Pegasus Bridge

The late hours of June 5, 1944... Led by Major John Howard, the men of Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry step aboard six Horsa gliders on a secret airfield in Dorset. Their mission: to launch the first airborne assault of …

1944-06-06

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The late hours of June 5, 1944... Led by Major John Howard, the men of Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry step aboard six Horsa gliders on a secret airfield in Dorset. Their mission: to launch the first airborne assault of D-Day and capture two bridges, one astride the Caen Canal, the other over the Orne river, in Normandy. A few minutes past midnight, now June 6, 1944, the gliders clip through the treetops and land in a small patch of rough field, between a pond and the Caen Canal, only yards away from their objective! Major Howard and his troops pour out of the gliders, achieving complete surprise and rushing the stunned German forces. Despite furious opposition from a heavily sandbagged machine gun nest at the end of now famous "Pegasus" bridge, they capture their objective within moments. To the east, the Orne Bridge is secured equally rapidly, giving British troops the first victory of D-Day!

Pegasus Bridge, France

Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighboring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the centerpiece of the Memorial Pegasus museum at nearby Ranville. It was replaced in 1994 by a modern design which, like the old one, is a bascule bridge.

Wikipedia: Pegasus Bridge

German

British

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Countryside

Website Access: Classified