Video: 'The Other Side of Suez (BBC Documentary)' (Nov. 5, 1956, at 39:41)

(Monday, November 5, 1956, 10:20 a.m. Eastern European Time; during the Suez Crisis) — British and French paratroops landed in the Suez Canal Zone today as Britain and France opened their military intervention in Egypt, 24 hours ahead of a planned seaborne assault on Port Said.

The airborne operation, code-named Telescope, began with parachute drops by Britain’s 3rd Parachute Battalion and French airborne forces. The troops moved to secure strategic positions around the canal in preparation for the Anglo-French landings.

The operation came amid heavy fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces following Israel’s invasion of the Sinai Peninsula. Britain and France had demanded that both sides withdraw from the canal zone, then moved to intervene after Egypt rejected the ultimatum.

The Anglo-French forces were operating under Operation Musketeer, the plan for seizing control of the Suez Canal area.