THE TOUR BELOW TAKES YOU TO THE FAMOUS BRIDGES ACROSS THE CAEN CANAL "PEGASUS BRIDGE", AND THE RIVER ORNE. NEXT WE DRIVE TO MERVILLE TO VISIT THE BATTERY COMPLEX.
THESE TWO OBJECTS WERE TARGETS FOR THE 6TH AIRBORNE DIVISION.
FROM BAYEUX TAKE THE N13 TO THE EAST, DIRECTION TO CAEN. FROM CAEN (D515) HEAD FOR OUISTREHAM. FOLLOW THE SIGNES TO BENOUVILLE/RANVILLE (D514) "PEGASUS
BRIGE"
JUNE 6TH, 1944, 00.16 HOUR OBJECT:
(PEGASUS) BRIDGE OVER CAEN CANAL.
The first bridge you pass is the bridge over the Caen canal. This is the famous Pegasus Bridge. A couple of hundred metres further is the now called 'Horsa Bridge'.
This is the spot were three 'Horsa' gliders of the
6th Airborne Division under
leadership of Major John Howard landed on the east shore 10 minutes after midnight on June 6th, 1944. Within 10 minutes the bridge was fallen in British hands and secured.
There were 2 killed and 14 wounded of the British troops. The owners of café Gondrée became the first French who were liberated. On the landing side is now a bust of Major Howard and markerstones were the gliders came down.
 
Left, Howard with his bust, right, bullet-impacts in the bridge!
Howard has to 'hold until relieved'. Just before daybreak there appeared three German tanks around the corner at the maire Bénouville. With a PIAT (Projector Infantry Anti-Tank)
(a grenade launcher as one is displayed in the museum) the first tank is put out of action. The other two tanks pull back. From a big building on the west shore (behind the café) some accurate mortar
fire is brought on the British soldiers by the Germans. Because they think this is an hospital the British troops do not reply to fire back. On the right-hand side stands a watertower were some German snipers were hiding.
Howard gave permission to fire one shot with the German 50 mm cannon they captured earlier. With cheers and hollers the tower is put out of action with that single shot. At five o'clock that afternoon the bagpipes of
Bill Millin could be heard when Lord Lovat came with the relief troops. (In 1961 this was a location for the motion picture 'The Longest Day', when the whole attack and relief where re-enacted.)
THE MUSEUM:
As you leave the (new) Pegasus Bridge, the museum is located on the piece of land between the two bridges north of the D514. Here you'll find the restored original bridge that was replaced by a
new one in the early nineties. In the big counterbalance at the back you can still see the bruises en holes when the bridge was struck by an German bomb. Further can be found a Biley bridge and a replica of a Horsa glider. In a small shet with original pieces of a Horsa. The museum is a must.
FROM CAEN (515) HEAD FOR OUISTREHAM.
FOLLOW THE SIGNES TO BENOUVILLE/RANVILLE (514). FOLLOW THE ROAD NORTH TO MERVILLE AND CABOURG.
JUNE 6TH, 1944, 00.20 HOURS, OBJECT: MERVILLE BATTERY.
Just outside Merville lies the battery complex where the Allies were afraid off because the bunkers were to contain 150mm cannons that could be a danger for the invasion fleet.
The task to silence the complex was given to Major Terence Otway. Lancaster bombers dropped bombs just after midnight on the battery. Unfortunately the bombs missed the target.
 
Major Terence Otway, right, his signature (own coll.)
Four hours after the paratroopers of the 6th Airborne Division
landed Otway collected 150 men and did head for the Merville. This was just 25% of the men that made the jump. The most of them were hopelessly lost or were dropped at the wrong point. The attack started at 04.20 hours
witch was fierce and bloody. Seventy British soldiers were killed or wounded. At the German garrison were twenty captured, the other Germans were killed or wounded. At 05.00 hours it was all over. In the bunkers were not
the dreaded 150mm but some old 75mm cannons. After Otway and his men left the site the battery was once more taken by the Germans. The next day there was again hefty fighting in the bunkers and
the tunnels that connected the bunkers.
THE MUSEUM:
In the first bunker is a museum (not the most impressive, but well worth a visit). PS. Look at the nice workmanship of the finish of the concrete. Especially around the edges of the machinegun point
on the right of the bunker (a Tobruk), and all that for a point of destruction!
More on 'bunkers', click HERE.
From this point we go to the British and Canadian sectors,
Gold, Juno en Sword.
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