synchro Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 i understand members of a unit of the 1st Brit AB div had Pegasus arm badges. was this unit known as the 'Pegasus Brigade'? a friend of mine is convinced it is tho i believe he may be getting this mixed up with the pegasus op for the orne bridgehead on 6th june '44. it's just that i've never heard of this unit before and all my searches have come up blank. any help would be appreciated. das 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 All soldiers in both 1st and 6th UK AB Divs wore the Pegasus on their arms. There was no Pegasus Brigade. There was a Pegasus Bridge (actually, there wasn't, but that's what it has become known as, so it amounts to the same thing I guess). Regards JonS 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synchro Posted August 12, 2004 Author Share Posted August 12, 2004 i'm of the same opinion. but iam told, quite forcefully, that there WAS a pegasus brigade, and that the para webpage confirms this. i'm beginning to think my mate is a psycho. ex army, at least, he says he is? he says only the paras themselves called themselves this. in WW2 and renamed again in mid 1980s. i have read Maj.Gen.Urquhart's story of arnhem and nowhere does it mention the arnhem bridge was captured by the pegasus brigade [this was how the whole arguement started, whilst watching 'bridge too far']. i know it was Frost's Battalion that took the north end of the bridge, so it wasn't a brigade but a battalion. thanks das 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingknives Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Parachute Regiment Note that the regimental journal is called Pegasus, but no reference to a Pegasus brigade. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wisbech_lad Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 The Indian Army 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade is/was known as the Pegasus Brigade. They started in 1942, so were under UK control for a while... Brgds There was a Ghurka Parachute Battalion as part of this brigade. The mind boggles at who would win, them or ninjas [ August 12, 2004, 04:19 AM: Message edited by: Wisbech_lad ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_2 Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Ghurka's are still part of the UK 16 Air Assault Brigade. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synchro Posted August 12, 2004 Author Share Posted August 12, 2004 thanks dar 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alech Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Originally posted by Wisbech_lad: There was a Ghurka Parachute Battalion as part of this brigade. The mind boggles at who would win, them or ninjas That's what I call Real Ultimate Power. -Alech 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Now tell me, is it really meant to be spelled 'Gurkha' or 'Ghurka'? A Google search gives 60 thousand vs. 10 thousand hits, but that doesn't mean anything so... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingknives Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Gurkhas After all, I'm not going to argue with them. Look at this! At the bottom of the page 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 <font size=5>LOL!!!!!!</font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Originally posted by Wisbech_lad: There was a Ghurka Parachute Battalion as part of this brigade. The mind boggles at who would win, them or ninjas IIRC, the Gurkhas in this bn were initially extremly reluctant about their new roles as airborne troops. None of them refused or asked for transfer, but they were extremly subdued. This surprised their British officers who had become used to their cheerful, can do attitude. After a few days, and numerous questions along the lines of "how low and how fast will the aircraft bei flying when we jump out?" it became apparent that the Gurkhas didn't realise that they would be issued with parachutes. They had thought that the crazy British were literally going to make them just jump out of the plane. And they were prepared to do it. After a bit of explanation about parachutes etc things were back to normal. A little while latter they jumed and secured the area SW of Rangoon. Regards JonS BTW, I have an issue kukhri that I traded for a cam smock a few years ago :cool: Splendid knife, but the hand grip is a little small for my hands. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denwad Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 that's an interesting tidbit there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingknives Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 If someone said that Gurkhas were able to safely jump out of low flying aircraft, there are people who'd probably believe it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Originally posted by flamingknives: If someone said that Gurkhas were able to safely jump out of low flying aircraft, there are people who'd probably believe it. Oh, they knew it wasn't going to be safe. IIRC, one of the questions/comments was along the lines of "don't you think that most of us will be badly injured?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 In the early days of Soviet airbourne forces, the men were supposed to jump without parachute from slowly low flying planes. Preferably aiming at swamps or piles of snow or such. So why not Gurkhas? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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