Regiment, and the King's African Rifles), which resulted in two divisions being formed in Africa in mid-1940. The goal of 55 divisions was increased to 58 in January 1941, then cut to 57 on 6 March; the UK was to provide 36 of these. During 1941, the 2nd Armoured Division in North Africa was overrun, and its headquarters captured. By the end of the year, the British Army had 37 active divisions (one airborne, nine armoured and 27 infantry). On 15 February 1942, the 18th Infantry Division was captured by Japanese forces following the Battle of Singapore. Lack of equipment hindered growth and an increasing number of divisions based in the UK were reduced in size to provide men for formations fighting abroad. By 1943, it became necessary for front line divisions to be cannibalised to provide reinforcements for other formations. During 1943, three new divisions were formed after the further expansion of the African regiments. By 1944, the UK still had 35 divisions, of which 18 were for training or to be used as a pool for reinforcements. By mid-1944, the army did not have enough men to replace the losses suffered by front line infantry units. Transfers of men from the Royal Artillery and the Royal Air Force to be retrained as infantry took place, and more formations were disbanded to provide the required reinforcements. By the end of 1944, the army had shrunk to 26 divisions: 5 armoured and 21 infantry (including airborne). In the final year of the war, the number decreased to 24 divisions. Airborne Impressed by the German airborne force during the 1940 Battle of France, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, ordered the creation of a paratrooper force of 5,000 men. The qualified success of Operation Colossus, a small scale commando raid, prompted further expansion of this force, and resulted in an additional requirement for a glider force of 10,000 men to be created. The recruitment for the size of this force took until 1943, by which time two divisions had been formed. The airborne division was to comprise three brigades: two parachute brigades, each with three battalions from the Parachute Regiment, and an "airlanding" brigade of three infantry battalions carried into battle by gliders.The first parachute battalions were formed from volunteers from across the British military. As the airborne force grew, infantry battalions were selected to be converted into parachute battalions. The