Pegasus Bridge
Ranville, FR
The bascule bridge over the Caen Canal at Bénouville, whose capture in the first minutes of D-Day is considered the first successful Allied ground operation of the entire invasion. Six Horsa gliders of **D Company, 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry**, led by Major John Howard, landed within meters of the bridge at 00:16 on June 6, 1944, storming across before German defenders could react. The original bridge is preserved at the adjacent **Mémorial Pégase** museum.
Photographs (18)
Inoformation panel next to Pegasus Bridge
Memorial Pegasus - Original Bridge
Historical panel related to the Bénouville and Ranville bridges before 1944
London Bridge I was the first Bailey bridge to be put in place during the liberation of Europe
Bénouville - Pegasus Bridge
Bénouville - Pegasus Bridge
Bénouville - Pegasus Bridge
Bénouville - Pegasus Bridge
Open for a passing ship
Sipping a coffee at Café Gondrée, looking at Pegasus Bridge
Sipping a coffee at Café Gondrée, looking at Pegasus Bridge
Sipping a coffee at Café Gondrée, looking at Pegasus Bridge
Sipping a coffee at Café Gondrée, looking at Pegasus Bridge
Sipping a coffee at Café Gondrée, looking at Pegasus Bridge
Sipping a coffee at Café Gondrée, looking at Pegasus Bridge
Men of D Company Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry after capturing " Pegasus Bridge " (the Caen Canal Bridge at Benouville ), France. Original wartime caption : Some of the first British Glider troops to set foot on French soil on "D" Day at 12.20 a.m. They are left to right: Private Frank Gardner of Blackfen Road, Sidcup, Kent; Captain Brian Priday of Haslebourne Stanstead Road, Caterham, Surrey; L/Corporal B.H.Lambley of 69 Hornsey Park Road, London. These men landed from gliders at 12.20 a.m. on "D" Day. They also appear in B 5585 above.
6 horsa glider landed on the night of 5-6th June 1944 next to Pegaus bridge
Pegasus Bridge