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Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)

The Parachute Regiment, colloquially known as the Paras, is the airborne and elite 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.

The Parachute Regiment was formed on 22 June 1940 during the Second World War and eventually raised 17 battalions. In Europe, these battalions formed part of the 1st Airborne Division, the 6th Airborne Division and the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade Group. Another three battalions served with the British Indian Army in India and Burma. The regiment took part in six major parachute assault operations in North Africa, Italy, Greece, France, the Netherlands and Germany, often landing ahead of all other troops.

At the end of the Second World War, the regiment was reduced to three regular army battalions first assigned to the 16th Parachute Brigade and later the 5th Airborne Brigade. The reserve 16th Airborne Division was formed using the regiment reserve battalions in the Territorial Army. Defence cuts gradually reduced the TA formations to a parachute brigade and then a single reserve battalion. In the same time period, the regular army battalions have taken part in operations in Suez, Cyprus, Borneo, Aden, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Kosovo War, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan, at times being reinforced by men from the reserve battalion.

Formation
Impressed by the success of German airborne operations, during the Battle of France, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops. On 22 June 1940, No. 2 Commando was turned over to parachute duties and on 21 November, re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, with a parachute and glider wing. It was these men who took part in the first British airborne operation, Operation Colossus, on 10 February 1941. In September, the battalion was re-designated the 1st Parachute Battalion and assigned to the 1st Parachute Brigade. To fill out the brigade, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Parachute Battalions were raised by calling for volunteers from all units in the British Army.

The first operation by the Parachute Regiment was Operation Biting in February 1942. The objective was to capture a Würzburg radar on the coast of France. The raid was carried out by 'C' Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, under the command of Major John Frost.

The success of the raid prompted the War Office to expand the existing airborne force, setting up the Airborne Forces Depot and Battle School in Derbyshire in April 1942, and creating the Parachute Regiment as well as converting a number of infantry battalions into airborne battalions in August 1942. The 2nd Parachute Brigade was then formed from the 4th Battalion, transferred from the 1st Para Brigade, and two of the converted infantry battalions, the 5th Battalion from the 7th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and 6th Battalion from the 10th Royal Welch Fusiliers. The Army Air Corps was created as the command formation of the Parachute Regiment and the Glider Pilot Regiment. With two parachute brigades now in the order of battle, the 1st Airborne Division commanded by Major-General Frederick Arthur Montague Browning was formed. By the end of the war, the regiment had raised 17 battalions.

In India, the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade was raised on 27 October 1941, comprising 151 (British), 152 (Indian) and 153 (Gurkha) Parachute Battalions along with the brigade signals, sapper squadron and 80 Parachute Field Ambulance. 151 British Parachute Battalion moved to Egypt and then to England where it was redesignated 156 Parachute battalion and joined the 4th Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division. The British battalion was composed of volunteers from the 27 infantry battalions of the British Army in India. The 2nd/7th Gurkha Battalion was converted en bloc to the airborne role and renamed 154th (Gurkha) Parachute Battalion. Later, when the formation was to expand, 14th and 77th Indian Parachute Brigades from the Chindit operations were converted and comprised one airborne battalion each of British, Indian and Gurkha troops. They were part of the 44th Indian Airborne Division.

Training
Parachute training was a 12-day course carried out at the No. 1 Parachute Training School, RAF Ringway. Recruits initially jumped from a converted barrage balloon and finished with five parachute jumps from an aircraft. Anyone failing to complete a parachute jump was returned to his old unit. At the end of the course, new Paras were presented with their maroon beret and parachute wings and posted to a parachute battalion. Parachute training was not without its dangers; three men were killed in the first 2,000 parachute jumps at Ringway.

Airborne soldiers were expected to fight against superior numbers of the enemy equipped with artillery and tanks. So training was designed to encourage a spirit of self-discipline, self-reliance and aggressiveness. Emphasis was given to physical fitness, marksmanship and fieldcraft. A large part of the training consisted of assault courses and route marching. Military exercises included capturing and holding airborne bridgeheads, road or rail bridges and coastal fortifications. At the end of most exercises, the battalion would march back to their barracks. An ability to cover long distances at speed was expected: airborne platoons were required to cover a distance of 50 mi in 24 hours, and battalions 32 mi.

Equipment

The Parachute Regiment had their own distinctive uniform: the maroon beret at first with the Army Air Corps cap badge and from May 1943 the Parachute Regiment cap badge which is still in use today. Parachute wings were worn on the right shoulder above the airborne forces patch of Bellerophon riding the flying horse Pegasus. On operations, Paras wore the airborne forces pattern steel helmet instead of the normal Brodie helmet. Initially they wore a 'jump jacket' modelled on the German Fallschirmjäger jacket. After 1942, the Denison smock was issued as the first camouflaged uniform for the British Army. In 1943, a green sleeveless jacket was designed to wear over the Denison smock when parachuting. British Paras did not use a reserve parachute, as the War Office considered the £60 cost a waste of money.

The Parachute Regiment were not issued any special weapons. Their small arms were the same as the rest of the army's: the bolt action Lee–Enfield rifle and the Enfield or Webley revolver or the M1911 pistol. For a submachine gun, they used the British Sten in Northwest Europe, which was issued in higher numbers than to a normal infantry battalion. Paratroopers attached to Eighth Army used the Thompson submachine gun in the North African and Mediterranean theatre and during Operation Dragoon. Each section had a Bren light machine gun and the platoon had a 2-inch mortar. The only battalion heavy weapons were eight 3-inch mortars, four Vickers machine guns and after 1943, ten PIAT anti tank weapons.

Post war formations and reductions
The airborne divisions were disbanded after the Second World War, with only the 2nd Parachute Brigade (1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions) remaining. In February 1948, it was renumbered the 16th Parachute Brigade and posted to the British Army on the Rhine. The brigade remained in Germany until October 1949, when it relocated to Aldershot, which became the home of the Parachute Regiment for the next 50 years. The Territorial Army (TA) reformed after the war and raised the 16th Airborne Division with nine parachute battalions (10th to 18th) in three parachute brigades. The division was disbanded in the 1956 defence cuts, leaving the 44th Independent Parachute Brigade as the only reserve parachute formation. The remaining reserve battalions were the 10th (City of London), 12th (Yorkshire), 13th (Lancashire), 15th (Scottish) and 17th (Durham Light Infantry). Further reductions resulted in the amalgamation of the 12th and 13th Battalions soon afterwards. In 1967, the TA battalions were reduced again, the 12th, 13th and 17th being amalgamated to reform the 4th Battalion. The 44th Independent Parachute Brigade was disbanded in 1977, leaving the reserve parachute battalions as independent units. Following the Falklands War, in November 1983 the 5th Airborne Brigade was formed for out-of-area operations. The brigade consisted of two of the parachute battalions and its own parachute trained artillery, engineers, medics, signals and logistics units. The Options for Change restructuring after the Cold War again reduced the number of TA battalions. The 4th and 15th Battalions were amalgamated in 1993 as the 4th Battalion, and the 10th Battalion was disbanded. The 5th Airborne Brigade lasted until the 1999 Strategic Defence Review, which recommended that the 5th Airborne and 24th Airmobile Brigade be amalgamated as the 16th Air Assault Brigade.

North Africa
In November 1942 the British First Army, with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions (1st Parachute Brigade) attached, invaded French Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch). The British airborne operations in North Africa started on 12 November, when the 3rd Battalion carried out the first battalion sized parachute drop, on Bône airfield between Algiers and Tunis. The remainder of the brigade arrived by sea the next day. On 15 November, the 1st Battalion were ordered to parachute and capture a vital road junction at Béja 90 mi west of Tunis. The battalion captured both Béja and Mateur after an attack on a German armoured column and an Italian tank position. The 2nd Battalion, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Frost, carried out a parachute drop on Depienne Airfield 30 mi south of Tunis. The airfield had been abandoned, so they marched 10 mi to capture Oudna Airfield. There, they were supposed to have been relieved by advancing British forces, but they had been held up by unexpected German resistance. Frost contacted First Army, only to be informed that, as they were trapped 50 mi behind the lines, they had been written off. The battalion headed for the British lines, but lost 266 men under constant German attack by the time they reached safety at Medjez el Bab.

In February 1943, the brigade deployed as normal infantry, serving in the front lines for the rest of the Tunisian Campaign. They fought notable actions at Bou Arada and Tamerza against their German counterparts, the Fallschirmjäger, where they earned the nickname "Die Roten Teufel" (the Red Devils).

Sicily
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions (1st Parachute Brigade) next took part in Operation Fustian. This was an airborne assault to seize and hold the Primosole Bridge over the River Simeto, south of Mount Etna on the island of Sicily, and hold until relieved by ground forces. Those that survived the flight landed on the same drop zone (DZ) chosen by the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division, which had landed moments before the British aircraft appeared. The two forces engaged in a bitter fight, and the Paras failed to secure the landing ground for the following glider force of the 1st Airlanding Brigade carrying their artillery and heavy equipment. Those gliders that did land were not unloaded before the bridge was captured at 04:40. Later that day, the Germans counter-attacked with artillery support and, within hours, the Paras were driven off the bridge.

Italy
In September, the 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions (2nd Parachute Brigade) and the 10th, 11th and 156th Battalions (4th Parachute Brigade) took part in Operation Slapstick, a landing from the sea near the port of Taranto in Italy. Their objective was to capture the port and several nearby airfields, and link up with the British Eighth Army, before pressing north to join the U.S. Fifth Army near Foggia. They landed unopposed on 9 September 1943, the only losses being 58 men of the 6th Battalion, lost at sea when their ship struck a mine. Pushing inland, the Paras captured the town of Castellaneta and the town and airfield of Gioia del Colle before the 4th Parachute Brigade was withdrawn from the theatre.

On 14 September 1943, a company of the 11th Battalion carried out a parachute drop on the island of Kos. The Italian garrison surrendered, and the company was quickly reinforced by men from the 1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry and Royal Air Force Regiment, before being withdrawn on 25 September and in December 1943, the 11th Battalion rejoined the division in England. The 2nd Parachute Brigade fought on in Italy under command of several infantry divisions, including the 2nd New Zealand Division and 8th Indian Infantry Division. In June 1944 they carried out Operation Hasty, the only parachute drop on the Italian mainland. This was a 60-man raid ahead of 2nd NZ Division's area intended to disrupt the German demolition plan during the withdrawal from the Gothic Line. 2nd Parachute Brigade took part in Operation Dragoon in southern France, then returned to Italy briefly before being sent to Greece.

Normandy

The next operation for the regiment was in Normandy, France with the 6th Airborne Division. The 8th and 9th Battalions, along with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, from the (3rd Parachute Brigade) and the 7th, 12th and 13th Battalions of the (5th Parachute Brigade) were involved. The mission was Operation Tonga, capturing bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal, and destroying the Merville Gun Battery and several other bridges to prevent the Germans reaching the landing beaches. The 7th Battalion had so many missing that, by 03:00, only around 40 per cent of the battalion had been accounted for. They did, however, manage to reinforce the glider troops of 2nd Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, from the 6th Airlanding Brigade, that had captured the Caen canal and Orne river bridges and held them until relieved by the 3rd Infantry Division. The 12th and 13th Battalions also had about 40 per cent of their men go missing. The 12th had to capture the village of Le Bas de Ranville, whilst the 13th was to take the town of Ranville. Both battalions then helped secure the area around the captured bridges until relieved. Only about 150 men of the 9th Battalion had assembled when they launched their assault on the Merville Gun Battery. Their attack on the battery was successful, but with heavy casualties: 50 dead and 25 wounded. The 8th Battalion had to destroy two bridges near Bures and a third by Troarn. All bridges were destroyed and the battalion numbering around 190 men dug in around Troarn. The paras held the left flank of the invasion area until going onto the offensive on the night of 16/17 August. In nine days, they advanced to the mouth of the River Seine, capturing over 1,000 German prisoners. On 27 August, the division was withdrawn from the front line and embarked for England in September. The division's casualties were 821 killed, 2,709 wounded and 927 missing.

South of France
The 4th, 5th and 6th Parachute Battalions (2nd Independent Parachute Brigade) had been left in Italy when the 1st Airborne Division returned to England. On 15 August 1944, the 1st Airborne Task Force (ATF), including the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade, parachuted into the region between Fréjus and Cannes in the south of France. Their objective was to destroy all enemy positions in the area and hold until the U.S. Seventh Army came ashore. The ATF was preceded at 03:30 by nine pathfinder teams; only three teams, all from the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade, landed on the correct DZs. When the brigade starting landing on 04:50, the drop was dispersed. Most of the 6th Battalion, half of the 4th, and one company of the 5th landed on their DZs. Most of the rest of the Paras were scattered over a 9-mile (14 km) area, but some landed 20 mi away at Cannes. The battalions achieved all their objectives apart from the town of Le Muy on the first day. The brigade remained in France until 26 August and then returned to Italy.

Arnhem

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions (1st Parachute Brigade) and the 10th, 11th and 156th Battalions (4th Parachute Brigade) were next in action in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands with the 1st Airborne Division. The resulting Battle of Arnhem has since become a byword for the fighting spirit of British paratroops and set a standard for the Parachute Regiment. The division's mission was to capture intact the road, rail and pontoon bridges over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem and hold them until relieved, which was expected to occur two or three days later. A shortage of transport aircraft hindered operations, and it would take two days for all three of the division's brigades to arrive. It was decided that the 1st Parachute and the airlanding brigade would land on the first day. The DZs and LZs would be secured by the airlanding brigade, whilst the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute battalions would head into Arnhem and capture the bridges. On the second day, the 4th Parachute Brigade would arrive. These battalions would dig in north and north-west of Arnhem. On day one 17 September 1944, the 1st Parachute Brigade landed and headed towards Arnhem, but only the 2nd Battalion, largely unopposed, made it to the bridges. The railway bridge was blown up as they approached and the pontoon bridge was missing a section. By dusk, most of the 2nd Battalion and some supporting units, including the Brigade Headquarters, numbering about 740 men, had taken the northern end of the Arnhem road bridge. By the second day, the 9th SS Panzer Division arrived in Arnhem, deploying to the west of the city and cutting off access to the bridge.

On day two attempts by the 1st and 3rd Battalions to fight through to the bridge were unsuccessful and, by 10:00, they had been halted. At the bridge, the 2nd Battalion continued to hold out against German armoured and infantry attacks. Several hours later than expected, at 15:00, the 4th Parachute Brigade landed under fire from the Germans. The 11th Battalion was sent towards Arnhem to assist in the attempt to break through to the bridge, linking up with the 1st and 3rd Battalions after dark. The 10th and 156th Battalions moved to take up their planned positions north-west of Arnhem. En route, in the dark, the 156th Battalion came under fire and halted for the night.

In the morning of the third day, the 1st, 3rd, and 11th Battalions and the 2nd Battalion, South Staffords (1st Airlanding Brigade) tried to fight through to the bridge. Crossing open ground, the 1st Battalion was engaged by heavy fire from three sides. Trapped in the open, the 1st Battalion was decimated, and the 3rd had to withdraw. The 11th, which until then had not been heavily involved, were now exposed by the withdrawal and overwhelmed. Unable to break through the German line, the remaining men retreated towards the main force, now at Oosterbeek. In the north, the 10th and 156th Battalions were spotted as they attempted to seize the high ground in the woods north of Oosterbeek. Both battalions came under German fire and were unable to advance any further. Ordered to fall back on Wolfheze and Oosterbeek, they had to fight all the way, with the Germans in close pursuit. At the bridge, the 2nd Battalion still held out, but short of supplies, their position was becoming untenable. The Germans, had started destroying the buildings the battalion occupied with tank, artillery and mortar fire.

By day four, the battered division was too weak to make any attempt to reach the bridge. Of the nine infantry battalions, only the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, still existed as a unit; the others were just remnants and battalions in name only. The division, unable to do anything for the 2nd Battalion at the bridge, dug in, forming a defensive perimeter around Oosterbeek with its base on the river. The remnants of the 10th and 156th battalions at Wolfheze began to fall back, but several elements were surrounded and captured. Some 150 men of 156th Battalion were pinned down just west of the Oosterbeek. These men broke out in the late afternoon, with 90 of them making it into the perimeter. At the bridge, Lieutenant Colonel Frost finally made radio contact with the division and was told that reinforcement was doubtful. Shortly afterwards, Frost was injured by a mortar bomb, and command passed to Major Frederick Gough. Gough arranged a two-hour truce to evacuate his wounded (including Frost), who were taken into captivity. That night, some units managed to hold out for a while and several tried to break out towards Oosterbeek, but by 05:00 on day five, all resistance at the bridge had ceased.

The division managed to hold on for nine days, until it was decided to withdraw back across the Rhine by rafts and boats. At 10:00 on the last day, the Germans launched an assault with infantry and tanks on the south-east portion of the perimeter. The assault penetrated the perimeter and threatened to cut off the division from the river. British counter-attacks, supported by artillery fire from south of the river, stopped the German assault. To prevent the Germans learning about the evacuation, the plan was kept secret until the afternoon, and some men (mainly wounded) remained behind to give covering fire through the night. By 05:00, 2,163 men had been rescued and the evacuation was ended.

The two parachute brigades had contained 3,082 men of the Parachute Regiment. Of these, 2,656 were killed or reported missing and only 426 made it to safety. The only awards of the Victoria Cross to the Parachute Regiment in the war were for the Battle of Arnhem. The two recipients were Captain John Hollington Grayburn of the 2nd Battalion, and Captain Lionel Ernest Queripel of the 10th Battalion; both awards were posthumous.

Ardennes
On 16 December 1944, the German Army launched a surprise offensive against the U.S. First Army through the Ardennes the Battle of the Bulge. The 6th Airborne Division, refitting in England, was flown to Belgium on 22 December to help stop the German attack. By 26 December, the division was in the Dinant and Namur area. On 29 December, they received orders to launch a counter-attack on the leading German units. The 13th Battalion, part of the 5th Parachute Brigade, suffered the heaviest losses. Between 3–5 January, the battalion fought to capture the village of Bure. After they had taken the village, the battalion had to fight off a number of counter-attacks. By the end of the battle, their casualties were 68 dead and 121 wounded or missing.

Rhine crossing
The airborne assault over the Rhine (Operation Varsity), was the largest single airborne operation in the history of airborne warfare and also involved the U.S. 17th Airborne Division. Five battalions of the Parachute Regiment in the 6th Airborne Division took part. The first unit to land was the 3rd Parachute Brigade (8th, 9th and 1st Canadian Battalions). The brigade suffered a number of casualties as it engaged the German forces in the Diersfordter Wald, but by 11:00, the DZ was almost cleared of German forces. The key town of Schnappenberg was captured by the 9th Battalion in conjunction with the 1st Canadian Battalion. Despite taking casualties, the brigade cleared the area of German forces, and by 13:45, the brigade reported it had secured all of its objectives.

The next unit to land was the 5th Parachute Brigade (7th, 12th and 13th Battalions). The poor visibility around the DZ made it difficult for the Paras to rally. The DZ came under heavy fire from German troops stationed nearby and was subjected to shellfire and mortaring which inflicted casualties in the battalion rendezvous areas. However, the 7th Battalion soon cleared the DZ of German troops, many of whom were situated in farms and houses, and the 12th and 13th secured the rest of the brigade's objectives. The brigade was then ordered to move due east and clear an area near Schnappenberg, as well as to engage German forces gathered to the west of the farmhouse where the 6th Airborne Division Headquarters was established. By 15:30, the brigade had secured all of its objectives and linked up with other British airborne units.

By nightfall of 24 March, out of the 7,220 men of the 6th Airborne Division who had taken part in the operation, 1,400 men had been reported killed, wounded or missing.

Far East

In May 1945, it was intended that the 6th Airborne Division should be deployed to the Far East. It was intended they would form an Airborne Corps with the 44th Indian Airborne Division. The first unit to leave was the 5th Parachute Brigade, under the command of Kenneth Darling. The brigade consisted of the 7th, 12th and 13th Battalions, 22nd Independent Parachute Company, and support units. The brigade arrived in India in June 1945 and started jungle training, but Japan surrendered before it was completed. The Japanese surrender changed British plans and it was decided the 6th Airborne Division would become the Imperial Strategic Reserve and stay in Europe. The brigade was used on operations in Malaya, and Singapore restoring order after the Japanese occupation.

In December, the brigade was part of Operation Pounce, a mission to disarm the remaining Japanese forces in Java until they could be relieved by Dutch forces in April 1946. On their arrival in Batavia (Jakarta) they discovered that the Japanese had handed over their weapons to Indonesian nationalists who attacked the British force when they tried to wrest control, knowing that the British intended to return Batavia to the Dutch. The brigade dispersed rioters and patrolled the city until they were moved to Semarang on the coast between Batavia and Surabaya in January 1946. To prevent nationalists entering the town, the three battalions established patrols on the outskirts of the town and seized the docks and the airport. Despite a number of guerrilla attacks, the Indonesians were defeated. In April 1946, the British handed over control to the Dutch and returned to Singapore.

Palestine
As the Imperial reserve, the 6th Airborne Division was sent to Palestine in September 1945 as the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine intensified. The division now consisted of the 2nd Parachute Brigade (4th, 5th and 6th Battalions), 3rd Parachute Brigade (3rd, 8th and 9th Battalions) and 6th Airlanding Brigade. Their mission was to support the police in keeping the peace between the Arab and Jewish populations. In November, the 3rd Parachute Brigade had to intervene during Arab-Jewish riots in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that had persisted for a number of days. The division also conducted a 48-hour search of Tel Aviv called Operation Shark in response to the King David Hotel bombing. While in Palestine, the division was subjected to numerous attacks by Jewish fighters; in one such on 25 April 1947, Lehi killed seven men of the 5th Battalion.

Palestine was a time of change for the Paras. With the reduction in the army after the war, the 1st Airborne Division had been disbanded and the 1st Parachute Brigade (1st, 2nd and 17th Battalions) joined the 6th Division on 1 April 1946 to replace the 6th Airlanding Brigade. In August, the 5th Parachute Brigade (7th, 12th and 13th Battalions) rejoined the division from the Far East, but was soon disbanded and its men reassigned to the other battalions in the division. Further reductions saw the disbandment of the 3rd Parachute Brigade in October 1947, leaving just the 1st and 2nd Brigades in the division. On 18 February 1948, news that the division was to be disbanded was received, leaving only one regular army parachute brigade, the 2nd, soon renumbered the 16th Parachute Brigade.

1950s Cyprus and Suez
For most of the next 20 years, the Parachute Regiment was involved in numerous peacekeeping and small scale operations associated with the withdrawal from empire. In 1951, the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, seized the oilfields in Abadan. The 16th Parachute Brigade was sent out to Cyprus in June to be ready to intervene should it be required. They were soon sent to reinforce the British troops in the Suez Canal Zone in response to Egyptian nationalists threatening the bases there. The brigade returned to Cyprus between January and July 1956 because of attacks on British forces by EOKA insurgents.

On 5 November 1956, the 3rd Battalion conducted what would become the last British battalion-sized parachute assault. The objective was the El Gamil airfield in Port Said during the Suez Crisis. The battalion secured the airfield and dug in to wait the arrival of the rest of the assault forces by sea. The 1st and 2nd Battalions arrived at Port Said by Landing Ship Tank, the 2nd Battalion were delayed in starting to advance towards Ismailia. The battalion was supported by the tanks of the 6th Royal Tank Regiment, but due to the delay, they were still short of their objective when a ceasefire was announced. On 14 November, the brigade returned to Cyprus.

1960s Kuwait, Aden and Malaysia
In a statement on 25 June 1961, President Abd al-Karim Qasim of Iraq claimed that Kuwait was part of his country and announced his intention to annexe it. On the strength of a formal defence commitment between the two countries, Kuwait appealed for help from Britain. A force was assembled (Operation Vantage) which included armour, artillery, commando, and infantry battalions, one being the 2nd Battalion, based in Cyprus. The battalion was not involved in any combat and remained just long enough for the Arab League to take over from them. All British forces had withdrawn by 19 October.

In 1960, Britain decided to withdraw from Aden, which was then part of the Federation of South Arabia, with independence scheduled for 1968. This decision started a campaign by the local tribes against the regular army. Supported by Egypt, communist infiltration reached a head in 1963 when Britain was forced to take action in support of the local government in what was called the Aden Emergency. The British force, known as Radforce, comprised a mixture of troops including a company from the 3rd Battalion. The rest of the 3rd Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Farrar-Hockley, was also sent to Aden to conduct operations in the Radfan mountains, capturing the Bkri ridge in May 1964. Farrar-Hockley was awarded the bar for his Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for this operation. The rest of the battalion were awarded two Military Crosses (MC) and one Military Medal (MM), and a number were mentioned in dispatches. By 1964, the terrorist attacks had spread to Aden, south of Radfan; to protect British servicemen and their dependents, the 1st Battalion was deployed on security duties throughout the areas of Crater and Khormasker. In January 1967, the 1st Battalion returned to Aden on an emergency tour to cover the final withdrawal of British troops from the region. For a series of actions in June in the Sheik Othman and Al Mansura districts of Aden, the battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael J. H. Walsh, was awarded the DSO. The rest of the battalion were awarded three MCs and one MM, and a number were mentioned in dispatches.

In 1965, the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, was sent to Singapore for jungle training in response to the threat of invasion from Indonesian President Sukarno. By March, the battalion was established along the Malaysia–Indonesia border in Borneo and conducting 10-day patrols in the jungle. On 27 April, 'B' Company's base on the hilltop village of Plaman Mapu, consisting of company headquarters, a mortar section, and one weak platoon of young soldiers, was attacked by 150 Indonesians supported by rocket launchers, mortars, rifle grenades, and machine guns from the surrounding hills. The accurate fire caused several casualties amongst the defenders. The Company Sergeant Major (CSM), John Williams, was in command of the defence. He kept moving around the base, attending to the wounded, reorganising the defenders to counter each attack, and firing illumination rounds from a 2-inch mortar. The Indonesians penetrated the wire, taking out a mortar position. CSM Williams crossed the open ground under fire to man a machine gun, which he used to engage the Indonesians inside the perimeter. Covered by the machine gun, the Paras counter-attacked and forced the Indonesians back. The Indonesians had located CSM Williams's machine gun, and in a second attack, it was subjected to heavy fire at point-blank range. Wounded and blinded in one eye, CSM Williams returned fire, defeating the second attack. He then led a fighting patrol to attack two groups of Indonesians seen approaching the base.

For the successful defence of the base, CSM Williams was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM); in the same action, Corporal Malcolm Baughan was awarded an MM.

1970s Northern Ireland
The British Army during Operation Banner spent 38 years in Northern Ireland, during which the 2nd Battalion spent more time there than any other infantry battalion. Between 1971 and 1996, 51 men of the Parachute Regiment were killed while serving in Northern Ireland.

The first was Sergeant Michael Willetts, 3rd Battalion. On 24 May 1971, he was killed during a bombing incident at the Springfield Road Police Station in Belfast. A hand-carried bomb in a suitcase was left at the front of the station. Sergeant Willetts held open a door allowing members of the public and police officers to escape and then stood in the doorway, shielding those taking cover. For his actions, he was awarded the George Cross.

Ballymurphy massacre
Following Operation Demetrius (the mass arrest and internment of Irish nationalists), soldiers of the Parachute Regiment were involved in an action which came to be called the Ballymurphy massacre, in which 11 innocent civilians were shot dead and dozens wounded between 9 and 11 August 1971. At the Ballymurphy inquest in 2019, Sir Geoffrey Howlett, who in 1971 was a lieutenant colonel and commander of the Parachute Regiment's Second Battalion, gave evidence in which he acknowledged that "most, if not all" of those killed were not members of the IRA, and that a regimental note from 1971 indicating that the incident inflicted "severe casualties" on the IRA may have been a mistake. Howlett added that he had "enormous sympathy" toward the families of those killed.

Bloody Sunday
In what has become known as "Bloody Sunday", the 1st Battalion were sent to Derry on 30 January 1972 to help to police a civil rights march demanding an end to internment. The Paras shot dead 13 unarmed civilians and wounded another 17 (one of whom later died of his wounds).

The first inquiry into the Bloody Sunday events, produced by Baron Widgery in April 1972, largely cleared the Paras of blame. It denoted some of their shooting as "bordering on the reckless" but mostly accepted their claims that they shot at gunmen and bomb-throwers. As a result of the subsequent and more detailed Saville report, even observers who are natural supporters of the British Army are assessed as regarding the Widgery findings as "discredited."

A more detailed inquiry—chaired by Lord Saville (Bloody Sunday Inquiry) and lasting over a decade—concluded that the Paras had fired on unarmed civilians, most of whom were shot while fleeing or trying to help the wounded. It found that none of the march participants were posing a serious threat, that no bombs were thrown, and that soldiers "knowingly put forward false accounts" to justify their firing.

The soldiers denied shooting the victims named or anyone else by mistake. The inquiry found that soldiers had been fired at by members of the 'Official IRA' but concluded that the Paras had fired the first shots and that none of the soldiers had fired in response to attacks or to threatened attacks by gunmen or bomb-throwers, although two soldiers suffered slight injuries from acid or a similar, corrosive substance. This inquiry identified failures of leadership and command by the commanding officer, and failures by individual soldiers involved.

Representatives of the soldiers involved criticised the report as "one-sided". Prime Minister David Cameron, addressing the House of Commons in 2010 after the publication of the report, stated that the Paras' action overall was "both unjustified and unjustifiable, it was wrong".

The 1972 Aldershot bombing was carried out by the 'Official IRA' as a revenge attack for Bloody Sunday. On 22 February 1972, a car bomb was left outside the officers' mess of the 16th Parachute Brigade in Aldershot. When the bomb exploded, a Roman Catholic priest serving in the army and five female kitchen staff were killed while 19 others were injured.

Shankill Road shootings
The 1st Battalion was involved in another controversial shooting incident on 7 September 1972. The Paras raided houses and the headquarters of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in the Protestant Shankill area of Belfast. Two Protestant civilians were shot dead and others wounded by the Paras, who claimed they were returning fire at loyalist gunmen. This sparked angry demonstrations by local Protestants, and a unit of the Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) refused to carry out duties until 1 Para was withdrawn from the Shankill.

Warrenpoint ambush
On 27 August 1979, 16 men of the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, and two from the Queen's Own Highlanders (QOH) were killed in the Warrenpoint ambush. The first six Paras were killed while travelling in a small convoy of three vehicles. As it passed a roadside bomb hidden in a lorry by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), the bomb exploded. The PIRA had studied how the Army reacted after a bombing and correctly guessed that they would set up an incident command point in the nearby gatehouse. A second bomb detonated 32 minutes later, killing 10 Paras and two men from the QOH, one being Lieutenant-Colonel David Blair, their commanding officer. After the first explosion, the soldiers, believing that they had come under attack from the IRA, began firing across the narrow maritime border with the Republic of Ireland, a distance of only 57 m (187 feet). An uninvolved civilian, Michael Hudson (an Englishman whose father was a coachman at Buckingham Palace) was killed as a result, and his cousin Barry Hudson wounded. According to RUC researchers, the soldiers may have mistaken the sound of ammunition cooking off from the destroyed Land Rover for enemy gunfire from across the border. The Paras were under orders not to pursue their attackers into the Republic to avoid causing any diplomatic incidents. The death toll in the Warrenpoint ambush is the highest suffered by the British Army in a single incident in Northern Ireland.

Falklands War
On 2 April 1982, the Falklands War began when Argentine forces began the invasion of the British Overseas Territories of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced on 3 April that a naval task force was being sent to the South Atlantic to "restore British administration to the Falkland Islands". On 20 April, the British war cabinet ordered the repossession of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. The force dispatched to carry this out was based on the 3 Commando Brigade, reinforced by the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, Parachute Regiment. At 04:40 21 May, the 2nd Battalion was the first major unit to land in the Falklands, just south of San Carlos on the eastern side of San Carlos Water. They immediately moved south to the Sussex Mountains to cover the landings. By daylight, all troops had landed with little opposition.

The first battle in the campaign was the Battle of Goose Green, undertaken by the 2nd Battalion on 28 May. After a day long battle the Argentine commanders, agreed to surrender at 09:30 29 May. The battle had cost the battalion 15 dead and 37 wounded. The Argentinians had lost 55 dead, about 100 wounded and 1,500 were taken prisoner. Lieutenant-Colonel H. Jones was later awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross; amongst other awards were one DSO, and two DCMs.

Over the night 11/12 June, the 3rd Battalion fought the Battle of Mount Longdon. Longdon is a prominent feature to the north-west of the island's capital, Port Stanley, which dominates the surrounding area. During the battle Sergeant Ian McKay, was killed in a single handed attack on a machine gun position. For his actions, he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, the second of only two such awards during the war. Other members of the battalion received a DSO, two DCMs.

The last battle of the war was the Battle of Wireless Ridge by the 2nd Battalion. The ridge was taken with minimal casualties and an Argentinian counter-attack defeated. The Argentines now had their backs to the sea, and only the capital, Stanley, remained to be liberated. Later that day, 14 June 1982, General Menéndez surrendered all Argentinian forces. The cost to the two battalions was 40 dead and 93 wounded, the highest death toll of any British regiment on land in that conflict.

Balkans
In May 1999, the British government decided to send a force of 17,400 troops to take part in operations in Kosovo, saying that the troops would be needed to rebuild the infrastructure after the Kosovo War. An additional 12,000 troops joined the force of 5,400 already stationed in the Republic of Macedonia. On 6 June, the 5th Airborne Brigade, including the 1st Battalion and other units, were flown to Macedonia. On 12 June, the brigade spearheaded Operation Joint Guardian the advance into Kosovo by KFOR. The 1st Battalion and other brigade units secured the high ground above the road from Bace to Pristina. With the road covered, NATO forces could start their advance into the country.

On 12 June, British paratroopers and other NATO forces had a tense standoff against Russian paratroopers over the Russian occupation of the Pristina Airport. The incident was peacefully resolved.

On 24 June, the 1st Battalion Battle Group assumed control of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. On that first day, they had to deal with murder, kidnapping, torture, inter-communal gun-battles, house burnings, beatings, weapon finds and looting. The number of incidents reported required all the battalion's subunits. By the afternoon, there were no reserves left. To relieve the problem, an ad hoc patrol of headquarters staff, including the padre, was formed to assist.

In August 2001, the 2nd Battalion took part in NATO's intervention in the Republic of Macedonia (Operation Essential Harvest) to disarm the rebel National Liberation Army, with the mission planned to last 30 days.

Sierra Leone
In May 2000, Operation Palliser was the name given to the evacuation of British, Commonwealth and European Union citizens from Sierra Leone. At the time, rebel activity was increasing and the capital city Freetown was in danger. A task force including the 1st Battalion, less 'A' Company but reinforced by 'D' Company, 2nd Battalion, and the Pathfinder Platoon, elements of the Special Air Service (SAS), the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force were dispatched to the country.

A forward operating base at Lungi Airport, to be used in the evacuation, was seized by 'C' Company, 1st Battalion, arriving by C-130 Hercules.

On 17 May, the Pathfinder Platoon in the village of Lungi Lol, 12 mi from the airport, were attacked by the rebels. The fight lasted several hours, killing over 30 rebels without loss to the Pathfinders. At the end of May, the Parachute Regiment was relieved by 42 Commando and returned to the United Kingdom.

The British Army agreed to provide a unit to train government forces and carry out foot and vehicle mounted patrols designed to ensure the security of areas where training bases were located. In August, this unit was based on the Royal Irish Regiment. On 25 August, a 12-man vehicle patrol in the Occra Hills was ambushed and forced to surrender by an armed rebel group known as the West Side Boys. Negotiations led to the release of six of the men. The remainder were rescued during Operation Barras by a combined team from A Company of the 1st Battalion and the SAS.

Iraq

In January 2003, the British government announced that the 1st Armoured Division would be sent to the Persian Gulf for potential operations in Iraq. The division units would be the 7th Armoured Brigade, 3 Commando Brigade, and the 16 Air Assault Brigade with the 1st and 3rd Battalions, Parachute Regiment and the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. The invasion began on 19 March. The battalions' first objective was to secure the Rumaylah oilfields before heading north to secure the main supply route north of Basra. By the end of the month, the 3rd Battalion had entered Basra unopposed. The other two battalions crossed the Euphrates River and occupied El Qurna. As the fighting ended, the 1st Battalion occupied Maysan province and Al Amarah, less one company sent to Baghdad to secure the British Embassy. By July, the 16 Air Assault Brigade had returned to Britain. During the war, Sergeant Gordon Robertson became the first Para to be awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for service in Al-Majar on 24 June 2003.

Afghanistan
In May 2006, as part of the 16 Air Assault Brigade, the 3rd Battalion were sent to Afghanistan for Operation Herrick. They were part of 3,300 British troops that would be deploying to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan as a component of the NATO International Security Assistance Force. Not expecting to be involved in any fighting, they were the only infantry unit in the brigade involved.

In December 2006, it was announced that Corporal Bryan Budd 3rd Battalion had been awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for two separate acts of "inspirational leadership and the greatest valour" which led to his death during actions against the Taliban in Afghanistan in July and August 2006. In the same deployment, Corporal Mark Wright 3rd Battalion was awarded a posthumous George Cross. Wright was killed after entering a minefield near Kajaki Dam to save a wounded colleague that had stepped on an old Russian mine.

The brigade returned to Afghanistan from April to October 2008. This time, the three parachute battalions were reinforced by reservists from the 4th Battalion. In October 2010, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, reinforced by the 4th Battalion, 16 Air Assault Brigade, returned to Afghanistan for their third tour.

In 2015, Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey became the third serviceman during the War in Afghanistan to receive the Victoria Cross for showing "complete disregard" for his own safety during a 2013 Taliban attack.

Structure

The Parachute Regiment consists of three regular army battalions, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and an Army Reserve battalion, the 4th. The 1st is based at St Athan, Wales, and is permanently attached to the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG). They receive further training on additional weapons, communications equipment and specialist assault skills. All men within the Parachute Regiment can expect to serve with the SFSG on rotation. This ensures that the advanced military skills taught to the SFSG are maintained in the other two regular battalions. The 2nd and 3rd battalions are the parachute infantry component of the 16 Air Assault Brigade, the army's rapid response brigade, and are based at Colchester Garrison. The reserve 4th Battalion has its headquarters at Thornbury Barracks, near Pudsey in Leeds, and companies in Glasgow, Liverpool and London.

Selection
Volunteers for the Parachute Regiment are invited to a 3-day insight course at the Parachute Regiment Assessment Course (PRAC) at Catterick Garrison. Over the three days, they have to pass a series of physical fitness assessments. Adult entry recruit training is then undertaken over a 30-week course with 2nd Infantry Training Battalion at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick. Junior soldiers enlisted for roles in the Parachute Regiment receive initial training which is held at the Army Foundation College. Junior soldiers are also enrolled on the Operation Achilles pathway during their last 12 weeks of phase 1 training, before they transfer to phase 2 training at the Infantry Training Centre. P company puts recruits through a number of physical assessments designed to test fitness, stamina and teamwork skills. At the end of P Company, recruits take part in eight pre-parachute selection tests. Those who are successful are awarded their maroon beret.

Currently, recruits for the Parachute Regiment must be aged 16 to 35 years and 6 months for the regular Army, or 18 to 40 for the Army Reserve (4 PARA). Potential Officers must be aged 18 to 29. After the British government removed the ban on women serving in Ground Close Combat (GCC) roles, women are permitted to join all infantry units, including the Parachute Regiment.

Hannah Knapton became the first female officer in the Parachute Regiment in March 2023.

Parachute training
On completion of basic training and entry into a battalion, recruits are posted to RAF Brize Norton for a Basic Parachute Course. Since 1995, all parachute jumps are carried out from powered aircraft. Prior to 1995, the first jump in the Basic Parachute Course was undertaken from a modified Barrage balloon, but this has since been replaced with the Skyvan. Recruits must complete a minimum of five jumps in order to qualify as a military parachutist, with the last two jumps required to be from a C130 Hercules.

The last time a British battalion-sized unit parachuted into combat was in 1956 during the Suez Crisis, but it is still considered a valid method of deployment.

Details of operations for the 1st Battalion are not known, as the British government does not comment on special forces but it is believed that in 2010 a company group from the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) parachuted operationally into Afghanistan.

Regimental charter
The regimental charter is as follows: "What manner of men are these who wear the maroon red beret? They are firstly all volunteers, and are then toughened by hard physical training. As a result they have that infectious optimism and that offensive eagerness which comes from physical well being. They have jumped from the air and by doing so have conquered fear. Their duty lies in the van of the battle: they are proud of this honour and have never failed in any task. They have the highest standards in all things, whether it be skill in battle or smartness in the execution of all peace time duties. They have shown themselves to be as tenacious and determined in defence as they are courageous in attack. They are, in fact, men apart - every man an Emperor. (Statement by Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein)."

Regimental museum
The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum is based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Regimental band
The Band of the Parachute Regiment is one of many British Army bands in the United Kingdom, representing the Parachute Regiment, as a component of British Army Bands Colchester, it is administratively under the Royal Corps of Army Music. Over the years, the band has visited nations like the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Qatar, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands and Norway. It has a variety of smaller ensembles that include the brass quintet and the fanfare team. On certain occasions, the regimental mascot leads the marching band on parade.

The regiment did not have any formal musical activity until 1947, when 1st and 2nd Battalion Bands were formed in Aldershot, with a 3rd Battalion band being formed a year later. As a result of a Defence Review in 1985, the battalion Bands were disbanded and reformed to produce two larger regimental bands, the Falklands and Pegasus Bands.

Battle honours
In the British Army, battle honours are awarded to regiments that have seen active service in a significant engagement or campaign, generally with a victorious outcome. The Parachute Regiment has been awarded the following honours.

 * North West Europe 1942
 * Bruneval
 * North Africa 1942–43
 * Oudna
 * Soudia
 * Djebel Azzag
 * Djebel Alliliga
 * El Hadjeba
 * Tamera
 * Dejebel Dahara
 * Kefel Debna
 * Sicily 1943
 * Primosole Bridge
 * Italy 1943–44
 * Taranto
 * Orsogna
 * Greece 1944–45
 * Athens
 * North West Europe 1944–45
 * Normandy Landing
 * Pegasus Bridge
 * Merville Battery
 * Breville
 * Dives Crossing
 * La Touques Crossing
 * Southern France
 * Arnhem
 * Ourthe
 * Rhine
 * South Atlantic 1982
 * Falkland Islands
 * Goose Green
 * Mount Longdon
 * Wireless Ridge
 * Iraq 2003
 * Al Basra

title: Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)


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Joseph Dalton Hooker

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker, and was awarded the highest honours of British science.

Early years
Hooker was born in Halesworth, Suffolk, England. He was the second son of Maria Sarah Turner, eldest daughter of the banker Dawson Turner and sister-in-law of Francis Palgrave, and the famous botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker, Regius Professor of Botany. From the age of seven, Hooker attended his father's lectures at the University of Glasgow, taking an early interest in plant distribution and the voyages of explorers like Captain James Cook. He was educated at the Glasgow High School and went on to study medicine at the University of Glasgow graduating with an MD in 1839.

His degree qualified him for employment in the Naval Medical Service. He joined the polar explorer Captain James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition to the South Magnetic Pole after receiving a commission as Assistant-Surgeon on HMS Erebus (1826). On this expedition, Hooker was granted full access to the private library of Richard Clement Moody, then Governor of the Falkland Islands. Hooker described the library as 'excellent', and developed a close friendship with Moody.

Marriages and children
In 1851, he married Frances Harriet Henslow (1825–1874), daughter of Darwin's mentor, John Stevens Henslow. They had three daughters and four sons:
 * William Henslow Hooker (1853–1942)
 * Harriet Anne Hooker (1854–1945) married William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
 * Charles Paget Hooker (1855–1933)
 * Maria Elizabeth Hooker (1857–1863) died aged 6.
 * Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker (1860–1932)
 * Reginald Hawthorn Hooker (1867–1944) statistician
 * Grace Ellen Hooker (1868–1955)

Frances Harriet Henslow's contribution to his work included translating French botanical texts which Hooker edited.

After his first wife's death in 1874, in 1876 he married Lady Hyacinth Jardine (1842–1921), daughter of William Samuel Symonds and the widow of Sir William Jardine. They had two sons:
 * Joseph Symonds Hooker (1877–1940)
 * Richard Symonds Hooker (1885–1950).

Lady Hooker was elected a Fellow of the RSPB in 1905.

Sons Willy and Brian
Hooker regularly corresponded with the chief government scientist in New Zealand, Sir James Hector. He sent his son Willy (aged 15) to stay in New Zealand with the recently married Hector in 1869, Willy was sickly and coughing up blood, and a warmer climate was recommended. Though well-behaved he was indolent. Hector sent him on a cruise on a Government steamer the Sturt with a son (also 15) of Colonel Haultain the Defence minister. Mrs Hector treated him like a younger brother. After eight months and in better health Hector sent him home to England, saying he had greatly improved. His father was grateful, and surprised when Willy passed the civil service examination. He got an administrative job in the India Office, and lived to age 89.

However, his third son, Brian, was a "great worry" to him. He qualified as a geologist and mining engineer at the Royal School of Mines but unable to get a job in Britain emigrated to Australia, where he married. He resigned a Queensland lectureship to invest (with his brother Willy) in an impressively named but cash-strapped gold-mining company which collapsed, the Queensland Minerals Exploration Company. Joseph was appalled; Brian could not support his wife and children or find employment.

In 1891, Hector sent a pessimistic report on a proposed tin mine on Stewart Island, and saw Brian in 1892 and 1893, after he left his family in Australia. Hector ceased to be involved with mining in New Zealand under the new Liberal government. Brian returned to his family in Australia in 1894.

Death and burial
On 10 December 1911, after a short and apparently minor illness, Hooker died in his sleep at home, the Camp, Sunningdale, Berkshire. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey offered a grave near Darwin's in the nave but insisted that Hooker be cremated before.

His widow, Hyacinth, declined the proposal and eventually Hooker's body was buried, as he wished to be, alongside his father in the churchyard of St Anne's Church, Kew, a short distance from Kew Gardens. His memorial tablet in the church, with a motif of five plants, was designed by Matilda Smith.

Voyage to the Antarctic 1839–1843
Hooker's first expedition, led by James Clark Ross, consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus (1826) and HMS Terror (1813); it was the last major voyage of exploration made entirely under sail. Hooker was the youngest of the 128-man crew. He sailed on the Erebus and was assistant to Robert McCormick, who in addition to being the ship's Surgeon was instructed to collect zoological and geological specimens. The ships sailed on 30 September 1839. Before journeying to Antarctica they visited Madeira, Tenerife, Santiago and Quail Island in the Cape Verde archipelago, St Paul Rocks, Trindade east of Brazil, St Helena, and the Cape of Good Hope. Hooker made plant collections at each location and while travelling drew these and specimens of algae and sea life pulled aboard using tow nets.

From the Cape they entered the Southern Ocean. Their first stop was the Crozet Islands where they set down on Possession Island to deliver coffee to sealers. They departed for the Kerguelen Islands where they would spend several days. Hooker identified 18 flowering plants, 35 mosses and liverworts, 25 lichens and 51 algae, including some that were not described by surgeon William Anderson when James Cook had visited the islands in 1772. The expedition spent some time in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land, and then moved on to the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island, and onward to Antarctica to locate the South Magnetic Pole. After spending 5 months in the Antarctic they returned to resupply in Hobart, then went on to Sydney, and the Bay of Islands in New Zealand from 18 August to 23 November 1841. They left New Zealand to return to Antarctica. After spending 138 days at sea, and a collision between the Erebus and Terror, they sailed to the Falkland Islands, to Tierra del Fuego, back to the Falklands and onward to their third sortie into the Antarctic. When Hooker arrived on the Falkland Islands with the expedition of Ross, he developed a close friendship with Richard Clement Moody, the Governor of the Falkland Islands. Moody granted Hooker full use of his personal library, which Hooker described as 'excellent', and Hooker described Moody as 'a very active and intelligent young man, most anxious to improve the colony and gain every information [sic] respecting its products'.

Subsequently, the Ross expedition made a landing at Cockburn Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, and after leaving the Antarctic, stopped at the Cape, St Helena and Ascension Island. The ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843; the voyage had been a success for Ross as it was the first to confirm the existence of the southern continent and chart much of its coastline.

Geological Survey of Great Britain
In 1845, Hooker applied for the Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh. This position included duties at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Scotland, and so the appointment was influenced by local politicians. An unusually protracted struggle ensued, resulting in the election of the locally born and bred botanist, John Hutton Balfour. The Darwin correspondence, now public, makes clear Darwin's sense of shock at this unexpected outcome. Hooker declined a chair at Glasgow University which became vacant on Balfour's appointment. Instead, he took a position as botanist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain in 1846. He began work on palaeobotany, searching for fossil plants in the coal-beds of Wales, eventually discovering the first coal ball in 1855. He became engaged to Frances Henslow, daughter of Charles Darwin's botany tutor John Stevens Henslow, but he was keen to continue to travel and gain more experience in the field. He wanted to travel to India and the Himalayas. In 1847 his father nominated him to travel to India and collect plants for Kew. In 2011, a collection of glass plate slides of paleontological fossils, some prepared by Darwin, William Nicol and others, which had been lost following Hooker's brief tenure with the Survey, were rediscovered in the Survey vaults in Keyworth in Nottinghamshire, and they shed light on the international breadth of English scientific research in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Voyage to the Himalayas and India 1847–1851

On 11 November 1847 Hooker left England for his three-year-long Himalayan expedition. This was just 10 days after being granted two and a half years' leave from the Geological Survey to study fossil plants in India and Borneo on behalf of Kew and the Admiralty. He would be the first European to collect plants in the Himalaya, but abandoned the projected visit to Labuan. He received free passage on HMS Sidon (1846), to the Nile and then travelled overland to Suez where he boarded a ship to India. He arrived in Calcutta on 12 January 1848, leaving on 28th to begin his travels with a geological survey party under 'Mr Williams', who he left on 3 March to continue travelling by elephant to Mirzapur, up the Ganges by boat to Siliguri and overland by pony to Darjeeling, arriving on 16 April 1848.

Hooker's expedition was based in Darjeeling where he stayed with naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson. Through Hodgson he met British East India Company representative Archibald Campbell who negotiated Hooker's admission to Sikkim, which was finally approved in 1849 (He was later briefly taken prisoner by the Raja of Sikkim). Meanwhile, Hooker wrote to Darwin relaying to him the habits of animals in India, and collected plants in Bengal. He explored with local resident Charles Barnes, then travelled along the Great Runjeet river to its junction with the Teesta River and Tonglu mountain in the Singalila range on the border with Nepal.

Hooker and a sizeable party of local assistants departed for eastern Nepal on 27 October 1848. They travelled to Zongri, west over the spurs of Kangchenjunga, and north west along Nepal's passes into Tibet. In April 1849 he planned a longer expedition into Sikkim. Leaving on 3May, he travelled north west up the Lachen Valley to the Kongra Lama Pass and then to the Lachoong Pass. Campbell and Hooker were imprisoned by the Dewan of Sikkim as they travelled towards the Cho La in Tibet. A British team was sent to negotiate with the king of Sikkim. However, they were released without any bloodshed and Hooker returned to Darjeeling, where he spent January and February 1850 writing his journals, replacing specimens lost during his detention and planning a journey for his last year in India. According to an 1887 journal written by Indian administrator Richard Temple, many of the rhododendrons found in English gardens of the time were grown from seeds collected by Hooker in Sikkim.

Reluctant to return to Sikkim, and unenthusiastic about travelling in Bhutan, he chose to make his last Himalayan expedition to Sylhet and the Khasi Hills in Assam. He was accompanied by Thomas Thomson, a fellow student from Glasgow University. They left Darjeeling on 1 May 1850, then sailed to the Bay of Bengal and travelled overland by elephant to the Khasi Hills and established a headquarters for their studies in Churra, where they stayed until 9 December, when they began their trip back to England. With Thomson he distributed the exsiccata-like series Herbarium Indiae orientalis.

Hooker's survey of hitherto unexplored regions, the Himalayan Journals, dedicated to Charles Darwin, was published by the Calcutta Trigonometrical Survey Office in 1854, abbreviated again in 1855 and later by the Minerva Library of Famous Books published by Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co. in 1891. When Hooker returned to England his father, who had been appointed director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1841, was now a prominent man of science. William Hooker, through his connections, secured an Admiralty grant of £1000 to defray the cost of plates for his son's Botany of the Antarctic Voyages, and an annual stipend of £200 for Joseph while he worked on the flora. Hooker's flora was also to include that collected on the voyages of Cook and Menzies held by the British Museum and collections made on the Beagle. The floras were illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch (trained in botanical illustration by William Hooker), who would go on to become the most prolific Victorian botanical artist.

Hooker's collections from the Antarctic voyage were described eventually in one of two volumes published as the Flora Antarctica (1844–47). In the Flora he wrote about islands and their role in plant geography: the work made Hooker's reputation as a systemist and plant geographer. His works on the voyage were completed with Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–53) and Flora Tasmaniae (1853–59).

Voyage to Palestine 1860
This trip was taken in the autumn of 1860, with Daniel Hanbury. They visited and collected in Syria and Palestine; no full-length report was published, but a number of papers were written. Hooker recognised three phytogeographical divisions: Western Syria and Palestine; Eastern Syria and Palestine; Middle and Upper mountain regions of Syria.

Voyage to Morocco 1871
Hooker visited Morocco from April to June 1871, in the company of John Ball, George Maw and a young gardener from Kew, called Crump. They published an account of their travels entitled Journal of a Tour in Marocco and The Great Atlas (1878).

Voyage to Western United States 1877
This was undertaken with his friend Asa Gray, the leading American botanist of the day. They wished to investigate the connection between the floras of eastern United States and those of eastern continental Asia and Japan; and the line of demarcation between Arctic floras of America and Greenland. As probable causes they considered the Glacial periods and an earlier land connection with an Arctic continent. "A difficult question was why in the great mountain chains of the Western United States there appeared to be only a few botanical enclaves of plants of eastern-Asiatic afinities among plants of Mexican and more southern types."

Hooker visited a number of cities and botanical institutions before moving west and climbing to 9,000 ft to camp at La Veta. From Fort Garland they climbed the Sierra Blanca at 14,500 ft. After returning to La Veta, they went beyond Colorado Springs to Pike's Peak. Next to Denver and Salt Lake City for an excursion into the Wasatch Range. A journey of 29 hours took them to Reno and Carson City, then Silver City and ten days by wagon across the Sierra Nevada. Thus they came to the Yosemite and Calaveras Grove, and ended up in San Francisco. Hooker was back in Kew with 1,000 dried specimens by October.

His comments on his encounters include the following:
 * After meeting and talking to Brigham Young, whom he described as respectable and well-spoken: "All the school children are brought up to believe in him [Brigham Young], and in a lot of scripture history as useless and idle as that taught in our schools."
 * Of Georgetown: the "finger-tip of civilisation" where "the people sleep without locks to their doors, the fire-engines are well-manned and in capital order, and there is no end of food".
 * "The New Englanders are most like us in language, speech and habits... The Americans are great and promiscuous eaters... beds are remarkably clean and good, but the pillows are too soft."

His views on the flora of Colorado and Utah: There are two temperate, and two cold or mountain floras, viz: 1. a prairie flora derived from the eastward; 2. a so-called desert and saline flora derived from the west; 3. a sub-alpine; 4. an alpine flora, the two latter of widely different origin, and in one sense proper to the Rocky Mountain ranges.

His overview of North American flora contained these elements:
 * Polar area, from the Behring Strait to Greenland.
 * British North American flora, south of the Arctic flora, in five meridional belts.
 * United States flora, in belts:
 * The Great Eastern Forest region, from the Atlantic to beyond the Mississippi.
 * The Prairie region.
 * The Sink region, confined to gullies of the mountains.
 * The Sierra Nevada.

Darwin and evolution

While on the Erebus, Hooker had read proofs of Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle provided by Charles Lyell and had been very impressed by Darwin's skill as a naturalist. They had met once, before the Antarctic voyage embarked. After Hooker's return to England, he was approached by Darwin who invited him to classify the plants that Darwin had collected in South America and the Galápagos Islands. Hooker agreed and the pair began a lifelong friendship. On 11 January 1844 Darwin mentioned to Hooker his early ideas on the transmutation of species and natural selection, and Hooker showed interest. In 1847 he agreed to read Darwin's "Essay" explaining the theory, and responded with notes giving Darwin calm critical feedback. Their correspondence continued throughout the development of Darwin's theory and in 1858 Darwin wrote that Hooker was "the one living soul from whom I have constantly received sympathy".

wrote "Hooker was Charles Darwin's greatest friend and confidant". Certainly they had extensive correspondence, and they also met face-to-face (Hooker visiting Darwin). Hooker and Lyell were the two people Darwin consulted (by letter) when Alfred Russel Wallace's famous letter arrived at Down House, enclosing his paper on natural selection. Hooker was instrumental in creating the device whereby the Wallace paper was accompanied by Darwin's notes and his letter to Asa Gray (showing his prior realisation of natural selection) in a presentation to the Linnean Society. Hooker was the one who formally presented this material to the Linnean Society meeting in 1858. In 1859 the author of The Origin of Species recorded his indebtedness to Hooker's wide knowledge and balanced judgment.

In December 1859, Hooker published the Introductory Essay to the Flora Tasmaniae, the final part of the Botany of the Antarctic Voyage. It was in this essay (which appeared just one month after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species), that Hooker announced his support for the theory of evolution by natural selection, thus becoming the first recognised man of science to publicly back Darwin.

At the historic debate on evolution held at the Oxford University Museum on 30 June 1860, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Benjamin Brodie and Robert FitzRoy spoke against Darwin's theory, and Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley defended it. According to Hooker's own account, it was he and not Huxley who delivered the most effective reply to Wilberforce's arguments.

Hooker acted as president of the British Association at its Norwich meeting of 1868, when his address was remarkable for its championship of Darwinian theories. He was a close friend of Thomas Henry Huxley, a member of the X-Club (which dominated the Royal Society in the 1870s and early 1880s), and the first of the three X-Clubbers in succession to become President of the Royal Society. In 1862, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

By his travels and his publications, Hooker built up a high scientific reputation at home. In 1855 he was appointed Assistant-Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and in 1865 he succeeded his father as full Director, holding the post for twenty years. Under the directorship of father and son Hooker, the Royal Botanic gardens of Kew rose to world renown. At the age of thirty, Hooker was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1873 he was chosen its president (till 1877). He received three of its medals: the Royal Medal in 1854, the Copley in 1887 and the Darwin Medal in 1892. He continued to intersperse work at Kew with foreign exploration and collecting. His journeys to Palestine, Morocco and the United States all produced valuable information and specimens for Kew.

He started the series Flora Indica in 1855, together with Thomas Thompson. Their botanical observations and the publication of the Rhododendrons of Sikkim–Himalaya (1849–51), formed the basis of elaborate works on the rhododendrons of the Sikkim Himalaya and on the flora of India. His works were illustrated with lithographs by Walter Hood Fitch.

His greatest botanical work was the Flora of British India, published in seven volumes starting in 1872. On the publication of the last part in 1897, he was promoted Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (being made a Knight Commander of that Order in 1877). Ten years later, on attaining the age of ninety in 1907, he was awarded the Order of Merit.

He was the author of numerous scientific papers and monographs, and his larger books included, in addition to those already mentioned, a standard Students Flora of the British Isles and a monumental work, the Genera plantarum (1860–83), based on the collections at Kew, in which he had the assistance of George Bentham. His collaboration with George Bentham was especially important. Bentham, an amateur botanist who worked at Kew for many years, was perhaps the leading botanical systematist of the 19th century. The Handbook of the British flora, begun by Bentham and completed by Hooker, was the standard text for a hundred years. It was always known as 'Bentham & Hooker'.

In 1904, at the age of 87, Hooker published A sketch of the Vegetation of the Indian Empire. He continued the compilation of his father Sir William Jackson Hooker's project, Icones Plantarum (Illustrations of Plants), producing volumes eleven through nineteen, with most of the illustrations being prepared for him by Matilda Smith.

Attacks on Hooker and on Kew
The Herbarium at Kew was founded in 1853, and quickly grew in size and importance. At the time, Richard Owen was the Superintendent of the natural history departments of the British Museum, reporting only to the Head of the British Museum. Hooker, appointed in 1855 as Assistant Director of Kew, was the man most responsible for bringing foreign specimens to Kew.

"There is no doubt that rivalry resulted between the British Museum, where there was the very important Herbarium of the Department of Botany, and Kew. The rivalry at times became extremely personal, especially between Joseph Hooker and Owen. ... At the root was Owen's feeling that Kew should be subordinate to the British Museum (and to Owen) and should not be allowed to develop as an independent scientific institution with the advantage of a great botanic garden."

The relationship between the two men continued to deteriorate after Hooker became a supporter of Darwin's views and a member of the X-Club, who set out to get their way with the Royal Society. In 1868 Hooker had proposed that the whole of the huge herbarium collection of Joseph Banks should be moved from the British Museum to Kew, a reasonable idea, but a threat to Owen's plans for a museum in South Kensington to house the natural history collections. Hooker cited mismanagement at the British Museum as a justification.

After Joseph had succeeded his father as Director, in 1865, the independence of Kew was seriously threatened by the machinations of a member of parliament, Acton Smee Ayrton, whose appointment as First Commissioner of Works by Gladstone in 1869 was greeted in The Times with the prophecy that it would prove "another instance of Mr. Ayrton's unfortunate tendency to carry out what he thinks right in as unpleasant a manner as possible". This was relevant because Kew was funded by the Board of Works, and the Director of Kew reported to the First Commissioner. The conflict between the two men lasted from 1870 to 1872, and there is a voluminous correspondence on the Ayrton Episode held at Kew.

Ayrton behaved in an extraordinary way, interfering in matters and approaching Hooker's colleagues behind his back, apparently with the aim of getting Hooker to resign, when the expenditure on Kew could be curtailed and diverted. Ayrton actually took staff appointments out of Hooker's hands. He seemed not to value the scientific work, and to believe Kew should be just an amusement park. Hooker wrote:

"My life has become utterly detestable and I do long to throw up the Directorship. What can be more humiliating than two years of wrangling with such a creature!"

Finally, Hooker asked to be put in communication with Gladstone's private secretary, Algernon West. A statement was drawn up over the signatures of Darwin, Lyell, Huxley, Tyndall, Bentham and others. It was laid before Parliament by John Lubbock, and additional papers laid before the House of Lords. Lord Derby called for all the correspondence on the matter. The Treasury supported Hooker and criticised Ayrton's behaviour.

One extraordinary fact emerged. There had been an official report on Kew, which had not previously been seen in public, which Ayrton had caused to be written by Richard Owen. Hooker had not seen the report, and so had not been given right of reply. Nonetheless, the report was amongst the papers laid before Parliament, and it contained an attack on both the Hookers, and suggested (amongst much else) that they had mismanaged the care of their trees, and that their systematic approach to botany was nothing more than "attaching barbarous binomials to foreign weeds". The discovery of this report no doubt helped to sway opinion in favour of Hooker and Kew (there was debate in the press as well as Parliament). Hooker replied to the Owen report in a point by point factual manner, and his reply was placed with the other papers on the case. When Ayrton was questioned about it in the debate led by Lubbock, he replied that "Hooker was too low an official to raise questions of matter with a Minister of the Crown".

The outcome was not a vote in the Commons, but a kind of truce until, in August 1874, Gladstone transferred Ayrton from the Board of Works to the office of Judge Advocate-General, just before his government fell. Ayrton failed to get re-elected to Parliament. From that moment to this, the value of the Botanic Gardens has never been seriously questioned. In the midst of this crisis, Hooker was elected as President of the Royal Society in 1873. This showed publicly the high regard which Hooker's fellow scientists had for him, and the great importance they attached to his work.

Honours and commemoration

 * 1847 Fellow of the Royal Society
 * 1869 Companion of the Order of the Bath
 * 1869 Election to the American Philosophical Society
 * 1877 Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India
 * 1873 President of the Royal Society
 * 1883 Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
 * 1885 Foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * 1897 Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
 * 1902 Pour le Mérite from the Kingdom of Prussia, awarded by the German Emperor
 * 1907 Order of Merit

Hooker Oak in Chico, California, was named after him. Hooker Island in Franz Josef Land was named after him following its 1880 discovery.

Taxa named in honour

 * There are number (at least 30) of plants with specific name hookeri and hookeriana Many of them are named in honour of Joseph Dalton Hooker. Including; Banksia hookeriana, Grevillea hookeriana, Iris hookeriana, Polygonatum hookeri, Tainia hookeriana, orchid species in Southern Taiwan.and Sarcococca hookeriana.
 * land snail Notodiscus hookeri (Reeve, 1854)
 * Sea Lion: New Zealand or Hooker's Sea Lion Phocarctos hookeri (Gray, 1844)

Selected publications

 * 1844–1859: Flora Antarctica: the botany of the Antarctic voyage. 3 vols, 1844 (general), 1853 (New Zealand), 1859 (Tasmania). Reeve, London.
 * 1864–1867: Handbook of the New Zealand flora
 * 1849: Niger flora
 * 1849–1851: The Rhododendrons of Sikkim–Himalaya
 * 1854: Himalayan Journals, or notes of a naturalist, in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, Khasia Mountains ...
 * 1855: Illustrations of Himalayan plants
 * 1855: Flora indica, with Thomas Thomson
 * 1858: ("Bentham & Hooker")
 * 1859: A century of Indian orchids
 * 1859: Introductory Essay to the Flora of Australia
 * 1862–1883: with George Bentham
 * 1862–1883: with George Bentham
 * 1870; 1878: The student's flora of the British Isles. Macmillan, London.
 * 1872–1897:
 * with Emmanuel Le Maout
 * 1878: Journal of a Tour in Marocco and The Great Atlas. Macmillan, London. with John Ball
 * 1898–1900: Handbook to the Ceylon flora
 * 1904–1906: An epitome to the British Indian species of Impatiens

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Joseph Dalton Hooker


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Parachute Regiment

A Parachute regiment is an airborne infantry military unit of paratroopers, trained in parachuting into a combat zone. Parachute Regiment may refer to:
 * Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom), an elite airborne infantry regiment of the British Army
 * Parachute Regiment (India), the airborne infantry regiment of the Indian Army
 * Paratroopers Brigade, a unit of the Israel Defense Forces
 * 44 Parachute Regiment (South Africa), the South African Army's chief airborne infantry unit
 * 1st Airborne Brigade (Japan), a unit of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, also known as the Narashino Airborne Brigade
 * Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidistas, a unit of the Mexican Air Force
 * 501st Infantry Regiment (United States), a unit of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army,
 * 504th Infantry Regiment (United States), a unit of the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army,
 * 509th Infantry Regiment (United States), a unit of the United States Army
 * 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, a unit of the United States Army
 * Any of the divisions of the Fallschirmjäger, a branch of the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany before and during World War II

title: Parachute Regiment


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Governor-General of South Africa

The governor-general of the Union of South Africa (Goewerneur-generaal van Unie van Suid-Afrika; Goeverneur-generaal van de Unie van Zuid-Afrika) was the highest state official in the Union of South Africa between 31 May 1910 and 31 May 1961. The Union of South Africa was founded as a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire in 1910 and the office of governor-general was established as the representative of the monarch. Fifty-one years later the country declared itself a republic and the historic link with the British monarchy was broken. The office of governor-general was abolished.

Some of the first holders of the post were members of the British royal family including Prince Arthur of Connaught between 1920 and 1924, and the Earl of Athlone, who served between 1924 and 1931, before becoming the governor general of Canada. As in other Dominions, this would change, and from 1943 onward only South Africans (in fact, only Afrikaners) held the office.

The office was established by the South Africa Act 1909. Although the governor-general was nominally the country's chief executive, in practice he was bound by convention to act on the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet of South Africa.

Republicanism
The Afrikaner-dominated National Party, which came to power in 1948, was avowedly republican and regarded South Africa's personal union with the United Kingdom and other realms within the Commonwealth of Nations as a relic of British imperialism. In the interim, the National Party used the governor-general's post as a sinecure for retired National Party ministers. The two governors-general appointed after 1948, Ernest George Jansen and Charles Robberts Swart, chose not to wear the traditional court uniform nor even to take an oath of allegiance to the monarch.

In 1957, God Save the Queen ceased to have equal status with Die Stem van Suid-Afrika as a national anthem, and the Union Flag similarly ceased to have equal status with the South African flag.

However, it was not until 1960 that Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd advised Governor-General Swart to hold a referendum on the issue. After several protests regarding the lowering of the voting age to 18, and the inclusion of white voters in South West Africa, on 5 October 1960 white South Africans were asked: Are you in favour of a Republic for the Union? The result was 52 per cent in favour of the change.

Swart, the last governor-general, asked Queen Elizabeth II to relieve him of his duties on 30 April 1961, after he signed the new republican constitution into law. Chief Justice Lucas Cornelius Steyn became Officer Administering the Government under a transitional arrangement until 31 May 1961, when the Republic of South Africa was declared and Swart became the first state president of South Africa.

List of governors-general of South Africa
The following is a list of people who served as governor-general of South Africa from independence in 1910 to the establishment of a republic in 1961.

Symbols
 * Died in office.

{{legend|#E6E6AA|Denotes Officer Administering the Government}}

title: Governor-General of South Africa


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Anomaly (physics)

In quantum physics an anomaly or quantum anomaly is the failure of a symmetry of a theory's classical action to be a symmetry of any regularization of the full quantum theory. In classical physics, a classical anomaly is the failure of a symmetry to be restored in the limit in which the symmetry-breaking parameter goes to zero. Perhaps the first known anomaly was the dissipative anomaly in turbulence: time-reversibility remains broken (and energy dissipation rate finite) at the limit of vanishing viscosity.

In quantum theory, the first anomaly discovered was the Adler–Bell–Jackiw anomaly, wherein the axial vector current is conserved as a classical symmetry of electrodynamics, but is broken by the quantized theory. The relationship of this anomaly to the Atiyah–Singer index theorem was one of the celebrated achievements of the theory. Technically, an anomalous symmetry in a quantum theory is a symmetry of the action, but not of the measure, and so not of the partition function as a whole.

Global anomalies
A global anomaly is the quantum violation of a global symmetry current conservation. A global anomaly can also mean that a non-perturbative global anomaly cannot be captured by one loop or any loop perturbative Feynman diagram calculations—examples include the Witten anomaly and Wang–Wen–Witten anomaly.

Scaling and renormalization
The most prevalent global anomaly in physics is associated with the violation of scale invariance by quantum corrections, quantified in renormalization. Since regulators generally introduce a distance scale, the classically scale-invariant theories are subject to renormalization group flow, i.e., changing behavior with energy scale. For example, the large strength of the strong nuclear force results from a theory that is weakly coupled at short distances flowing to a strongly coupled theory at long distances, due to this scale anomaly.

Rigid symmetries
Anomalies in abelian global symmetries pose no problems in a quantum field theory, and are often encountered (see the example of the chiral anomaly). In particular the corresponding anomalous symmetries can be fixed by fixing the boundary conditions of the path integral.

Large gauge transformations
Global anomalies in symmetries that approach the identity sufficiently quickly at infinity do, however, pose problems. In known examples such symmetries correspond to disconnected components of gauge symmetries. Such symmetries and possible anomalies occur, for example, in theories with chiral fermions or self-dual differential forms coupled to gravity in 4k + 2 dimensions, and also in the Witten anomaly in an ordinary 4-dimensional SU(2) gauge theory.

As these symmetries vanish at infinity, they cannot be constrained by boundary conditions and so must be summed over in the path integral. The sum of the gauge orbit of a state is a sum of phases which form a subgroup of U(1). As there is an anomaly, not all of these phases are the same, therefore it is not the identity subgroup. The sum of the phases in every other subgroup of U(1) is equal to zero, and so all path integrals are equal to zero when there is such an anomaly and a theory does not exist.

An exception may occur when the space of configurations is itself disconnected, in which case one may have the freedom to choose to integrate over any subset of the components. If the disconnected gauge symmetries map the system between disconnected configurations, then there is in general a consistent truncation of a theory in which one integrates only over those connected components that are not related by large gauge transformations. In this case the large gauge transformations do not act on the system and do not cause the path integral to vanish.

Witten anomaly and Wang–Wen–Witten anomaly
In SU(2) gauge theory in 4 dimensional Minkowski space, a gauge transformation corresponds to a choice of an element of the special unitary group SU(2) at each point in spacetime. The group of such gauge transformations is connected.

However, if we are only interested in the subgroup of gauge transformations that vanish at infinity, we may consider the 3-sphere at infinity to be a single point, as the gauge transformations vanish there anyway. If the 3-sphere at infinity is identified with a point, our Minkowski space is identified with the 4-sphere. Thus we see that the group of gauge transformations vanishing at infinity in Minkowski 4-space is isomorphic to the group of all gauge transformations on the 4-sphere.

This is the group which consists of a continuous choice of a gauge transformation in SU(2) for each point on the 4-sphere. In other words, the gauge symmetries are in one-to-one correspondence with maps from the 4-sphere to the 3-sphere, which is the group manifold of SU(2). The space of such maps is not connected, instead the connected components are classified by the fourth homotopy group of the 3-sphere which is the cyclic group of order two. In particular, there are two connected components. One contains the identity and is called the identity component, the other is called the disconnected component.

When a theory contains an odd number of flavors of chiral fermions, the actions of gauge symmetries in the identity component and the disconnected component of the gauge group on a physical state differ by a sign. Thus when one sums over all physical configurations in the path integral, one finds that contributions come in pairs with opposite signs. As a result, all path integrals vanish and a theory does not exist.

The above description of a global anomaly is for the SU(2) gauge theory coupled to an odd number of (iso-)spin-1/2 Weyl fermion in 4 spacetime dimensions. This is known as the Witten SU(2) anomaly. In 2018, it is found by Wang, Wen and Witten that the SU(2) gauge theory coupled to an odd number of (iso-)spin-3/2 Weyl fermion in 4 spacetime dimensions has a further subtler non-perturbative global anomaly detectable on certain non-spin manifolds without spin structure. This new anomaly is called the new SU(2) anomaly. Both types of anomalies have analogs of (1) dynamical gauge anomalies for dynamical gauge theories and (2) the 't Hooft anomalies of global symmetries. In addition, both types of anomalies are mod 2 classes (in terms of classification, they are both finite groups Z2 of order 2 classes), and have analogs in 4 and 5 spacetime dimensions. More generally, for any natural integer N, it can be shown that an odd number of fermion multiplets in representations of (iso)-spin 2N+1/2 can have the SU(2) anomaly; an odd number of fermion multiplets in representations of (iso)-spin 4N+3/2 can have the new SU(2) anomaly. For fermions in the half-integer spin representation, it is shown that there are only these two types of SU(2) anomalies and the linear combinations of these two anomalies; these classify all global SU(2) anomalies. This new SU(2) anomaly also plays an important rule for confirming the consistency of SO(10) grand unified theory, with a Spin(10) gauge group and chiral fermions in the 16-dimensional spinor representations, defined on non-spin manifolds.

Higher anomalies involving higher global symmetries: Pure Yang–Mills gauge theory as an example
The concept of global symmetries can be generalized to higher global symmetries, such that the charged object for the ordinary 0-form symmetry is a particle, while the charged object for the n-form symmetry is an n-dimensional extended operator. It is found that the 4 dimensional pure Yang–Mills theory with only SU(2) gauge fields with a topological theta term $$\theta=\pi,$$ can have a mixed higher 't Hooft anomaly between the 0-form time-reversal symmetry and 1-form Z2 center symmetry. The 't Hooft anomaly of 4 dimensional pure Yang–Mills theory can be precisely written as a 5 dimensional invertible topological field theory or mathematically a 5 dimensional bordism invariant, generalizing the anomaly inflow picture to this Z2 class of global anomaly involving higher symmetries. In other words, we can regard the 4 dimensional pure Yang–Mills theory with a topological theta term $$\theta=\pi$$ live as a boundary condition of a certain Z2 class invertible topological field theory, in order to match their higher anomalies on the 4 dimensional boundary.

Gauge anomalies
Anomalies in gauge symmetries lead to an inconsistency, since a gauge symmetry is required in order to cancel unphysical degrees of freedom with a negative norm (such as a photon polarized in the time direction). An attempt to cancel them—i.e., to build theories consistent with the gauge symmetries—often leads to extra constraints on the theories (such is the case of the gauge anomaly in the Standard Model of particle physics). Anomalies in gauge theories have important connections to the topology and geometry of the gauge group.

Anomalies in gauge symmetries can be calculated exactly at the one-loop level. At tree level (zero loops), one reproduces the classical theory. Feynman diagrams with more than one loop always contain internal boson propagators. As bosons may always be given a mass without breaking gauge invariance, a Pauli–Villars regularization of such diagrams is possible while preserving the symmetry. Whenever the regularization of a diagram is consistent with a given symmetry, that diagram does not generate an anomaly with respect to the symmetry.

Vector gauge anomalies are always chiral anomalies. Another type of gauge anomaly is the gravitational anomaly.

At different energy scales
Quantum anomalies were discovered via the process of renormalization, when some divergent integrals cannot be regularized in such a way that all the symmetries are preserved simultaneously. This is related to the high energy physics. However, due to Gerard 't Hooft's anomaly matching condition, any chiral anomaly can be described either by the UV degrees of freedom (those relevant at high energies) or by the IR degrees of freedom (those relevant at low energies). Thus one cannot cancel an anomaly by a UV completion of a theory—an anomalous symmetry is simply not a symmetry of a theory, even though classically it appears to be.

Anomaly cancellation
Since cancelling anomalies is necessary for the consistency of gauge theories, such cancellations are of central importance in constraining the fermion content of the standard model, which is a chiral gauge theory.

For example, the vanishing of the mixed anomaly involving two SU(2) generators and one U(1) hypercharge constrains all charges in a fermion generation to add up to zero, and thereby dictates that the sum of the proton plus the sum of the electron vanish: the charges of quarks and leptons must be commensurate. Specifically, for two external gauge fields $W^{a}$, $W^{b}$ and one hypercharge $B$ at the vertices of the triangle diagram, cancellation of the triangle requires
 * $$\sum_{all ~doublets}\!\!\!\! \mathrm{Tr} ~T^a T^b Y \propto \delta^{ab} \sum_{all ~doublets} Y=\sum_{all ~doublets} Q =0 ~,  $$

so, for each generation, the charges of the leptons and quarks are balanced, $$-1+3\times\frac{2-1}{3}=0 $$, whence $Q_{p} + Q_{e} = 0$.

The anomaly cancelation in SM was also used to predict a quark from 3rd generation, the top quark.

Further such mechanisms include:
 * Axion
 * Chern–Simons
 * Green–Schwarz mechanism
 * Liouville action

Anomalies and cobordism
In the modern description of anomalies classified by cobordism theory, the Feynman-Dyson graphs only captures the perturbative local anomalies classified by integer Z classes also known as the free part. There exists nonperturbative global anomalies classified by cyclic groups Z/nZ classes also known as the torsion part.

It is widely known and checked in the late 20th century that the standard model and chiral gauge theories are free from perturbative local anomalies (captured by Feynman diagrams). However, it is not entirely clear whether there are any nonperturbative global anomalies for the standard model and chiral gauge theories. Recent developments based on the cobordism theory examine this problem, and several additional nontrivial global anomalies found can further constrain these gauge theories. There is also a formulation of both perturbative local and nonperturbative global description of anomaly inflow in terms of Atiyah, Patodi, and Singer eta invariant in one higher dimension. This eta invariant is a cobordism invariant whenever the perturbative local anomalies vanish.

Examples

 * Chiral anomaly
 * Conformal anomaly (anomaly of scale invariance)
 * Gauge anomaly
 * Global anomaly
 * Gravitational anomaly (also known as diffeomorphism anomaly)
 * Konishi anomaly
 * Mixed anomaly
 * Parity anomaly
 * 't Hooft anomaly

title: Anomaly (physics)