D-Day part 2 Pegasus Bridge

Pegasus Bridge

On the night of 5 June 1944, a force of 181 men, led by Major John Howard, took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset, southern England in six Horsa Gliders to capture Pegasus Bridge, and also "Horsa Bridge", a few hundred yards to the east, over the Orne River. The force included elements of B and D Companies, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a platoon of B Company, Royal Engineers, and men of the Glider Pilot Regiment. The object of this action was to prevent German armour from crossing the bridges and attacking the eastern flank of the landings at Sword Beach.
Five of the Ox and Bucks's gliders landed as close as 47 yards from their objectives from 16 minutes past midnight. The attackers poured out of their battered gliders, completely surprising the German defenders, and took the bridges within 10 minutes. They lost two men in the process, Lieutenant Den Brotheridge and Lance-Corporal Fred Greenhalgh.
Greenhalgh drowned when his glider landed. Lieutenant Brotheridge was killed crossing the bridge in the first minutes of the assault and thus became the first member of the invading Allied armies to die in combat on D-Day.
One glider, assigned to the capture of Horsa Bridge, landed at the bridge over the River Dives, some 7 miles off. Most of the soldiers in this glider moved through German lines towards the village of Ranville where they eventually rejoined the British forces. The Ox & Bucks were reinforced half-an-hour after the landings by Major Pine-Coffin's 7th Parachute Battalion, and linked up with the beach landing forces with the arrival of Lord Lovat's Commandos.
One of the members of the 7th Battalion reinforcements was young actor Richard Todd who would, nearly two decades later, play Major Howard in the film The Longest Day.

Aerial shot showing the close position of the landed gliders in relation the bridge (bottom left)

A shot taken on 12th June 1944 which clearly show the amazing skill of the Horsa Glider pilots.  Lt. Den Brotheridge, the first allied death on D-day was killed where the Jeep is standing as he and his men rushed across the bridge from the eastern side. A Bedford 4x4 engineer's truck is returning from the airborne headquarters area to secure supplies from Sword Beach. The drivers, although in Europe, are still driving on the left side as in England.

Here I am stood at the marker stone planted on the exact landing position of Glider 1.

Each Gliders resting position is marked by a marker stone.

Next to the marker stone here is a memorial bust to Major John Howard.

Looking back towards the bridge from the Glider 1 marker stone.

Standing outside the famous 'Gondree Cafe' this is a view of the new bridge today.

Taking refreshment at the Gondree Cafe.  The daughter of the owners on that
night in June now runs the Cafe and served me the 'Gondree special'

The Gondree Special...and delicious it was too!

In the grounds of the Museum just over the road from the current bridge is the original bridge.
You are allowed to walk on the bridge and see the bullet holes and the holes in the sides of the
bridge that held the explosives the Germans had placed.

Here I am pointing to some very large calibre bullet holes at the top of the original bridge

This is the Gite we stopped in at Isigny sur Mer.  It sleeps 11.

 

 

The kitchen, preparing a meal.  We had a dining room but never used it prefering the cozyness

of the kitchen table.