Rhine Crossing (Operation Varsity)

Members of 5th Parachute Brigade walk and cycle to Brelingen.

Gliders of 6th Airlanding Brigade on landing zone near Hamminkeln Station, March 1945.

RAF Stirlings towing Horsa gliders across the Rhine.

Final check of maps before assault across the Rhine.

A Horsa glider is unloaded on the landing zone of the Rhine Crossing operation.

Halifaxes tow Horsa gliders over the French coast.

Gliders on the ground after airborne landing in the area of Hamminkeln.

Large scale Rhine reheasal. Dakotas fly over drop zone dropping troops and supplies.

Polish gunners prepare for battle with one of the new medium calibre guns.

German women search the wreckage of their homes shelled by the Americans.

Glider troops of the Royal Ulster Rifles dig in at their objective the River Issel.

Glider pilots with German prisoners near Hamminkeln railway station, March 1945.

A British para takes the details of one of the first Germans taken prisoner in the Rhine operations.

German prisoners among the Airborne gliders. March 1945.

Royal Ulster Rifles (6th Airborne) on the banks of the river Issel.

Two British airborne men by the sign for Hamminkeln the day they took the town.

Brig Bellamy commands glider troops in Hamminkeln after its capture. March 1945.

Soldier receiving treatment in an airborne dressing station. March 25th, 1945.

German POW receives treatment at an airborne dressing station in a German village.

2 Section, 4 Platoon, B Company, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion

A British paratrooper looks out of the window as his Dakota approaches Germany.

Paratrooper looks contemplative in a Dakota aircraft en route to the Rhine.

Group photo of Montgomery, Maj-Gen Bols and members of the division. January1945.

Radio operators at 6th Airborne Divisional headquarters.

Paratroopers inch along flat ground toward their objective.

Troops go into action after their gliders have landed during operation in the Rhine.

A burned-out Horsa glider near Hamminkeln during the Rhine crossing.

US soldiers unload a glider plane after landing near Wesel.

Under a parachute draped over telephone wires, a paratrooper carries a wounded man to aid.

Paratroopers commandeer civilian transport for push from Rhine.

Airborne signaller at his post under a camouflaged parachute.

Airborne troops prepare to make a dash into the burning village of Hamminkeln. March 1945.

Brigadier James Hill, commander of 3rd Parachute Brigade during the Rhine Crossing.

Hamminkeln railway station on D-day plus one. March 25th 1945.

Gliders try to land through smoke of a German barn while under enemy fire.

George Moodie in driver's seat of an M22 Locust airborne tank, Germany, 1945

Paratroopers prepare for an exercise prior to the Rhine Crossing operation, early 1945

Glider 272 on Operation Varsity, March 1945.

A Hamilcar glider, airborne motorcycle and Universal Carrier on the Rhine Crossing landing zone, March 1945.

Troops of 1 Parachute Pl, 716 Light Comp Coy RASC aboard a Universal Carrier, Hamminkeln, March 1945.

Troops of 1 Parachute Pl, 716 Light Comp Coy RASC in the streets of Hammilkeln, March 1945

Graves of 2nd Ox and Bucks LI in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, March 1985.

The early pattern smock of CSM Warcup damaged in 1944 on Op Varsity, from the Airborne Assault Museum Collection, Duxford.

The 4 Regt AAC Escort to The AAC Guidon at Marks Hall Estate, Essex, March 2010

Mr L Rooke, Mr B Hilton & Mr T Huntbach, Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 31 Mar 2010.

Service honours anniversary of Second World War airborne operation, 24 March 2013.