 On 13 December 1943 , the War Office decided to expand the squadron into a regiment equipped with a combination of light tanks and conventional reconnaissance vehicles such as scout cars , and on 1 April 1944 , it was re @-@ designated as the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment . The regiment consisted of a Headquarters Squadron , a Light Tank Squadron and a Reconnaissance Squadron ; two Tetrarchs , the Mark 1 CS variation , were attached to the Headquarters Squadron , but the Light Tank Squadron , also known as ' A ' Squadron , received the majority of the Tetrarchs . ' A ' Squadron had approximately nineteen Tetrarchs split between six troops , two of which were of the CS variation and the rest were armed with 2 pounders fitted with Littlejohn adaptors . On 24 May 1944 , after participating in a further series of exercises and manoeuvres , ' A ' Squadron moved from their training area to a transit camp at Tarrant Rushton airfield , while the rest of the regiment moved to RAF <unk> Norton airfield the next day ; from these two airfields , the regiment would be transported from to participate in the British airborne landings in Normandy . The operation began on the night of 5 June , with the deployment of 6th Airborne Division to eastern Normandy . It was tasked with protecting the eastern flank of the Allied seaborne landings , securing strategically important areas east of Caen , capturing several important bridges over the Caen Canal and River Dives , and destroying a coastal artillery battery . Insufficient transport aircraft were available to land all three of the division 's brigades simultaneously ; one would have to be landed in a second lift later in the day . Major General Richard Gale had initially intended for the 6th Airlanding Brigade , to which the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment was attached , to be landed first ; however , aerial photography revealed that anti @-@ glider poles had been erected in the landing zone selected for the brigade . Therefore , Gale decided that the 3rd Parachute Brigade and 5th Parachute Brigade ( which did not utilise gliders ) should land in the first lift to clear the landing zones , allowing the 6th Airlanding Brigade to land in the second lift . 
