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
Operation Deadstick to rejoin the company. Bénouville was the farthest forward point of the British advance on 6 June 1944. On 9 June, the German Air Force attacked the bridges with 13 aircraft. The British had positioned light and medium-sized anti-aircraft guns around the bridges and in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire the attack failed, although they did claim one of the bridges was destroyed by a direct hit. The bridgehead, captured by the 6th Airborne Division, was the subsequent launching point for a number of following operations. I Corps conducted the eastern pincer of Operation Perch out of the bridgehead,