The capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges (wrongly known as Operation Deadstick (which in fact was a specialized glider exercise), and in official documents as Operation Coup de Main) was an operation by

airborne forces Airborne forces, airborne troops, or airborne infantry are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in ai ...

of the British Army that took place in the early hours of 6 June 1944 as part of the Normandy landings of the Second World War. The objective was to capture intact two road bridges in Normandy across the River Orne and the Caen canal, providing the only exit eastwards for British forces from their landing on Sword Beach. Intelligence reports said both bridges were heavily defended by the Germans and wired for demolition. Once captured, the bridges had to be held against any counter-attack, until the assault force was relieved by commandos and other infantry advancing from the landing beach. The mission was vital to the success of Operation Tonga, the overall British airborne landings in Normandy. Failure to capture the bridges intact, or to prevent their demolition by the Germans, would leave the

British 6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being t ...

cut off from the rest of the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

armies with their backs to the two waterways. If the Germans retained control over the bridges, they could be used by their armoured divisions to attack the landing beaches of Normandy. Responsibility for the operation was assigned to the members of 'D' Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, part of the

6th Airlanding Brigade 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, 6th Airborne Division. The assault group comprised a reinforced company of six infantry platoons and an attached platoon of

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. The British assault group flew from the south of England to Normandy in six

Airspeed Horsa The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century c ...

gliders. The pilots of the gliders succeeded in delivering the company to its objective. After a brief exchange of fire, both bridges were captured and defended successfully against German tank, gunboat and infantry counter-attacks, until relief arrived.

Background

British forces

During the planning stage of the

Normandy invasion Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

, the decision was made to land the

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being t ...

( Major-General

Richard Gale Richard Gale may refer to: *Richard Gale (British Army officer) (1896–1982), British soldier *Richard Gale (Australian politician) (1834–1931), Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council * Richard Pillsbury Gale (1900–1973), U.S. ...

) on the left flank of the invasion beaches between the River Orne and the River Dives. Their primary objective was to capture the two road bridges over the River Orne and the Caen Canal and prevent a German flanking attack on the landing area. Failure to capture the bridges would leave the 6th Airborne Division cut off in enemy territory, so the

5th Parachute Brigade The 5th Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces formation of brigade strength, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Created during 1943, the brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, serving alongside the 3rd Parachut ...

were earmarked to defend the bridges against counter-attacks. Gale decided that the only way to capture the bridges intact was by a glider '' coup de main'' assault. He then asked Brigadier Hugh Kindersley of the

to nominate his best company for the operation. 'D' Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

John Howard) and second in command

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Brian Priday, was selected for the mission. The company had trained hard and became the fittest in the battalion, often utilizing bomb-damaged inner-city areas to practice street fighting with live ammunition. Howard expected the invasion to involve night-fighting and changed the daily routine to ensure that his men were up to the task. For weeks at a time, they rose at 20:00 and completed exercises, drills and normal paperwork throughout the night before retiring at 13:00. Gale tested the company through two exercises where the objective was to capture bridges, when it became apparent that the company would not be able to carry out the mission on its own. Asked to select two more platoons from the battalion to join them, Howard chose two from 'B' Company commanded by Lieutenants Fox and Smith. Any explosive charges found attached to the bridges were the responsibility of 30

from the 249th (Airborne) Field Company, commanded by Captain Jock 'Joe' Neilson. Changes were then made to the operational plan to accommodate six platoons. Three were assigned to attack each bridge simultaneously with infantry overcoming the troops on guard duty while the engineers located and dismantled any demolition charges. For six days and nights the company carried out exercises just outside

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, in the south-west of England, where two bridges similar to their objectives were found over the Exeter Ship Canal. Transport to Normandy was arranged in six

gliders, piloted by 12 NCOs from 'C' Squadron, Glider Pilot Regiment.All Glider Pilot Regiment pilots were at least of the rank of sergeant and trained soldiers. The Horsa had a wingspan of and a length of , with a maximum load of or space for two pilots, twenty-eight troops or a mixture of two jeeps, artillery guns and trailers. Pilot training involved practice landings on a small strip of land, instrument flying using stopwatches for accurate course changes and fitting flight crew goggles with dark glass to get them used to night flying. By May 1944 they had carried out 54 training sorties, flying in all weathers both day and night. Howard was not told the exact details of the operation until 2 May, 1944. His orders were to seize the bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal at Bénouville and Ranville intact and hold them until relieved. The relief force would initially be a company from the

7th Parachute Battalion The 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, formed by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was raised in November 1942 by the conversion of the 10th Battalion, ...

under Howard's command. When the remainder of the parachute battalion arrived, he would hand over to their commander Lieutenant-Colonel

Richard Pine-Coffin Colonel Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, (2 December 1908 – 28 February 1974) was an officer of the British Army who saw service during the Second World War. He commanded the 3rd Parachute Battalion in North Africa and the 7th (Light Infantry) P ...

. The 3rd Infantry Division and the commandos of the 1st Commando Brigade were scheduled to land at

Sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

at 06:00 on the day then advance to the bridges where they were expected to arrive at 11:00. Royal Air Force Flying Training Command, 1940-1945

At the end of May 1944, 'D' Company left the battalion camp at Bulford in Wiltshire for RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset. The base was then secured and Howard briefed everyone on the mission, distributing photographs of the bridges and unveiling a model of the area. Glider pilot commander

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, supervi ...

Jim Wallwork Staff Sergeant James Harley Wallwork DFM (21 October 1919 – 24 January 2013) was a British soldier and a member of the Glider Pilot Regiment who achieved notability as the pilot of the first Horsa glider to land at Pegasus Bridge in t ...

told Howard that with a full load of men, ammunition, assault boats and engineers' stores his gliders would be dangerously overloaded. Howard decided to only take one assault boat per glider and leave behind two men from each platoon. At the last minute, Doctor John Vaughan replaced an injured man in one of the platoons. On 5 June 1944, the company made final preparations for the mission. Each man was issued their personal weapons and ammunition as well as up to nine hand grenades and four

Bren gun The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also use ...

magazines. Each platoon also had a

2-inch mortar The Ordnance SBML two-inch mortar, or more commonly, just "two-inch mortar", was a British mortar issued to the British Army and the Commonwealth armies, that saw use during the Second World War and later. It was more portable than larger mort ...

and a radio. Just before the men boarded the gliders, codewords were issued. 'Ham' indicated the canal bridge was captured and 'Jam' the river bridge. Capture and destruction of the canal bridge would be signalled using the codeword 'Jack'; 'Lard' would be used if a similar fate befell the river bridge.

Bridges

The Ranville bridge spans the River Orne and the Bénouville bridge crosses the Caen Canal to the west. They are from the coast and provided the only access to the city of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,communes crosses the bridges and then continues east to the River Dives. At long and wide, the Caen Canal bridge opens to allow canal traffic to pass underneath. The controls were housed in a nearby cabin. The canal is deep by wide, with earth and stone banks high. Small

tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...

tracks run on both banks along the canal's entire length. Between the two bridges there is a strip of mostly marshy ground about wide, broken up by ditches and small streams. The Ranville bridge over the River Orne is long, wide and can be opened to allow river traffic to pass. The river is wide and with an average depth of . It has mud banks averaging about high and a tidal rise and fall of . A number of small houses lie to the west of the river, connected by a track wide, that runs along both banks.

German forces

The bridges were guarded by 50 men belonging to the German 736th Grenadier Regiment, 716th Infantry Division. The unit was commanded by Major Hans Schmidt and based at Ranville, east of the River Orne. The 716th was a static formation and had been assigned to Normandy since June 1942. The division's eight infantry battalions were deployed to defend of the

Atlantic wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

. The unit was poorly equipped with a mixture of foreign weapons and manned by conscripts from Poland, the Soviet Union, and France under a German officer and senior

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

s (NCOs). Schmidt's soldiers had orders to blow up the two bridges if they were in danger of capture. Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-721-0386-15, Frankreich, Soldaten mit MG 34

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-721-0386-15, Frankreich, Soldaten mit MG 34

A second division, the 21st Panzer, moved into the area in May 1944. One of its regiments, the 125th Panzergrenadier, commanded by Colonel

Hans von Luck Hans–Ulrich Freiherr von Luck und Witten (15 July 1911 – 1 August 1997), usually shortened to Hans von Luck, was a German officer in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Luck served with the 7th Panzer Division and 21st Panzer ...

, was billeted at Vimont just east of Caen. There was also a battalion of the 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment based at

Cairon Cairon () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Geography The commune of Cairon is situated in Normandy, in Calvados, 5 kilometers to the north-west of Caen. The Mue river and its tributary the V ...

to the west of the bridges. Colonel von Luck trained his regiment in anti-invasion operations. He also identified likely incursion points and marked out forward routes, rest and refuelling areas and anti-aircraft gun positions. The 21st Panzer Division was a new formation based on the former Afrika Korps unit, which had been destroyed in North Africa. Although equipped with an assortment of older tanks and other armoured vehicles, the division's officers were veterans and 2,000 men from the old division filled its ranks. Further afield were the

12th SS Panzer Division The SS Division Hitlerjugend or 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" (german: 12. SS-Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend") was a German armoured division of the Waffen-SS during World War II. The majority of its junior enlisted men were drawn from me ...

at Lisieux and the Panzer Lehr Division at

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

, both less than a day's march from the area. Defences were in place at both bridges. On the west bank of the Caen Canal bridge there were three machine-gun emplacements and on the east bank a machine-gun and an anti-tank gun. To their north were another three machine-guns and a concrete pillbox. An anti-aircraft tower equipped with machine-guns stood to the south. At the River Orne bridge, the eastern bank south of the bridge had a pillbox with anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. To the north of the bridge were two machine-guns. Both bridges had sandbagged trench systems along the banks. However, the presence of German machineguns near the canal bridge was categorically denied by Helmut Roemer and Erwin Sauer, in: HK.von Keusgen, Pegasus-Bruecke und Batterie Mrville (014)

The operation

Operation Deadstick canal bridge gliders

Flight and landings

At 22:56 on 5 June, 1944, the six gliders towed by Halifax bombers took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton. Horsa number one, the first of the three headed for the Caen Canal, carried Howard with Lieutenant Den Brotheridge's platoon, number two bore Lieutenant David Wood's platoon, and number three carried Lieutenant Smith's platoon. Priday with Lieutenant Hooper's platoon made for the river bridge aboard number four. Horsa number five carrying Lieutenant Fox's platoon was followed by number six bearing

Tod Sweeney Colonel Henry John Sweeney MC (1 June 1919 – 4 June 2001), known as Tod Sweeney, was an officer of the British Army. During the Second World War he was a platoon commander in the coup de main operation, by gliderborne troops of the 2nd Battal ...

's platoon. Each glider also carried five Royal Engineers. Flying over the English Channel at , the bombers crossed the Normandy coast at 00:07 on 6 June, 1944 and released their towed gliders. With Wallwork at the controls, the number one glider crashed into the barbed wire surrounding the canal bridge defences at 00:16. The other two gliders followed at one-minute intervals. The number two glider broke in half and came to halt at the edge of a large pond. One of the men, Lance-Corporal Fred Greenhalgh, was knocked unconscious following the crash landing and thrown out of his glider and died by drowning, becoming the first casualty of the operation. Brotheridge and Smith's platoons headed for the bridge, while Wood's platoon moved towards the trenches on its north east side.

Capture of the bridges

The Germans knew the invasion was imminent if not the exact location; Major Schmidt, in command of the bridges, had been told that they were one of the most critical points in Normandy. The defenders however were not on full alert and only two sentries were on duty when the gliders landed. The sound of a gunshot alerted the two sentries on the canal bridge. As Brotheridge's platoon attacked, one ran off shouting "paratroops" while the second fired a flare gun to alert nearby defenders. Brotheridge shot him while other members of his platoon cleared the trenches and pillbox with grenades. Alerted by the flare, the German machine gunners opened fire at the men on the bridge, wounding Brotheridge as he threw a grenade. The grenade silenced one of the machine gun positions and another was taken out by Bren gun fire. 1st Platoon crossed the bridge to take up a defensive position on the west bank. The Royal Engineers from number one glider searched for explosive charges and cut the fuse wires when they found any. Smith's platoon crossed the bridge next, exchanging fire with the German defenders, whereupon Smith was wounded by a grenade. Using grenades and sub-machine gun fire, the platoons cleared the trenches and bunkers. By 00:21 German resistance on the west bank of the canal bridge was over. Checking the area, the men of Brotheridge's platoon now realised that their leader was wounded. He soon died of his wounds, becoming the first

soldier killed by enemy action during the invasion. On the east bank, Wood's platoon cleared the trenches and bunkers with little opposition. Wood was hit in the leg by machine-gun fire as he ordered the platoon to storm the German defences. All three platoon commanders at the canal bridge were now either dead or wounded. Around the same time, pathfinders from the 22nd Independent Parachute Company landed in the area between the River Orne and the River Dives. Brigadier

Nigel Poett General Sir Joseph Howard Nigel Poett, (20 August 1907 – 29 October 1991) was a British Army officer who commanded the 5th Parachute Brigade during the Second World War. Early life Poett was born on 20 August 1907, at a rented family house i ...

, commanding the 5th Parachute Brigade, along with a small team accompanied the pathfinders. Disoriented after landing, Poett heard Brotheridge's

Sten gun The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cost ...

and set off for the bridges with the only man he could locate. Unteroffizier Weber, the only German to escape 'D' Company's attack, retreated to Bénouville and reported the bridge had been captured. Fox's glider (number five) was the first to land from the river bridge at 00:20, while glider number four was reported missing. When the Germans opened fire with an MG 34, the platoon responded with a mortar and destroyed the gun with a direct hit. They then crossed the bridge without further opposition. At 00:21, glider number six landed short of the bridge. Sweeney left one of his

sections Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

on the west bank then moved the rest of the platoon across the bridge to take up defensive positions on the east bank. From his newly established command post, in the trenches on the eastern bank of the canal near the bridge, Howard learned that the river bridge had also been taken. Captain Neilson of the engineers reported that although the bridges had been prepared for demolition, the explosives had not been attached. Howard ordered his signalman to transmit the code words 'Ham' and 'Jam' then brought Fox's platoon across the canal bridge, positioning them at the Bénouville to Le Port crossroads as the company's forward platoon.

Arrival of 7th Parachute Battalion

At 00:50, aircraft carrying the rest of the 6th Airborne Division appeared overhead and the paratroopers descended onto drop zones marked out by the pathfinders. Howard began blowing the

morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

letter 'V' on his whistle, to help guide the 7th Parachute Battalion to the bridges. The first paratroops to arrive, at 00:52, were Brigadier Poett and the soldier he had picked up en route. Briefed by Howard on the situation, they heard tanks and lorries moving around in Bénouville and Le Port. On the drop zone, only about 100 men of the 7th Parachute Battalion had made it to the rallying point but all their signal equipment, machine guns and mortars were missing. Pine-Coffin, aware that his battalion was the only unit allocated defensive positions west of the bridges, decided they could not wait any longer and, at 01:10, left for the bridges. Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-298-1761-16, Nordfrankreich, Panzer IV

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-298-1761-16, Nordfrankreich, Panzer IV

At about the same time, Major Schmidt decided he needed to see for himself what was happening at the bridges. He headed for the bridge in his Sd.Kfz. 250 halftrack with a motorcycle escort. Travelling at high speed they unknowingly passed the forward line of 'D' Company's defence and drove onto the bridge whereupon the British company opened fire. The soldier aboard the motorcycle was killed and the halftrack was forced off the road. Schmidt and his driver were taken prisoner. The commander of the 716th Infantry Division, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, was informed at 01:20 of the parachute landings and that the bridges had been captured intact. One of his first actions was to contact

Generalmajor is the Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and Royal Danish Air Force. As a two-star ...

Edgar Feuchtinger Edgar Feuchtinger (9 November 1894 – 21 January 1960) was a German General (Generalleutnant) during the Second World War. Feuchtinger was commander of the 21st Panzer Division during the Normandy Invasion. Later in 1944 he was tried and convic ...

of 21st Panzer Division. Richter ordered the division to attack the landing areas. While Feuchtinger's tanks were delegated to support the 716th, it was also part of the German armoured reserve that could not move without orders from the German High Command. All German panzer formations could only be moved on the direct orders of Adolf Hitler, who was sleeping at the time and his staff refused to wake him. When the 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment received news of the airborne landings at 01:30, Luck ordered the regiment to their assembly areas north and east of Caen and to wait for further orders. The closest large German unit to the canal bridge was the 2nd Battalion, 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment based at Cairon. General Feuchtinger ordered them to recapture the bridges, and then attack the parachute landing zones further west. At 02:00, the 2nd Battalion headed for the bridges from the west, supported by the 1st Panzerjager Company and part of the 989th Heavy Artillery Battalion coming from the north. As the first Panzer IVs from the north reached the junction leading to the bridge, the leading vehicle was hit by a round from 'D' Company's only serviceable PIAT anti-tank weapon. The vehicle exploded, setting off its stowed ammunition, and the other tanks withdrew. The first company of the 7th Parachute Battalion, commanded by Major Nigel Taylor, arrived at the bridges. Howard directed them to defensive positions west of the canal in Bénouville and Le Port. When Pine-Coffin arrived at the bridges, he was briefed by Howard, and crossed into Bénouville and set up his headquarters beside the church. Pine-Coffin had about 200 men in his three companies. He positioned 'A' and 'C' Companies in Bénouville facing south towards Caen and 'B' Company in Le Port facing Ouistreham. 'D' Company was now pulled back into the area between the two bridges and held in reserve. A further sweep of the trenches and bunkers was conducted, and resulted in the capture of a number of Germans. At 03:00, the 8th Heavy Company, 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment with 75 mm SP guns, 20 mm AA guns, and mortars attacked 'A' and 'C' Companies, 7th Parachute Battalion, from the south. The paratroops were forced back and the Germans established their own positions in Bénouville, but were unable to break the British line. They dug in and waited for tank support before moving forward again. The Germans fired mortar bombs and machine guns at the paratroopers and attempted small assaults on their positions throughout the night. Just before dawn, Howard summoned his platoon commanders to a meeting. With their senior officers dead or wounded, 1, 2 and 3 Platoons were now commanded by corporals. Howard's second in command, Captain Priday and 4 Platoon were missing. Only Lieutenants Fox and Sweeney of 5 and 6 Platoons respectively had a full complement of officers and NCOs. The landings at Sword began at 07:00, preceded by a heavy naval bombardment. At the bridges, daylight allowed German snipers to identify targets and anyone moving in the open was in danger of being shot. The men of 1 Platoon who had taken over the 75 mm anti-tank gun on the east bank of the canal used it to engage possible sniper positions in Bénouville, the Château de Bénouville and the surrounding area. At 09:00, two German gunboats approached the canal bridge from Ouistreham. The lead boat fired its 20 mm gun and 2 Platoon returned fire with a PIAT, hitting the wheelhouse of the leading boat, which crashed into the canal bank. The second boat retreated to Ouistreham. A lone German aircraft bombed the canal bridge at 10:00, dropping one bomb. The bomb struck the bridge but failed to detonate.

Afternoon fighting and link up with Sword Beach

The German 2nd Battalion, 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment continued to attack Bénouville and Le Port, assisted by their tanks, mortars and infantry. The attack caused serious problems for the understrength 7th Parachute Battalion, until the leading tank was blown up with a Gammon bomb, blocking the road. During the attack, 13 of the 17 tanks trying to get through to the bridge were destroyed. The paratroopers were then reinforced by 1 Platoon from 'D' Company. The platoon moved forward into Bénouville and cleared the Germans in

house to house ''House to House: A Soldier's Memoir'' is a 2007 memoir by Iraq War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia.Tsouras, Peter.House to House: An Epic Memoir of War" Military History 24.10 (Jan. 2008): 70-71. The secondary author is John ...

fighting. 5 and 6 Platoons also moved into positions opposite the Gondrée Café, on the west bank of the canal. By midday, most of the missing men from the 7th Parachute Battalion had arrived at the bridges and the three glider platoons were moved back to their original positions. Just after midday, the 21st Panzer Division received permission to attack the landings. Luck ordered the 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment, east of the River Orne, towards the bridges. The column was quickly spotted, and engaged for the next two hours by Allied artillery and aircraft causing heavy losses. The 1st Battalion, 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment and the 100th Panzer Regiment, attacking from west of the canal, had more success reaching the beaches between the British landing area of Sword and the Canadian Juno. At 13:30, the men at the bridges heard the sound of

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

, played by Bill Millin of

No. 4 Commando No. 4 Commando was a battalion-sized British Army commando unit, formed in 1940 early in the Second World War. Although it was raised to conduct small-scale raids and harass garrisons along the coast of German occupied France, it was mainly emp ...

, 1st Special Service Brigade. As the commandos arrived, they crossed the bridges and joined the rest of 6th Airborne Division defending the eastern perimeter. Some of the tanks accompanying the commandos moved into Bénouville to reinforce its defences, while others crossed the bridges with the commandos. At 15:00, a boat loaded with German infantry approached from Caen. It was engaged with the anti-tank gun manned by 1 Platoon, hit in the stern by the second round fired and then retreated back toward Caen. At 21:15, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment of the

185th Infantry Brigade 185th may refer to: *185th (2/1st West Riding) Brigade, formation of the Territorial Force of the British Army *185th Air Refueling Squadron flies the KC-135 Stratotanker *185th Air Refueling Wing (ARW), unit located at Sioux Gateway Airport, Iowa ...

arrived from Sword and began taking over the bridges' defences. At around midnight, Howard handed over command of the bridges to the Warwickshire Regiment and his company left to join the rest of their battalion at Ranville. At 03:30, they finally located the battalion's positions and found Captain Priday and 4 Platoon had already joined the battalion. The platoon had landed beside the River Dives, at Varaville about away, and had spent the previous day fighting their way towards the bridges trying to rejoin the company.

Aftermath

Bénouville was the farthest forward point of the British advance on 6 June 1944. On 9 June, the

German Air Force The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War a ...

attacked the bridges with 13 aircraft. The British had positioned light and medium-sized anti-aircraft guns around the bridges and in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire the attack failed, although they did claim one of the bridges was destroyed by a direct hit. The bridgehead, captured by the 6th Airborne Division, was the subsequent launching point for a number of following operations. I Corps conducted the eastern pincer of Operation Perch out of the bridgehead, but were halted by the 21st Panzer Division. A later operation, Dreadnought, was planned but cancelled; it intended for VIII Corps to use the bridgehead as a basis for an outflanking attack on Caen. Finally, Operations Atlantic and Goodwood attacked out of the bridgehead liberating the remaining sectors of Caen and ending the Battle for Caen. Following Deadstick, the engineers, glider pilots and 'B' Company men were returned to their parent formations. 'D' Company played their part in the 6th Airborne Division's defence of the Orne bridgehead, and advance to the River Seine. On 5 September, when the division was withdrawn to England, all that remained of the company were 40 men under the only remaining officer, Howard; the other officers, sergeants, and most of the junior NCOs having been among the casualties. The glider pilots were the first group to leave 'D' Company, their expertise being required for other planned operations. In particular Operation Comet, which included another ''coup-de-main'' operation where eighteen gliders would be used to capture three bridges in the Netherlands. The mission would be carried out by the 1st Airborne Division with a brigade allocated to defend each bridge. Comet was scheduled for the 8 September 1944, but was delayed and then cancelled. The plans were adapted, and became

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

. This operation would involve three airborne divisions, however the ''coup-de-main'' assault plans were not carried out.

Analysis

Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

Trafford Leigh-Mallory, of the Royal Air Force, praised the pilots involved saying the operation included the "most outstanding flying achievements of the war".

Casualties

Of the 181 men (139 infantry, 30 engineers and 12 pilots) of 'D' Company involved in the capture of the bridges, two were killed and an additional fourteen wounded. The 7th Battalion's losses during the defence of the bridges amounted to 18 dead and 36 wounded. The total German losses, in the area, during 6 June are unknown. Fourteen tanks were lost during the fighting; the first during the night, and the remaining 13 throughout the day. Other losses include one gunboat on the Caen canal.

Awards

Howard was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, presented in the field by General

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...

. Both Smith and Sweeney were awarded the Military Cross; the Military Medal was awarded to Sergeant Thornton and Lance-Corporal Stacey; Lieutenant Brotheridge was posthumously

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. In recognition of their feat of flying, eight of the glider pilots were awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.

Legacy

The Caen Canal bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the emblem of the British airborne forces, while the River Orne bridge became Horsa Bridge. The road across them is now the "Esplanade Major John Howard". Since the end of the war, Pegasus Bridge and the adjacent Café Gondrée have become a place where British veterans of the conflict visiting Normandy congregate. In 1994, Pegasus Bridge was replaced by a new structure and the old bridge was added to the displays at the Pegasus Museum in Benouville. The original model of the area around the bridge, that was used to brief troops taking part in the assault, is preserved in Airborne Assault: The Museum of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces, located at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

Notes

Footnotes

References

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External links

List of 'D' Company men involved in the operation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deadstick, Operation British airborne landings in Normandy Operation Overlord Glider Pilot Regiment operations Military operations of World War II involving Germany Caen canal and Orne river bridges Military history of Normandy Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom) 1944 in France Conflicts in 1944 June 1944 events