This page is dedicated to D Company of The Ox & Bucks Light Infantry and the action at Pegasus Bridge.

As the vast Allied seaborne invasion fleet converged on the Normandy beaches on the eve of D-Day, 6th June,1944, six troop gliders were delivering a 180 man airborne force a few miles inland. Their objective: to pave the way for the main force by capturing two vital German held bridges.

In early March 19444 six glider crews were collected at Netheravon from various flights of the regiment. No word as to why, in the usual glider pilot style, but we foregathered at mid-field and were addressed by our Colonel, George Chatterton,behind whom appeared a covey of army and air force brass. Heavy brass. He pointed out a couple of triangles marked with broad white tape, one here, one there on the airfield. Not very big, but apparently in his judgement, big enough.

Briefing was very succinct: " You will be towed at one-minute intervals to 4,000ft, which will take about one hour. You will then release three miles away at a point decided by your tug, from where you will be able to see these triangles. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 will land in this one, making a right hand circuit, and 4, 5 and 6 on t'other from a left hand circuit. Now hop off for lunch. All gliders are ready and assembled on the towpath. Take off 1300hrs".

No word as to how we were chosen. Perhaps drawn from a hat? Perhaps crews our squadron commanders were glad to part with? We were all sergeants. My co-pilot was Johnnie Ainsworth. I was told to fly first and, although throughout training the other crews changed numbers and patterns (a wise move), I always stayed as number 1. So we took off and flew a short course, saw the triangles, cast off and landed all six in our correct areas, to our utter astonishment. A mutter of dis-belief emanated from the brass, and a few low -key bragging words about "his boys" from. George. The Royal Air Force cast the doubt, so we did exactly the same the next day with exactly the same - to us - incredibly lucky result.

From that point , the operation was " on" although no-one mentioned it to us. And Deadstick, the codename for the glider pilot training, started. Here perhaps might be included a quotation from Air Vice-Marshall Arthur Harris, Chief of the Air Staff, who opined that it would be disastrous to try to train army personnel to fly troop-carrying gliders. His actual words were:

"The idea that semi-skilled, unpicked personnel (infantry corporals have, I believe even been suggested) could , with a maxumum of training, be entrusted with the piloting of these troop carriers is fantastic. Their operation is equivalent to forced landing the largest sized aircraft without engine aid - than which there is no higher test of piloting skill". We can now extend a belated thankyou to Bomber Harris as he became known, for such an occolade to the Glider Pilot Regiment.

Somewhere in the West Country Major John Howard and his merry men of D Company, Ox & Bucks, also started their preparations for an assault on something or other! It took only a few trial runs with Albemarles at Netheravon to prove that we needed a much more powerful tug to get fully loaded Horsa up to 6,000ft - which was the new and final height - in less than an hour, so a switch was made to Tarrant Rushton airfield and No 298 and 644 Halifax Squadrons. Here, for the first and only time, we were crewed with our tug and stayed together through the training and final run-in. This was a most important move, as we developed a confidence and friendships in a sometimes dangerous and more often hilarious training period. My tug skipper was Wg Cdr Duder DSO DFC, enough to give anyone plenty of encouragement as he obviously knew quite a bit about flying and was indeed the proverbial ace.

It was all a bit half-arsed at first. A daylight tow was made at various times, apparently when Tarrant Rushton airfield was not to busy, which as two operational squadrons were based there, was not very often. Height was now set at 6,000ft, and two separate courses and times developed. Gliders 1 - 3 to fly a three sided path, and 4 - 6 a dog leg pattern. We were towed in line astern at one minute intervals. Broadly, 1 - 3 flew downwind leg of 180 degrees at 90mph for 3mins 40secs, then a 90degree Rate One turn right on to second course for 2mins 5sec, and a last 90degree turn right for the run-in, by which time the target should be directly ahead. Gliders 4 - 6 cast off at the same spot, operated half then full flap and in a dog-leg couse flew in straight to the target.

I soon became evident that to fly out of and back to Tarrant was no longer feasible, so the search began for a suitable target area, which some boffin or other decided would be "Holmes Clump",. I don't know who Holmes was, but his Clump is etched on all our hearts forever. It is an L-shaped wood just off Netheravon, most convenient in that gliders landing there can be towed across the fields by tractor back to Netheravon airfield proper. And from this was developed Deadstick training. Fourteen glider pilots (six crews and one back-up - which did prove necessary) were sequestered in one Nissen hut at Tarrant with a Lieutenant as our mother hen, our own transport, and our own independent operation directed by two RAF pilots, Flt. Lt Tom Grant, a tug/glider specialist, and Keith Miller, a similiar specialist, these two organised everything. Briefings, courses, winds and timings on every flight. The drill in flight was to cast off at 90mph while turning onto the decided course, immediately I was "On", the co-pilot operated the stopwatch and timimg started, countdown by Ainsworth, " Five, Four Three, Two, One, Zero, and I made a controlled Rate One right turn to course 2: and when I was "On" again Johnnie restarted the watch. Another countdown and at zero, another 90degree turn right and the target lay ahead.

Only once did Deadstick break any gliders when number 6 was late, he eventually landed with the most horrific noise and we feared the worst, but luckily except for the odd broken bones all was well. In all we practised Deadstick 42 times and were bloody good at it by June 1944. The airfield was sealed on June 1st and John Howard and D Company, Ox & Bucks Light Infantry our only and live load. They were the best troops we ever met, and we were glad of that.

At last we were told where, how, and why the two bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal had to be taken intact and held. Gliders 1 - 3, flying the three course path, we were to take the canal, while 4 - 6, would drop straight down and take the river. There were still various problems to deal with and in turn they were overcome but the Day had come, we took off at 2245 through low cloud and into clear at 6000ft over the channel, it was a smooth flight and Howard encouraged the men to sing, none were airsick. Thanks to our tug crew we were dead on time and dead on target, "Cast Off", the singing stopped and that was when six Horsas tiptoed quietly into two little fields in Normandy and released 180 fighting men in full battle order to give the German garrison the surprise of their lives.

The tug pilot said, "Weather's good, the clouds are at 600 feet, a couple of minutes before we cast off. And we all wish you the best of luck." Alter course, air speed right, John Ainsworth with the stopwatch, I'm checking the compass, he's checking the air speed. We cruise along and then 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . bingo, right turn to starboard onto course. Halfway down the crosswind leg, I could see it. I could see the river and the canallike strips of silver and I could see the bridges; visibility was awfully good. So then, to hell with the course. I knew my height; I knew how far away I was, so it was a case of by guess and by God from then on. I didn't complete the crosswind leg, so I bowled down and landed rather quickly. There was a feeling of the land rushing up and I landed probably at about 95 instead of at 85, and 10 miles per hour in the dark looks like a lot. I hit the field and caught the first bit of wire and so I called "Stream," and by golly, it [the parachute] lifted the tail and forced the nose down. It drew us back and knocked the speed down tremendously. It was only on for two seconds, and "jettison," and Ainsworth pressed the tit and jettisoned the parachute, and then we were going along only about 60, which was ample to take me right into the corner. We got right into the corner of the field, the nose wheel had gone, the cockpit collapsed, and Ainsworth and I went right through the cockpit. I went over headfirst and landed flat on my stomach. I was stunned, as was Ainsworth; I came around and he seemed to be in bad shape. I said, "Can you crawl?" and he said, "No," and then I asked if I lifted, could he crawl out and he said, "I'll try." I lifted the thing and I felt that I lifted the whole bloody glider when probably all I lifted was a small spar, but I felt like 30 men when I picked this thing up and he did manage to crawl out.

Although we made an awful noise on landing we seemed not to bother the German sentries, I was stunned and pinned under the collapsed cockpit, but the troops were getting on with it. Exactly one minute later No.2 arrived and joined in, followed by No. 3, this all justified all those training flights. Long afterwards we all confessed to feeling rather pleased with ourselves at having pulled it off, this when June 6 was 20minutes old and our little battle was just starting. Air Chief Marshall Leigh-Mallory called it the greatest flying feat of the Second World War.

There was only one casualty on landing, the Bren gunner in No. 3 who drowned in a pond, Johnnie and I revived in a few minutes and with the aid of a medic I crawled free of the debris. I made myself useful carting ammunition from the glider to the troops, then we heard the Tank, we needed Gammon anti-tank bombs, but I could not find those bloody bombs, so took a case of 303 which made Howard cross. "Get the bloody Gammons" he hollered.

It was a rough night. We pilots did what little we could to help but the Parachute Brigade arrived at 0300hr and Lord Lovat at about 1300 on the 6th, they were indeed welcome. By daylight my legs had seized and I became a stretcher case and after local medical assistance ended up at Ronkswood Hospital Worcester. I returned to my regiment some three weeks later in time for Arnhem, then back to Tarrant for a conversion course on Hamilcars in order to fly a 17pounder and crew across the Rhine in March 1945. It was short,sharp and a good clean way to go to war. I do not think any of us would have changed a thing.

Copyright: Jim Wallwork DFM

Wallwork played down claims that his unit initiated D-Day. "France was a very busy place that night: paratroopers dropping in, small aircraft taking arms to the resistance, the navy removing German novelties from off the beaches," he said.

"Our only claim to fame is not that we were the first to arrive, but that we were the first to fire a shot. We were the first to take a small bit of France and give it back to the French. It was really quite easy."

As the years go by the survivors of this daring action are dwindling in numbers, they are-

Doug Allen, Frank Bourlet. Peter Boyle, Peter 'Rocky' Bright, Harry "Nobby" Clark, Denis 'Eddie' Edwards, Wm 'Bill' Gray, Cyril E. Haslett, T.G. 'Tom' Packwood, Raymond 'Tich'Rayner, Jim Wallwork DFM., Stan Watson, Fred Weaver, Jim Jennings, 'Smokey' Howard, Alf Whitbread, ' Tug' Wilson and Col. David Wood MBE. who as the last surviving officer of Coup de Main Force, in June was awarded the Legion d'Honour in recognition of his many years of support for Normandy Veterans Association (NVA) Airborne Assault Normandy Trust (AANT) and Coup de Main survivors.

Last Post. Sadly, during the past two years we have lost Stan Evans, CdeG: 18.09.04; Arthur Roberts: 13.11. 04 and Wally Parr: 03.12.05. Geoff Barkway, DFM, Pilot of No. 3 glider at Pegasus Bridge died on Thursday, 8th June. 2006.

Lost in action.

L/Cpl Fred Greenhalgh and Lieut. D. Brotheridge

The Action to take the Bridges - (from the troops viewpoint)

 

In Glider No. 1, Howard’s men started to loosen up a bit, some of them even singing Cockney tunes as a way to pass the time during their journey. But the singing only masked their nervousness about what they might face on landing. The men had been shown the most recent aerial photos, and they had seen newly dug holes in the Normandy countryside for anti-glider stakes, nicknamed "Rommel asparagus" by Allied troopers. Many of those holes appeared near the bridge landing sites. Each man had plenty to think about as the gliders neared the French coast.

Major John Howard (Memorial)

The tow planes and gliders crossed over the town of Cabourg, at which point the glider pilots cut themselves loose from the bombers. Once free of the tow planes, the gliders were in free flight at 6,000 feet, and each plane went into a steep dive to get through the flak belt being thrown up by the German anti-aircraft guns targeting the bombers that droned onward.

The steep dive brought painful pressure to the ears, and to relieve it each man blew hard while holding his nose. Many of the paratroopers fought queasiness as the powerless aircraft swooped downward in the darkness. In the cockpits, co-pilots began monitoring stopwatches as pilots checked their compasses to make the exacting runs on the downwind and upwind legs of the flight. They would have to work to stretch the glide out far enough to reach the bridges 10 miles away.

Landing site

In Glider No. 1, pilot Jim Wallwork held the aircraft steady while John Ainsworth called out, "5-4-3-2-1-bingo, right turn." The glider turned to starboard and onto the course of the crosswind leg. Wallwork strained to see what lay ahead of them in the light from a half-moon.

"Halfway down the crosswind leg, I could see it," Wallwork later recalled. "I could see the river and the canal like strips of silver and I could see the bridges. So then, to hell with the course, I didn’t complete the crosswind leg. I bowled down and landed rather quickly."

Wallwork glided in at 95 mph. He was a little fast, having hoped to come in at 85. He deployed his arrester parachute for a few seconds, then released it and crashed into the corner of a small triangular field next to the Caen Canal Bridge. The nose wheel came off, the cockpit collapsed and Wallwork and Ainsworth were thrown through the cockpit. The rest of the men were tossed about as well, with Howard smashing his head on a beam, which jammed his helmet down over his eyes. For a brief moment Howard thought he had suddenly been blinded, but he quickly recovered his wits and found his platoon commander, Lieutenant Dan Brotheridge.

Kneeling next to Brotheridge, Howard heard him give his section leader a simple, four-word order: "Get your chaps moving." Nothing more was necessary. Each man knew just what to do. In minutes, men of No. 1 platoon were racing across the bridge, firing as they ran and tossing grenades into bunkers. A flare went off, fired by a German sentry.

One minute after Glider No. 1 landed, Glider No. 2 was down. "I dropped to the ground with an almighty crash," said pilot Oliver Boland, "and we crashed along and managed to stop."

Directly behind No. 2 came No. 3, which initially touched down behind Glider No. 2 but then shot into the air and sailed over No. 2, crash-landing between it and Glider No. 1. Number 3 broke in half upon the second impact and hurled L/Cpl Fred Greenhalgh into a pond, pinning him there until he drowned. Had the glider not become airborne after its first impact, it would have crashed into the rear of glider No. 2, and two-thirds of Howard’s force might have been wiped out upon landing.

Now the attackers’ intense training paid off. The men from the second and third gliders moved quickly to accomplish their assigned tasks, and within five minutes the bridge over the Caen Canal was in British hands. Engineers checked the span for explosives and found that not only were the wires not hooked to the hellbox but the explosives themselves were not fixed in the holders attached to the bridge supports. Instead, they had been stored in a shed situated just off the far side of the bridge. Gale’s assessment of a bored and lethargic bridge defense force had been more than accurate.

For the first 15 minutes there was no word from the other bridge over the Orne River. Howard asked his radioman, Corporal Tappendan, over and over, "Any from four, five, or six?" The answer was, "No, no, no." Finally, Dennis Fox from Glider No. 5 called in that the Orne Bridge had been captured. Within minutes of that report, Glider No. 6 landed and Lt. Todd Sweeney’s troops came racing to the bridge. The attackers had achieved total surprise, and the British now controlled both bridges. Ecstatic, Howard ordered Tappendan to send out the success signal. Tappendan lay down on the road by the canal bridge and transmitted, "Hello Four Dog, Hello Four Dog, Ham and Jam, Ham and Jam!" He paused for an answer, but there was only silence on the airwaves. Then he tried again, "Hello Four Dog, Hello Four Dog, Ham and Jam, Ham and Jam." But try as he might, no one answered him. At that very moment, the rest of 6th Airborne was descending onto the Ranville Plain. A radio in that force had been set to their frequency, but no one answered.

"For a solid hour I lay on that road," Tappendan recalled. "I finally got so frustrated that I said, ‘Hello Four Dog, Hello Four Dog, Ham and Jam, Ham and Bloody Jam, why don’t you answer me?’"

Tappendan had no way of knowing that the radio tuned to his frequency had been lost in the jump, so no one knew that Howard’s force had captured the bridges intact. The major began consolidating his positions, preparing for the anticipated German counterattack.

 

D Company, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry - December 1943

(Picture Bill Boren - HustonUSA - Denis Edwards)

A list of the 180 personnel of the Coup de Main force that captured the bridges over the
Caen canal and the River Orne in Normandy just after midnight, June 5th/6th, 1944.

The bridges were renamed Pegasus and Horsa bridges by the French government in recognition of their being the first part of France to be liberated on D-Day

Gliders were piloted by 12 members of the Glider Pilot Regiment, who were trained to fight alongside the infantry after landing. Infantry were supplied by the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, from 6th Air Landing Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division.

Comprising the 4 platoons of ‘D’ Company and 2 platoons from ‘B’ Company, supported by a detachment of 30 men from the 2nd platoon, 249 Field Company, Royal Engineers (Airborne), 3 members of the Royal Army Medical Corps and a Liaison officer from the 7th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment.

Glider Number 1 - Target : The Caen Canal Bridge.

Rank Name

Serving in

Coy/Platoon

Serving as..

S/Sgt Wallwork	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Pilot
S/Sgt Ainsworth	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Co-Pilot
W/Cdr Duder	RAF		Tug-Pilot
Lt. Brotheridge	2nd Oxf.Bucks	D 25	Platoon Commander
Sgt Ollis
Cpl Caine
Cpl Webb
Pte Bates
L/C Packwood
L/C Minns
Pte Baalam
Cpl Bailey
Pte Bourlet
Pte Chamberlain			Platoon Medic
Pte Edwards
Pte Gray
Pte Gardner
Pte O’Donnell
Pte Parr
Pte Tilbury
Pte Watson
Pte White
Pte Windsor
Pte Jackson 08
Cpl Tappenden		Coy. HQ	Wireless Operator
Major Howard		Coup de Main Force	Officer Commanding
Cpl Watson	Royal Engineers
Spr Danson	ditto
Spr Ramsey	ditto
Spr Wheeler	ditto
Spr Yates	ditto

Glider Number 1, together with gliders 2 and 3, landed very close to its target, the Caen canal bridge, now named Pegasus Bridge. All three gliders landed within a few minutes of each other.

Glider Number 2 - Target : The Caen Canal Bridge.

Rank Name

Serving in

... Coy/Platoon

Serving as..

S/Sgt Boland	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Pilot
S/Sgt Hobbs	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Co-Pilot
WO Berry	RAF		Tug Pilot
Lt. Wood D	2nd Oxf.Bucks	24 Platoon	Commander
Sgt Leather
Cpl Godbold
Cpl Cowperthwaite
Cpl Ilsley
L/C Roberts
L/C Drew
Pte Chatfield
Pte Lewis
Pte Cheesley
Pte Waters
Pte Clarke 33
Pte Musty
Pte Dancey
Pte Harman
Pte Warmington
Pte Leonard
Pte Weaver
Pte Radford
Pte Clark 48
Pte Pepperall
Pte Malpas
L/C Harris	RAMC		Medic
A/Capt Neilson	Royal Engineers
Spr Conley
Spr Lockhart
Spr Shorey
Spr Haslett

Glider Number 2, together with gliders 1 and 3, landed very close to its target, the Caen canal bridge, now named Pegasus Bridge. All three gliders landed within a few minutes of each other.

Glider Number 3 - Target : The Caen Canal Bridge.

Rank Name

Serving in

Coy/Platoon

Serving as..

S/Sgt Barkway	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Pilot
S/Sgt Boyle Horsa	Glider Pilot Regt		Co-Pilot
WO Herman	RAF		Tug Pilot
Lt. Smith	2nd Oxf.Bucks	B 14 Platoon	Commader
Sgt Harrison
Cpl Higgs
Cpl Evans
Cpl Aris
L/C Madge
L/C Cohen
Pte Greenhalgh
Pte Wilson
Pte Hook
Pte Stewart
Pte Keane
Pte Noble
Pte Crocker
Pte Basham
Pte Watts
Pte Anton
Pte Tibbs
Pte Slade
Pte Burns
Pte Turner
Pte Golden
Pte A. Gregory	RAMC		Medic
Major Jacob-Vaughan	RAMC		Medical Officer
L/C Waring	Royal Engineers
Spr Clarke
Spr Fleming
Spr Green
Spr Preece

Glider Number 3, together with gliders 1 and 2, landed very close to its target, the Caen canal bridge, now named Pegasus Bridge. All three gliders landed within a few minutes of each other.

Glider Number 4 - Target : The Orne RiverBridge.

Rank Name

Serving in

Coy/Platoon

Serving as..

S/Sgt Lawrence	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Pilot
S/Sgt Shorter	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Co-Pilot
F/O Clapperton	RAF		Tug-Pilot
Lt Hooper	2nd Oxf.Bucks	D 22 Platoon	Commander
Sgt Barwick
Cpl Goodsir
Cpl Bateman
L/Sgt Rayner
Cpl Ambrose
Cpl Hunt
Pte Allwood
Pte Wilson
Pte Hedges
Pte Everett
Pte St. Clair
Pte Waite
Pte Clive.
Pte Timms
Pte Whitford
Pte Johnson
Pte Lathbury
Pte Hammond
Pte Gardner 08
Pte Jeffrey
Capt Priday			Company 2i/c
L/C Lambley			Company. Clerk
L/Sgt Brown	Royal Engineers
Spr Deighton
Spr Guest
Spr Paget
Spr Roberts

Glider Number 4 was scheduled to land first, but was pulled off course by its tug aircraft and landed by a bridge over the River Dives some 8 miles to the East. Although losing some men in skirmishes along the way, the crew and airborne infantry and engineers successfully fought their way through the flooded Dives valley and back to Hérouvillette, to rendezvous with the Regiment in the early hours of June 7th.

Glider Number 5 - Target : The Orne RiverBridge.

Rank Name

Serving in

Coy/Platoon

Serving as..

S/Sgt Pearson	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Pilot
S/Sgt Guthrie	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Co-Pilot
WO Bain	RAF		Tug Pilot
Lt Sweeney	2nd Oxf.Bucks	D 23	Platoon Commander
Sgt Gooch
Cpl Murton
Cpl Howard
Cpl Jennings
L/C Porter
L/C Stacey
Pte Allen
Pte Bowden
Pte Buller
Pte Bright
Pte Bleach
Pte Clark 46
Pte Galbraith
Pte Jackson 59
Pte Roach
Pte Roberts 94
Pte Read
Pte Tibbit
Pte Wixon
Pte Wood
Pte Willcocks
Lt Macdonald	7th Parachute Bn		Liaison Officer
Cpl Straw	Royal Engineers
Spr Bradford
Spr Carter
Spr Field
Spr Wilkinson

Glider Number 5 hit an air pocket and forced it to land in a field adjacent to the Orne River Bridge - not exactly where planned but very well positioned for the job that was to be done.

Glider Number 6 - Target : The Orne RiverBridge.

Rank Name

Serving in

Coy/Platoon

Serving as..

S/Sgt Howard	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Pilot
S/Sgt Baacke	Glider Pilot Regt		Horsa Co-Pilot
F/O Archibald	RAF		Tug Pilot
Lt Fox	2nd Oxf.Bucks	B 17	Platoon Commander
Sgt Thornton
Cpl Lally
Cpl Burns
Cpl Reynolds
L/C Loveday
Pte Collett
Pte Hubbert
Pte Clare
Pte Peverill
Pte Pope
Pte Whitehouse
Pte Whitbread
Pte Lawton
Pte Rudge
Pte O’Shaughnessy
Pte Annetts
Pte Summersby
Pte Woods
Pte Wyatt
Pte Ward
Pte Storr
L/C Lawson	RAMC		Medic
WS Lt Bence	Royal Engineers
Spr Burns
Spr C.W.Larkin
Spr C.H.Larkin
Spr Maxted

Glider Number 6 landed as planned and very close to the river bridge where they met little opposition

These lists are extracted from the book ‘The Devil’s Own Luck’ – From Pegasus Bridge to the Baltic Sea as an Airborne Sniper – 1944/45 – published by Pen & Sword Books, Ltd of Barnsley, Yorkshire by. Denis Edwards

Major John Howard DSO at Pegasus Bridge in 1993, (Heimdal)

1912-1999

The successful taking of the bridges had not been without cost. Two men had been killed -- Greenhalgh, who had drowned in the pond, and Howard’s platoon commander, Brotheridge, who had been shot through the neck on the far side of the bridge.

Copyright: History Net - (with thanks)

Credits: Numerous pictures from various websites - Great help from Denis Edwards, with thanks.