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17th Parachute Battalion
Cap badge of the Parachute Regiment
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Airborne forces
Size	Battalion
Part of	1st Parachute Brigade 6th Parachute Brigade
Nickname(s)	Red Devils
Motto(s)	Utrinque Paratus (Latin for "Ready for Anything")
Insignia
The emblem of the Second World War British Airborne Forces, Bellerophon riding the flying horse Pegasus

The 17th Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, which was raised by the British Army during the Second World War.

Regular army

The battalion was raised in August 1945 and assigned to the reformed 1st Parachute Brigade. It was posted to Palestine with the 6th Airborne Division later that year. Post war reductions in the army resulted in the battalion being amalgamated with the 7th Parachute Battalion in 1946, keeping the number of the senior battalion.

Territorial Army

In 1947, a Territorial Army battalion was raised from the 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry. The new battalion, the 17th (Durham Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion (TA), served in the 6th Parachute Brigade, 16th Airborne Division. Defence cuts in 1967 saw the battalion being amalgamated with the 12th/13th Parachute Battalion (which had been formed in 1956 by the merger of the 12th (Yorkshire) and the 13th (Lancashire) battalions) to become the 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment.

References

1. Otway, p.88
2. ^ "17th Parachute Battalion". Paradata.org. Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
3. "12th Parachute Battalion". Paradata.org. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2013.

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