Richard Lonsdale Service Order. His citation read: Most of the 1st Airborne Division returned to the United Kingdom in November 1943 and were kept in reserve during Operation Overlord. In September Lonsdale was made second in command of 11th Battalion, Parachute Regiment and in the same month the division was deployed in Operation Market Garden. The Allies planned to use airborne forces to secure key bridges over a number of rivers and canals in the Netherlands, opening a route around the Seigfried Line and into the heart of Germany. 1st Airborne Division was tasked with securing bridges across the Lower Rhine at
1st Airborne Task Force (Allied) 1st Airborne Task Force (Allied) The 1st Airborne Task Force was a short-lived Allied airborne unit that was active during World War II created for Operation "Dragoon"–the invasion of Southern France. Formed in July 1944, under the command of Major General Robert T. Frederick, it took part in the "Dragoon" landings on 15 August 1944, securing the area north-west of the landing beaches, before moving towards the French-Italian border as part of the United States Seventh Army. The unit was disbanded in November 1944. In the initial plans for the invasion of France it was proposed that two forces would