The First Airborne Assault on D-Day! (WW2 Documentary)

shortly after midnight on June the 6th 1944 a young German infantryman named helmet Roma paced along this bridge in the Normandy region of France moments later a crash Was Heard just 70 yards away followed immediately by the sound of hobnell boot echoing in the darkness and then the crackle of machine gun fire he wasn't to know it but he was witnessing the opening scenes of perhaps the most famous day in military history in this video we'll combine the latest technology historic imagery veteran accounts and underground footage to explore the Epic story of The Assault on and defense of the iconic Pegasus Bridge by June of 1944 there was no doubt that the long-awaited Allied invasion of Western Europe was imminent having steadily built up forces for more than a year the Allies were finally poised to launch Operation Overlord across the channel the thinly stretched Germans had to answer one major question just where would that blow land as early as March 1942 Hitler had issued Fury directive 40 which set out the plan for the construction of the famous Atlantic Wall a vast series of coastal fortifications covering thousands of miles from Norway to the Spanish border into this project went millions of man hours and countless valuable resources all with the aim of throwing any Allied invasion back into the sea across the channel the Allied planners weighed up their options the obvious choice for the invasion was a historic one the parda Calais with the shortest Channel Crossing of just 22 miles thus shorter Supply and communication routes and the advantage being well-known terrain to the Allies it was the Preferred Choice and for exactly that reason it was decided not to land there in fact a hugely elaborate and successful Allied deception plan Operation Fortitude was hatched to convince the Germans that the target was the part of Calais whilst in reality The Chosen stretch of ground was some 150 miles along France's western coast in Normandy let's take a moment to understand the bigger picture on the eve of D-Day Allied command decided to launch amphibious assaults on five main beaches moving from west to east Americans would come ashore in Utah and Omaha beaches the British 50th division would land on gold Canadian troops were responsible for The Landings on Juno and finally British troops of the third infantry division were come ashore on sword Beach all told the beaches spanned some 45 miles of Normandy coastline these forces Landing against fortified Coastal defenses were especially vulnerable not only on the beaches themselves but by determining counter-attacks from mobile Reserve units held inland enter the Airborne the idea was relatively simple in order to protect the troops landing on the coast the screen of airborne troops would be dropped on the flanks of the invasion the U.S 82nd 101st divisions to the west and the British sixth Airborne to the east their job was to seize and hold vital Bridges and Road Junctions all throughout the region and to hold on to them at all costs thus allowing the troops on the beaches to establish that famous foothold in Fortress Europe at the very top of the list of targets of importance were two bridges on the Eastern flank of the invasion near to sword Beach even a quick glance today tells us why there was such high priority targets running north south along the Eastern flank of the Allied invasion were two excellent natural defensive barriers namely theawn River and Khan Canal each being crossed by a bridge near to the Village of benueville in short holding these Bridges meant securing the vital connection between the amphibious Landing forces and the men of the sixth Airborne protecting them Allied intelligence had identified before The Landings that the Germans did have some capable units in the area foremost amongst them were the tanks of the 21st Panzer Division situated close to the city of Carl their most direct routes towards the Eastern Landing beaches was across these Bridges it was the fear of an armored assault into the vulnerable flank of the Allied invasion with potentially devastating results which led to the decision to capture and hold them in the very first on the ground action of D-Day let's explore the area in a little more detail today those two Bridges the orn River or wrongville bridge and the Khan Canal or bennuville Bridge are well known by the names of horser and Pegasus and that's how we'll describe them here so let's start with easternmost horser spanning the own River some three miles Inland it was an unusual swing bridge pivoting in the center allowing shipping to pass in 1944 it was defended by a sandbagged mg-34 position on its Western end and firing positions on its East some 600 yards along the same road to the West Was Pegasus Bridge Crossing the canal leading to the city of car it was easily identifiable by its bascule lifting design the actual Bridge was slightly smaller than the newer one which we see here today but in the same place in a very similar design we see here that on the Eastern side of the road we have a set of trenches supported by firing positions and a 50 millimeter anti-tank gun with line of sight Up and Down the River and Main approach roads these were protected by thick coils of barbed wire and also included on the north side of the road a concrete pill box with firing slits believed to house command cables for explosives rigged to blow the bridge on the far western side of the bridge was likely a further sandbag defensive position The Defenders of these Bridges a total of 18 men came from the fourth company first Battalion Grenadier regiment 736 they were part of the 716th Infantry Division a static Coastal unit within the German order of battle someone in the division have previously been wounded in action and others were teenage conscripts with no battle experience that being said they were still certainly capable of fighting well-armed and knew the area well just next to the Western end of Pegasus Bridge was this building the cafe gondre it was frequented by the local German Garrison who were unaware of the Cafe's links to the local resistance in fact the local resistance leader and Madame veal could be found not far away in the impressive bennuville Chateau which in 1944 was a maternity hospital it was information provided by civilians on the ground all across Normandy which would provide the attacking troops with vital intelligence in the lead-up to D-Day so who were those chosen to lead the Vanguard of the Allied Landings they were these guys the men of B and D companies 2nd battalion Oxfordshire and buckinghamshire light infantry mostly known as The Oxen bucks or obli they were by 1944 specialist gliderborn troops within the sixth air Landing Brigade which itself was a component of the British sixth Airborne Division simply their job was to be towed into action in wooden AirSpeed horser gliders by powered aircraft being released several miles from their target to Glide silently to Earth it was a very high risk strategy though ideal for cohesive surprise or kudama assaults although they hadn't seen combat before the men of the second ox and Bucks were well motivated and well-trained pre-war professional unit and much of that high state of Readiness was thanks to this man 32 year old Major John Howard a former private Soldier and policeman who'd been recalled to the British Army in 1939 commissioned in 1940 he'd risen to Major by 1942 and commanded D company second obli on D-Day the plan looked something like this a total of 181 officers and men in six horser gliders will be towed across the English Channel by Halifax bombers then being released from their toe would split into two formations of three landing at one minute intervals as close as possible to their designated Bridge hopefully achieving complete surprise they would storm the bridge defenses prevent either from being blown neutralize any German troops and then dig in around the bridges The Oxen bucks would then be joined by the men of the elite 7th Battalion parachute regiment who Landing several miles away were also to make their way to the two Bridges and set up a perimeter from which they would hold off the inevitable German attacks until troops Landing four miles away on sword Beach could reach them amongst those to be landed in the six gliders where a few characters will follow through the action leading glider one's assault party would be 28 year old Lieutenant Herbert Den brotherage a popular officer in Keen Sportsman also on glider one was Corporal Wally Parr a 22 year old South Londoner with a keen sense of humor piloting their glider will be staff sergeant Jim Warwick a 24 year old Manchester native from a proud military family commanding the assault party of glider III was Lieutenant Richard Sandy Smith a history graduate of Cambridge University whom we represented at both rugby and cricket and finally a ball glider 6 was the highly respected Sergeant wagger Thornton older than many of his comrades he was looked up to as a quiet but highly skilled Soldier so by 24th of May Howard and his men were based here at Raf tarant Rushton today it's disused though in 1944 as we see here it was an active wartime Airfield preparation and training went on a pace and on the 4th of June the men assembled on this Airfield ready to depart only to find out the entire Invasion been put back by 24 hours due to bad weather this meant a return to camp and a second nerve-wracking Journey on the afternoon the 5th of June back to tarant Rushton this time there would be no going back all eyes were now on the glider pilots who would take the men onto Target each glider with its complement of two pilots 23 infantrymen and five Royal Engineers was an absolute maximum takeoff weight so much so that a man had been removed from each glider a few days earlier any fear though was dispelled at 11 PM on the 5th of June when all six Halifax bombers with their horser gliders in tow left the ground without incident and began their journey to Normandy today it's hard to comprehend the emotions of those on board but fortunately we can call on the actual words of major Howard himself who recalled the journey many years later although in the gliders during training many of us have been sick nobody was worse than I was on that night I don't think anybody was sick whether it was because it was a particularly calm flight or whether it costs we were too worried to be sick I don't know but I can assure you all we were all bloody scared and anybody suggested who says they were not scared on occasion like that is either a fool or a damn laugh after a short flight of just 50 minutes the small formation found themselves approaching the Normandy Coast just here between the coastal towns of wistram and kabor with the latter being particularly heavily defended by Flack but avoid it they did and as they crossed the coast at about 6 000 feet the pilots began to scan the ground for the twin features of the canal and River reflecting in the Moonlight unfortunately one crew that would Glide of four seemed to have misidentified the Target and locked on instead to the river Dev some eight miles away they would land and successfully but in the wrong location and so now only five gliders were heading to their targets at the bridges inside each cockpit the pilots of the controls now released their Towing cables and began their descent it would be a six minute All or Nothing ride with no Second Chances The piloting commands in the right-hand seat had very limited assets at his disposal an altimeter Compass torch and stopwatch were about as technical as it got as they made their run in having trained though Time After Time on mock-ups in the UK each pilot knew their task well as the next few moments would show turning right and then right again to approach the bridge from the south those three gliders heading to Pegasus now finally got a clear view of their target at the controls in glider one was the ever called gym Warwick when major Howard a few days earlier had informed Warwick that wouldn't anti-glide up Landing poles nicknamed rommel's asparagus had been seen in the landing area his tongue-in-cheek response was that he wasn't worried and that shaving a little off each Wing might be useful in helping to slow the glider down closer look at what Warwick and his comrades were facing gives us an idea of actually how tough this job was here we see the bridge with a canal running north south to our left trees and other foliage cover the approach from the south and a large pond can also be seen to the east this meant that the pilots Landing here for the very first time at night in an overloaded glider with obstacles all around had to thread the needle into this tiny Landing space at 90 miles per hour and come to a stop that's without even beginning to consider the fact that the arrow was crawling with German soldiers here's major Howard again who describes those last few seconds twice like that although Jim won't work when he speaks always insists he made a correct three-point Landing right in the corner of the field it always argues that it was an absolute perfect Landing but these chats here behind me now that it really was a a Thump Thump Thump like that in arguably one of the most incredible Feats of flying in the second world war not only did Jim manage to bring glider one safely to the ground less than 70 yards from the bridge but he even managed to push the gliders nose straight through the German barbed wire protecting its defenses making an opening through which the ox and Bucks could launch their assault over the next two minutes gliders two and three hit the ground each Landing just a few yards further away several injuries were caused though when the pilots would glided too realizing that they were not slowing fast enough and about to end up in the pond wrenched the controls round avoiding the water but splitting the horse's fuselage several men were thrown out as the glider came to a halt glider 3 likewise had a rough Landing close to the pond where tragically large Corporal Fred Greenhouse knocked unconscious was drowned amongst the wreckage in the marshy ground he likely became the first Allied casualty of D-Day the time was 18 minutes past midnight as we see from this superimposed aerial image of the time The Landings were truly remarkable and for the men in the gliders their work had now begin this photograph taken after the landing shows all three gliders with the bridge behind the trees in the distance it was from this door on the rear right of the fuselage that wallypaw would exit and head towards the bridge with his Scout section tasked with putting out of action the pillbox housing the detonation cables for the explosive charges on the bridge Wally recalled I just stared at the bridge and as Charlie and I raced up John Howard stood up and said charge at the top of his voice Charlie and I had a running start and I got up and got that bridge and I think Charlie and I was about 15 yards in front and as I looked up it was in the Moonlight and I see this damn thing towering above me and my my went dry I couldn't spit six months my tongue stuck to the top of my mouth reaching the pill box a few moments later the Scout section saw a group of four Germans outside one of whom fired a flare into the air bathing the area in light single shot from The Defenders followed answered by a volley of Sten gun fire which killed an NCO by the pillbox causing 18 year old helmet Roma and two other men to flee Into the Night continuing on the scouts drew two grenades into the pill walked aperture with the engineers racing behind for the charges on the bridge fortunately the bridge wasn't blown as the Germans whilst retaining the cables and wiring had removed the charges on the bridge this meant the lieutenant Den brotherage in the following section could launch their assault across the bridge racing now for the far siding firing continuously as they moved the men pushed on up past Cafe gondre a furious fuselier from the attackers caused any remaining Germans to flee and within moments Pegasus Bridge was Secure the assault though did not come without cost somewhere in the melee in confusion Den brotherage who incredibly had led the way despite a fractured leg sustained in the landing had fallen shot through the neck he died a short time later and is today buried in nearby ronville churchyard cemetery next to his grave stanza plaque naming him as the first Allied Soldier to be killed by enemy fire on D-Day with the supporting troops of gliders 2 and 3 working their way through the remaining German trenches to the east the last German resistance was taken care of and within just 14 minutes of glider one touching down on Norman's soil the objective was Secure 600 yards away to the east at the same time the attack on horse of bridge was underway despite having lost one of their three gliders speed and surprise had their effect Landing from north to south on Target in landing Zone y glider 5 had stopped some way short of the objective and so it was those in glider six who pushed on alone moving through these fields towards the bridge the German machine gun guarding it opened up pouring a burst of Tracer across the fields taking cover in a Hedgerow Wagga Thornton quickly set up his 2-inch mortar and managed to place around directly onto the German machine gun position at the same moment that his comrade stormed the bridge in a hail of Fire overwhelmed by the speed and ferocity of The Assault The Defenders remained silent and horse A Bridge was also secure when major Howard received news at 0030 that horser 2 had been captured he called to his Wireless operator Ted tappenden to broadcast the now famous phrase ham and jam across the radio indicating the intact capture of both Bridges but his Howard himself said capturing those bridges was the easy part holding it would be the real challenge amid the general confusion at this time a single German was seen emerging from behind the cafe gondre throwing a stick grenade as he did so the explosion wounded Lieutenant Smith in the wrist who returned a burst from his Sten killing the soldier Monsieur George gandre hearing the fight directly below him peered from this upstairs window and found himself facing a wounded and understandably excitable Lieutenant Smith seeing the silhouette in the window he Unleashed another burst unhurts but getting the point meshug Andre retreated back to his bedroom despite this slightly Frosty reception the cafe gondre was to become the first house liberated in France on D-Day even to this day George's younger daughter Arlette runs the cafe and cherishes the memory of that liberation for the troops on the ground the job was far from over and major Howard's Men set up for defense over the next hour or so small pockets of German troops were driven back by intense fire along the canal Towpath and nearby buildings the major risk though was and had always been armor with very limited anti-tank capability a determined assault by German tanks could have retaken the bridges in minutes and so considerable concern was felt when the distinctive noise of tracked Vehicles Was Heard to the northwest of the bridge at around 1 30 am it was in this area that both Wally par and glider six's Wagga Thornton found themselves on the western end of The Oxen bucks positions as they heard the steadily increasing sound of tracks Lieutenant Smith realizing his section was missing their spring-loaded Piat anti-tank weapon ordered wallyparter Sprint back to glider one to retrieve it doing so would be an utterly exhausted on his return he looked down to find that the firing trough been bent at 90 degrees during the landing and it was entirely useless just then the leading German armor came into view Wally himself described what happened next to smash and then the biggest explosion or fireworks display I've seen for a long time I thought they got it with a group of grenades or one of the sticky bombs we used to use but it turned out afterwards the message was get another Piet they already had one I didn't find out for some time afterwards that the bloke sat there with the pier with Sergeant Wagga Thornton out of bee company and he watched that tank until he couldn't get it any closer and then he let go up point-blank range the thing exploded and of the occupants one died shortly afterwards his legs were blown off and then we crouched in this ditch watching everything shoot up in the sky and I think by this time the whole of Normandy knew that something was really happening Thornton's destruction of that German armor possibly a murder self-propelled gun had an important effect on the other Germans nearby perhaps not realizing how little anti-tank capability The Defenders had they did not press home their attack but it wasn't to be the last action here on D-Day the men at the bridge were much relieved at the site of the first reinforcement from Seven para shortly after 3 A.M their additional Firepower now meant that they could take the lead in the defense commanded by the impressively named Lieutenant Colonel Pine coffin he'd assumed command and directed his men set up in houses overlooking key Junctions to prepare for the inevitable assaults their weight wasn't a long one within a short time seven power were engaged in bitter close range fighting throughout beneville and Lepore losing a number of men killed and wounded in action the most fierce fighting anywhere that day was in the area occupied by a company seven power who found themselves holding this line of houses close to beneville Chateau attacked in front and flank by large numbers of German armor and infantry determined to recapture the bridges they were cut off and forced to fight all day against desperate odds using Small Arms Gammon bombs and explosives to knock out armor at point-blank range eventually forced back their line held and crucially the bridges remained in British hands somewhere between 9 and 10 AM to considerable surprise two German gunboats were spotted moving down the canal in the direction of Pegasus Bridge apparently unaware of the presence of British troops on either side of the canal men held their fire until some 200 yards away from the bridge the 20 millimeter deck gun of the leading German vessel opened fire they were immediately met by a withering response in which a Corporal in the Oxford box fight appeared round directly into the Wheelhouse of the leading boat slowing to one side and crashing into the Canal bank the crew were taken prisoner was the second vessel disappeared and top speed back up the canal on the other side of the bridge Wally Parr once again found himself in the heart of the action by mid-morning he had occupied this German 50 millimeter anti-tank gun on the Eastern side of Pegasus Bridge short time later a barge packed with German soldiers came into view along the canal from the direction of Kong here's Wally one more time the range is decreasing as it's built into Altus then someone shouted out about 800 750 gotta be 725 I've adjusted it and fired the first one and a terrific Bloom of water went up about 20 yards in front of the boat as near as I can estimate 20 30. I was about 30 yards short I've never seen a boat do a U-turn so quick it turned across from right to left as I'm looking at it by this time the next one's up and I edit broadside on just about where the railings met would work and it shuddered literally by this time it managed to turn and before it disappeared man the around the bend of the Corn canal I managed to put three out of four shots up his backside and it was limping up the canal with a smoke pouring out of it and it going over there including some captured Germans and one thing or another raw cheering their heads off they thought it was great fun I did as a matter of fact one final attempt to prevent the use of the bridge was made later in the day by the luftwaffe for this time diving in from north to south the bridge Defenders watched on as an aircraft released a bomb which struck the bridge superstructure before cartwheeling end over end into the canal without detonating with a good helping of luck the bridge remained intact throughout the morning of the 6th of June the men of seven power in the Oxford bucks had held on fighting off repeated attacks including from the direction of beneville Chateau which received significant attention from none other than Wally Parr who wasn't aware that the building he was targeting with the 50 millimeter shells was actually a maternity hospital eventually the enemy fire died away though the scars of that fight are still etched on the building to this day finally after a grueling 12 hours on the ground in this very spot men of both units linked up with Commandos of Lord Lovett's first special service Brigade who had landed that morning on sword Beach the moment being captured in this historic photograph the men at Pegasus and horse of bridges as their orders had stated had indeed held until relieved of course there was much fighting yet to come and many of those to fight here wouldn't outlive the war but for those who did they always kept a place in their hearts for this location many veterans including John Howard would come back to Pegasus bridge in the years and decades after the war holding a service each 6th of June to commemorate those actions of D-Day over the years the numbers dwindled and today only a handful of veterans are left to attend but the legacy of that day lives on each year at midnight a service takes place next to Pegasus bridge on the very spot where glider one touched down John Howard's daughter leads it and her father's moving account of that day recorded after the war is played to those present shortly afterwards a glass of champagne is offered and a toast is raised to ham and jam thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video why not check out our look at the famous operation Frankton right here of course if you'd like to support us it'll be really appreciated and you can do so with our patreon link below we want to finish with a special thanks to historian Neil Barber whose expertise on this subject is unparalleled be sure to check out his book The Day The Devils Dropped In thanks again we'll see you next time

Channel: Battle Guide

Views: 262,818

Keywords: pegasus bridge, ww2, OBLI, Ox and Bucks, Germany WW2, Airborne, airbourne, WW2 documentary, war documentary, documentary, parachute, paras, glider, horsa, pegasus, 7 Para, France WW2, WW2 bridges, Caen Canal WW2, D-Day, Allies, Axis, Military History

Id: GdspB_oNQII

Length: 26min 54sec (1614 seconds)

Published: Tue May 16 2023