of Indonesians, Chinese, Koreans, Dutch and Japanese. During the fighting before the brigade's arrival considerable damage had been caused to the town's infrastructure. There were no public utilities or medical services, food or water, so the brigade's engineers and medics were tasked to rectify the situation. To protect the inhabitants, the brigade's three battalions established a defensive perimeter around the outskirts of the town. Their main concern was Indonesian nationalists whose stated aim was to "slaughter all the Dutch and Chinese". To assist with security, a Japanese battalion was rearmed and given a sector of the defences to man. The 4th Anti-Tank Battery carried out patrols inside the town limits, while the Royal Army Service Corps platoon distributed food supplies. The brigade remained in Semarang until relieved by the Dutch 'T' Brigade Group on 26 April 1946, and then returned to Singapore.
caption: Men of the 12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion searching suspects in Java on New Year's Eve 1945
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