| task, which it then abandoned. On 16
November 1 PARA dropped near Souk el Arba airfield and
occupied a key road junction at Beja, only 90 miles from
Tunis, from which they actively patrolled. Both these
operations were successful and the airborne troops were
quickly relieved by the advancng main force. .....2 PARA, initially held in
reserve, was dropped at Depienne on 29 November to
destroy enemy aircraft at Oudna. The airfield, however,
was found to be abandoned while unexpectedly heavy enemy
opposition halted the advance of the First Army, leaving
the battalion isolated 56 miles behind enemy lines.
Lightly equipped and continuously attacked by air and
ground forces, the battalion successfully conducted an
arduous fighting withdrawal back to the nearest Allied
positions, losing 16 officers and 250 men enn route.
.....The campaign now
entered a new phase that developed over the winter into a
bitter slogging match. For the next five months until
April 1943, the Parachute Brigade Group was required to
fight in the normal infantry role. Taking part in more
battles than any other formation in the First Army, they
inflicted over 5000 casualties with a loss to the brigade
of 1700 men. The brigade's actions in this operation
earned them the name of Rote Teufel, or the Red
Devils, from the German forces.
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