1.8 operations an hour, but if they were required to operate the following day had to be relieved after twelve hours. It was commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel, with a major second in command and a regimental sergeant major as the senior non-commissioned rank. Medical staff included two specialist surgeons and a specialist anaesthetist, a pharmacist and a Royal Army Dental Corps (RADC) dentist. To assist with operations there were six operating room assistants, a sergeant nursing orderly and six nursing orderlies. Other medical staff included a sergeant sanitary assistant, a masseur, and a RADC orderly. These were assisted by five stretcher bearers, one of whom was trained as a shoemaker. The rest of the headquarters comprised a quartermaster, clerks, cooks, storemen, an Army Physical Training Corps instructor and a barber. The four sections each comprised an officer (doctor) in command and a staff sergeant (nursing orderly) second in command as well as three nursing orderlies, a clerk, a dutyman and thirteen stretcher bearers. The last component of the Field Ambulance was the Royal Army Service Corps detachment, commanded by a captain, with a company sergeant major as second in command. They had fifty men under them, including thirty-eight drivers, four motorcyclists and five vehicle mechanics. Operations Normandy The 6th Airborne Divisions two parachute brigades landed in Normandy in the early hours of 6 June 1944, in Operation Tonga. The 195th would land from around 21:00 that evening in Operation Mallard, the plan for the unit was flexible and the location they would establish their Main Dressing Station (MDS) would be decided after they had landed. To carry the 195th to Normandy they were assigned ten Horsa gliders; on board there were the MDS staff, with the two surgical teams and Nos. 3 and 4 Sections. At total there were eleven officers, 109 other ranks, nine Jeeps and five trailers. The remainder of the unit would arrive by sea. The commanding officer with No. 3 Section would land at landing zone 'N', while the MDS with No. 4 Section landed at landing zone 'W'. By 22:30 they had cleared the landing zone and stayed the night at Bas de Ranville and the following morning set up the MDS at Mariquet, which was receiving casualties by 11:00. By midnight 7 June they had treated 154 wounded and the surgeons had performed twenty-three operations. By 07:00 8 June a secure route to the