65.History

Of all the dramatic events on June 6th, 1944, one operation in particular which involved the Glider Pilot Regiment and British airborne troops in combination with the RAF shines out as a magnificent, courageous and successful achievement. This is the story of the capture of two bridges over the River Orne and the Caen Canal - Pegasus and Horsa Bridges.

Planning for this type of airborne operation went back to the bleak period after the evacuation at Dunkirk. The British had already decided to form an airborne force, and on June 11, 1940, Winston Churchill sent a memorandum to the Chief of Staff exhorting him to increase the numbers as rapidly as possible to 5,000 men. Volunteers were called for, and the first came from Numbers 1 and 2 commando. Soon afterwards, RAF Ringway near Manchester was selected for training this airborne force, becoming the home for the Central Landing School. It was proposed to use gliders as well as paratroops, since the aircraft could carry a greater number of troops as well as heavy weapons, and thus achieve a much quicker concentration of force.

In September 1940 the structure of the airborne forces was discussed by the Army and the RAF. Obviously the soldiers would have to remain under Army command, but the RAF would provide the aircraft tugs and their aircrews. The RAF was also required to train the glider pilots and issue specifications for military assault gliders, none of which existed in Britain. A Glider Training Squadron was formed at Ringway and volunteer pilots were recruited, principally from the Army but also from the RAF. Elementary flying training took place in Tiger Moths, followed by training in small civilian gliders which had been donated to the war effort. Tiger Moths were also used at first for towing these gliders but soon afterwards Whitleys, which were by then obsolete as bombers, became available both as tugs and for paratroop training. Hawker Hectors were also used as tugs in these early days.

The first glider produced was the General Aircraft Hotspur, which could carry eight troops and a single pilot. This appeared in April 1941 and about 1,000 were built. However, the Hotspur was not considered large enough for the tasks ahead, even though it met the original specification, and it was relegated to the role of a trainer. Meanwhile much discussion took place as to which service the glider pilots should belong, and eventually it was decided that they would be Army personnel. In December 1941 the Glider Pilot Regiment was formed. The men first received about six weeks of military training and then went on to an Elementary Flying Training School on light aircraft, followed by eight weeks on Hotspurs at a Glider Training School. When the Airspeed Horsa assault glider, which could carry 20-25 troops, appeared in June 1942 the pilots spent fours more weeks on a conversion course.

In 1944 it was decided to train first pilots, who were given the rank of staff sergeants and wore a brevet with a lion over a crown between the wings, and second pilots, who became sergeants after a shorter course and a wore a brevet with a ‘G’ between the wings. The first pilot took off and landed the Horsa assault glider, which weighed seven tons when fully loaded, while the second pilot flew the glider when on tow and was expected to land only in emergencies. Another glider was the General Aircraft Hamilcar, weighing 14 tons when fully loaded, which was capable of carrying bulky equipment such as a small tank.

By the spring of 1944 sixteen RAF squadrons had been allocated the task of working with the airborne soldiers. Ten of these formed part of 38 Group under the Allied Expeditionary Air Force and were equipped with Sterlings, Albermarles and Halifaxes for towing gliders and dropping special agents. Six squadrons of Dakotas formed part of 46 Gp under Transport Command, being employed primarily for dropping paratroops but also for towing Horsas or dropping supplies and special agents.  The tasks of these aircrews might have been considered less glamorous than those of the fighter, bomber and coastal squadrons – in fact they were sometimes described as ‘bus-driving for brownjobs’ – but in the next few weeks they were to perform a key role in the invasion.

The British airborne forces consisted of the 1st Airborne Division and the 6th Airborne Division, the latter number having been allocated in the hope that the Germans would be fooled into believing that the British possessed six such divisions in addition to the American airborne forces already in England. The soldiers were, of course, either paratroops or airborne in gliders. Their tasks on D-Day were to seize certain tactical positions and hold them in advance of the arrival of the seaborne forces.

Within these tasks, that of the 6th Airborne Division was to secure the eastern flank of the British Second Army, which was ordered to land between Ouistreham and Gray-sur-Mer on what were codenamed Sword and Juno beaches. First, it had to capture intact the two bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne, both of which ran from Caen to the sea at Ouistreham, so that the seaborne forces could continue to advance and secure their bridgehead. Secondly, it had to destroy the heavily fortified gun battery at Merville, on the eastern side of the Caen Canal opposite Ouistreham, since this could fire directly on to Sword beach. Thirdly, it had to blow up five bridges over the River Dives to the east, to prevent German reinforcements moving up to the British flank from that direction.

The capture of the two bridges near Ouistreham was codenamed Operation Deadstick and the task was allocated to the gliderborne troops of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. From this regiment, D Company and two platoons of B Company, together with sappers from the Royal Engineers, were selected and placed under the command of Major R. John Howard. The sappers were included in the assault force to secure the bridges and to dismantle demolition charges which the Germans were believed to have set.

It was estimated that this force of about 170 British soldiers, approaching silently and then grouping together speedily in two sections, would achieve a ‘coup de main’ assault by overcoming the defending Germans, who were thought to number about 50 soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the bridges. Pilots of C Squadron, Glider Pilot Regiment, were detailed for the operation, as were RAF crews of Halifax Vs of 298 Sqn and 644 Sqn. These RAF squadrons were based at Tarrant Rushton, near Blandford in Dorset, and at the end of May 1944 all the men involved in the operation moved to that station, to begin a short but intensive period of training and preparation, both in the air and on the ground. Models of the targets were constructed from aerial photographs and made available for study.

The final force consisted of 138 men from the infantry regiment and 30 men from the Royal Engineers, in six Horsa gliders. Three of these gliders, towed by Halifax Vs flown by Wg Cdr D.H. Duder, WO A.K. Kerry and WO G.P. Bain of 298 Sqn, were detailed to attack the Caen Canal bridge. The other three gliders towed by Halifax Vs flown by Fg Off W.W. Archibald, Fg Off G. Clapperton and WO J.A Herman of 644 Sqn, were detailed for the River Orne bridge. The RAF also named the assault ‘coup de main’.

The six Halifaxes took off from Tarrant Rushton at about 2300hrs GMT on June 5, 1944, towing the Horsas. The flight over the Channel was fairly smooth although there was a lot of cloud and travelling in a glider was never comfortable. The troops had blackened their faces and carried so much equipment that the gliders were overloaded. Many of them joked, laughed and sang during the flight, as men often do when they are about to go into battle. The Horsa, made in timber and plywood sections by furniture manufacturers, was known inevitably as ‘the flying coffin’.

A few minutes before midnight, it was possible to pick out the coastline of France and the estuary of the River Orne at Ouistreham. The Horsas destined for the canal bridge were released from their tows at 6,000ft, while the other three were released at 4,500ft, when both targets were about four miles to the south. As a deception, the Halifaxes continued on course to Caen, where five of them succeeded in bombing a munitions factory.

One Horsa, flown by Staff Sgt A. Lawrence and intended for the bridge over the River Orne, was mistowed and came down near the River Dives to the east, where the troops captured another bridge, and then fought their way back to the correct landing zone. The first pilots of the other five Horsas glided down to the east of the River Orne, using gyro compasses and altimeters. Their second pilots called off timings from stopwatches and on ETA the gliders turned west, on the next legs to their targets.

The ground was partially obscured by cloud but the pilots were able to pick out the silvery streaks of the river and canal, as well as the bridges. They lowered flaps, lost height rapidly, and turned in toward their targets. On the final approaches they streamed arrester parachutes, which had been specially fitted for the operation, and steadied up for the landings, warning ‘Hold tight – landing now!’ The troops had already opened the sliding doors and braced themselves, ready for the critical moments of landing.

As the gliders bumped over the ground, with sparks showering from their skids, the pilots jettisoned the arrester parachutes. At 0016hrs GMT the glider flown by Staff Sgt Jim Wallwork crashed through the perimeter wire at the eastern side of the canal bridge, in the precise spot planned back in England. Fifteen yards behind him, Staff Sgt P. Hobbs’s glider slewed round and broke in half. The third glider, flown by Staff Sgt G. Barkway, landed ten yards away, in some marshy ground. The glider was quite badly damaged and one soldier was drowned, becoming the only casualty of the landings.

The remaining two gliders also landed exactly as planned, to the west of the bridge over the River Orne. Staff Sgt R. Howard made a careful approach and spotted his target when at 1,200ft. He passed over a line of trees and skidded to a halt about 300yds north of the bridge. Behind him, Staff Sgt S. Pearson put his Horsa down in a field 400yds away.

The first assault troops to land in France on D-Day had arrived. The achievement of the glider pilots and the crews of the Halifaxes who had towed them was later described by Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the Air C-in-C of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, as ‘one of the finest pieces of airmanship thus far in World War Two’.

It was the turn of the airborne troops to achieve an equivalent success. The German defenders at the river bridge dropped their weapons and ran away, enabling Lt ‘Todd’ Sweeney to report its capture over the radio to Major Howard at the canal bridge, with the code ‘Ham and Jam’. But the bitter fight was in progress at the canal bridge. From Wallwork’s glider, Lt Den Brotheridge led A platoon through the wire and over the bridge, the men running and firing from their hips, but when they reached the other side Brotheridge was hit in the neck from an enemy machine gun and died soon afterwards. Meanwhile Lt David Wood led B platoon from Hobb’s glider against the enemy trenches and gun pits but both he and his platoon sergeant were wounded before the Germans were overcome. Major Howard ordered Lt R. Smith and his C platoon from Barkways’s glider to cross the bridge to support A platoon and before long the remaining German resistance in the village of Benouville collapsed.  The café in the village, owned by Georges Gondree, was the first house in France to be liberated from the Germans.

The sappers were surprised to find that the demolition charges for the piers of both bridges were not in place, and later it was discovered that these had been kept in a German billet in case they were stolen by the French Resistance. The British troops took up defensive positions and shot four German infantrymen form the 21st Panzer Division who cam along the towpath to the river bridge. Germans in a staff car escorted by a motorcycle which then approached this bridge were either killed or captured. The rumbling of tanks from the 21st Panzer Division was heard but one which came in sight was knocked out by a bomb fired from a ‘Piat’ (Projector, Infantry, Anti-tank). The other tanks did not attack, since they received contrary orders from Army Group B, which by then was in a state of confusion.

At 0300hrs GMT the defenders were reinforced by paratroops of the 7th Parachute Battalion, who had dropped slightly to the east. A German gunboat which came up the canal from the direction of Ouistreham and opened fire on the British positions was sunk by another Piat bomb and the crew captured. Several German counter attacks were repelled until, at 1330hrs GMT, the skirl of bagpipes was heard and the defenders were further reinforced by seaborne commandos of the 1st special Service Brigade led by Brigadier the Lord Lovat. The commandos came over the canal bridge under enemy fire, with Piper Bill Millin ranting ‘The Black Bear’.

Major John Howard received the DSO, three of his officers the MC, three sergeants the Croix de Guerre, and all five first pilots who landed at the bridges on Operation Deadstick were awarded DFMs. After the war, the canal bridge at Benouville was named ‘The Pegasus Bridge’ by the French, the winged horse being a symbol of the British airborne forces.

Many thanks to Michael Oakey, the Editor of Aeroplane Monthly magazine for his kind permission in allowing us to use the above and also to Roy Nesbit who wrote this piece for the 50th Anniversary Supplement published in May 1994. www.aeroplanemonthly.com