Richard Nelson Gale - World War II

World War II

By 1941 Gale had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and given command of a Territorial Army battalion of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment. Then in the summer of 1941 1st Parachute Brigade was formed as part of the expansion of the British airborne forces, and Gale was offered command of the Brigade by General Alan Brooke, who was impressed with the high morale and standards in the battalion; Gale accepted the command. After a period spent organizing the Brigade, choosing officers and devising new training schemes, Gale was then posted to the War Office in 1942 as Deputy Director of Staff Duties, and subsequently promoted to Director of Air. Gale's remit as Director of Air was to attempt to formulate a clear policy about the use of airborne forces between the Army and the Royal Air Force, as well as to solve the aircraft shortages that stymied many attempts to conduct further airborne operations. There was a great deal of rivalry between the two services, with the RAF sure that large-scale bombing would win the conflict, and therefore unwilling to transfer any aircraft to the Army for use by airborne forces. Then, in May 1943 Gale was promoted to the rank of major-general and assumed command of the newly-formed 6th Airborne Division. Gale had just under a year to organize and train the division before it was due to participate in Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy in June 1944. The division was initially understrength due to trained airborne troops being transferred to North Africa and Sicily to replace the losses suffered by 1st Airborne Division during its operations, but it was soon expanded with the arrival of a Canadian Parachute Battalion, as well as the formation of 5th Parachute Brigade and 6th Airlanding Brigade. No British airborne division had ever been deployed into battle entirely through aerial means, and devising plans and formulating tactics for the operation placed a great deal of pressure on Gale. However, Gale's thoroughness paid off when the division successfully landed in Normandy in June 1944, with Gale accompanying the division and landing by glider. For his part in planning and taking part in Operation Tonga, Gale was awarded the DSO on 29 August 1944. On 5 September the division was taken out of the frontlines and returned to England for rest and recuperation; Gale did not remain with the division, instead being appointed to the headquarters of First Allied Airborne Army. In the last months of the conflict, he was given command of I Airborne Corps.