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The night 4th-5th June 1944

This was the night scheduled for the launch of the invasion. Throughout Southern England 156,000 men of many nationalities were getting ready, the following day, to embark in the invasion fleet. At Tarrent Rushton, D Company were getting ready to set off at midnight and set the invasion ball rolling. The order came through though that due to bad weather the invasion had been postponed. Disappointment set in immediately as the feeling of anticlimax was felt by everybody involved. The people at COSSAC prayed that this bad weather would not stay long as South England was on the verge of sinking under the channel at the sheer weight of men, weapons and supplies there. Fortunately it cleared.

The night 5th-6th June 1944

The wind and rain having cleared the mission was given the green light for midnight and everyone who knew about the invasion took a large, deep breath and held it in. At 22:00, All the soldiers were ready to go. The six wooden Horsa gliders were ready along with the six Halifax tug aircraft that would see them safely across the channel. The twelve aircraft and nearly two hundred men took off at 22:54 from Tarrent Rushton. Private Dennis Edwards, who was nineteen years old at the time and was in the first glider with Major Howard, explains how he felt;

A Horsa Glider during take off.

"I experienced an interesting psychological change in the few minutes before and immediately after take off. As I had climbed aboard and strapped myself into my seat I felt tense, strange and extremely nervous. It was as if I was in a fantasy dream world and thought that at any moment I would wake up from this unreality and find that I was back in the barrack room at Bulford Camp. Whilst we laughed and sang to raise our spirits - and perhaps to show others that we were no scared - personally I knew that I was frightened to death. The very idea of carrying out a night-time airborne landing of such a small force into the midst of the German army seemed to me to be little more than a suicide mission.

Yet at the moment that the glider parted company with the ground I experienced an inexplicable change. The feeling of terror vanished and was replaced by exhilaration. I felt literally on top of the world. I remember thinking, 'you've had it chum, its no good worrying anymore - the die has been cast and what is to be, will be, and there is nothing you can do about it.' I sat back and enjoyed my first trip to Europe."

At 00:07 the first glider reached the French coast and cast off from its tug aircraft, the other five followed at one minute intervals and so they made their descent towards the bridges. However, one of the Halifax bombers had lost their course and so glider number five, scheduled to land at the bridge over the River Orne, cast off in the wrong place. This had the potential to be a very grave mistake on behalf of the Halifax crew, but in all the months of training Howard had practised taking bridges not only with the full complement of men, but with two thirds and one third as well. So the men in the other gliders were prepared for this kind of problem.

All the nervousness of General Gale, Major Howard and all the other men like Private Edwards was put to ease when the five remaining glider pilots landed the gliders within a hundred metres of the two bridges. Possibly the hardest part of the operation had been achieved, the majority of the gliders had landed spot on target. The first glider including Major Howard even managed to break through the barbed wire which put them under thirty metres from their objective. This was due to the immense skill of the pilot, Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork and his navigator, Staff Sergeant John Ainsworth. Both were thrown through the front window when the glider landed.

Twenty six minutes which changed the World

Midnight on the night the 5th-6th June 1944 is commonly seen as the time when the Allied Invasion of France started. Twenty six minutes later the Allies had struck their first blow; the capture of the bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne. An operation, which could potentially have been such a disaster, was carried out with amazing precision and stealth.

The German soldiers on guard on the bridges heard the gliders landing but what with Caen being so close, they put the noise down to wreckage from aircraft which had been blown up in the skies overhead. The idea of an invasion was absurd. These soldiers had patrolled the bridges for two years, why should this night be any different? Moreover these bridges were two miles inland in the middle of rural Northern France. German soldiers, who were sleeping in underground barracks when the British soldiers stormed the bridges, thought that their colleagues were playing a practical joke on them when they were awoke to be told that the Invasion had started and that they should man their positions. The Germans had been caught completely by surprise and this coupled with the extreme efficiency of the British troops meant that the Allies were well on their way to re-establishing a foothold in Western Europe.

Ham N Jam

If the operation was to be a success then D Company would need to communicate with someone in England to tell them. However, with German Intelligence listening to every Radio broadcast in Europe, the signal would have to be in code. A double-barrelled code would be needed to deal with every eventuality (capture both bridges/ capture Orne bridge/ capture Caen Canal bridge). The code signal decided was Ham and Jam; Ham meant the Orne bridge had been captured, Jam meant the canal bridge had been captured. (Jack and Lard meant that the respective bridges had been captured but destroyed.)

The Canal Bridge with the three gliders

At 00:26, not even half an hour after the first glider had crossed the French coast, the signal was sent out that D Company had achieved their aim. There were two casualties in the initial attack, one private died in the landing of one of the gliders and Lieutenant Den Brotheridge, who lead the charge across the Canal Bridge was shot by a German machine gunner.

The invasion, of course, did not end there and neither did D Company's involvement in the fighting. A German counteroffensive to try and retake the bridges took place in the early hours of the morning but was warded off. D Company had been relieved of complete responsibility by 02:00, at which time the rest of 6th Airborne had parachuted in to maintain control of the bridges. D Company remained in France for almost three months after D Day, and were merged back in as part of 6th Airborne. The soldiers in glider number five, including Howard's Second-in-Command Captain Brian Priday, who had been sent off course by their tug aircraft were presumed to be dead. However, at 04:00 on D Day they met up with Howard and D Company again, having marched many miles from their wrong Landing Zone (LZ). They had lost only five men and had been involved in being captured by the Germans and several fire fights as well. The fact that they had managed to locate the Bridges in pitch black and carrying extremely heavy rucsacs owes a great deal to Major Howard's tactics of keeping morale high and keeping his men extremely fit.

Conclusion

The Coup de Main operation at the bridges between Bénouville and Ranville were the first successes of an invasion which would take almost a year to arrive in Berlin. From this tidy and efficient start the Allied soldiers soon found the going tougher than expected with Caen, the objective for D Day +1, falling after a month of bitter fighting. However, had D Company's mission failed, then the Allies may never have reached Caen and COSSAC could have seen a similar sequence of events as at Dunkirk three years earlier with soldiers having to flee into the sea to escape the German machine gun fire. Colonel von Luck of the German 192nd Regiment of 21st Panzer is said to have speculated that had D Company failed to hold the two bridges, then his tank regiment would have been on the beaches to greet the disembarking troops and if that were the case then it is quite possible to predict a very different outcome to the invasion.

However, D Company took and held the bridges and they did it with such speed, efficiency and professionalism that on the river bridge there was not even a shot fired in the capture (the holding is a different matter). Major Howard puts the success of the operation down to several key factors; the amazingly high level of morale in the company, not just amongst the soldiers but the whole company, officers and other ranks gelled almost seamlessly. In addition the level of fitness was such in the company that they were physically prepared for every eventuality on their high-risk mission as the men of glider number five proved.

There were, though, two factors which greatly increased the likelihood of success for the mission. One was the skill and preparation of the glider pilots. Possibly one of the chief reasons for so many of General Gale's sleepless nights was the decision to glider land troops inland, unprotected. The events in Sicily, a year prior to D Day where so many men had lost their lives in a catastrophic attempt at glider-based assault, served as a constant reminder to Gale the danger and frailties of an operation like this. However it paid off, the glider landings were exceptional. In fact, Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory commended the glider pilots on D Day saying that he believed it to be the best piece of flying in the Second World war. The secret behind the accuracy of the flying and, indeed the whole operation, was the training that everyone involved was put through and the vast amount of preparation that was done. When the day came to put the operation in to effect, Howard's men had been drilled for every possible situation that they could face and this preparedness meant that they caught the Germans completely by surprise. With the help of the French Resistance in Bénouville and in particular La Famille Gondrée who lived in a small cafe just by the canal bridge, D Company knew exactly what to expect in terms of numbers of men, weapons and nearby German reinforcements. In addition the glider training that the pilots and navigators were put through meant that on 6th June, they could fly the mission blindfolded. It is incredible to think that all this training and preparation was done without one Allied soldier stepping on French soil, moreover that it worked.

The lift bridge spanning the Orne Canal was captured by British 6th Airborne Division glider troops in the first few minutes of D-day. The three Horsa gliders, visible in the top right brought Major John Howard and his troopers in on time, accurately placing them in position to seize the bridge by rapid surprise. Lt. Den Brotheridge, the first allied death on D-day was killed where the Jeep is standing as he and his men rushed across the bridge from the eastern side. A Bedford 4x4 engineer's truck is returning from the airborne headquarters area to secure supplies from Sword Beach. The drivers, although in Europe, are still driving on the left side as in England.

It is hard to suggest that this one action itself swung the War round completely, as well as this assault there were the significant attacks by 6th Airborne on the Merville battery and the bridges over the River Dives and the American attack on the battery at Pointe de Hoc and the two US Airborne Division's assault onto the Cotentin Peninsular, away to the west, but this coup de main assault did go a long way to making sure that the Allied troops were able to disembark safely on the beaches. In showing their gratitude to the men of 6th Airborne the bridge over the Caen Canal was renamed in their honour; Pegasus Bridge (named after the winged horse which appears on the Airborne Forces badge).

Additional Sources:

www.6juin1944.com
www.wlu.ca
freespace.virgin.net/michael.standbridge
perso.wanadoo.fr/stephane.delogu
www.io.com/tog
www.normandybattlefields.com
www.users.globalnet.co.uk
www.commando.org

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on January 28:
1457 Henry VII Pembroke Castle, 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509)
1600 Clement IX [Giulio Rospigliosi], Pistoia, Italy, 238th pope (1667-69)
1608 Giovanni Alfonso Borelli Naples Italy, mathematician/astronomer/physiologist
1611 Johannes Hevelius Danzig, astronomer (star cataloger)
1706 John Baskerville English printer (typeface inventor)
1717 Mustapha III Sultan of Turkey (1757-74)
1815 Andrew Jackson Hamilton Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1875
1822 Alexander MacKenzie (L) 2nd PM of Canada (1873-78)
1825 George Edward Pickett Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1875
1828 Thomas Carmichael Hindman Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1868
1831 Henry Brevard Davidson Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1833 Charles George Gordon London England, military hero/general (China, Khartoum)
1841 Henry Stanley England, journalist/explorer (found Livingston in Africa)
1853 José Martí y Perez Cuba, poet/essayist/politician
1855 William Seward Burroughs New York, inventor (recording adding machine)
1880 Mary Boland Philadelphia PA, US, comedienne/actress (Ruggles of Red Gap)
1884 Auguste Piccard Switzerland, scientist/explorer (balloonist)
1909 Lionel KP "Buster" Crabb British diver (WWII-George Medal)
1910 John Banner Vienna Austria, actor (Sergeant Hans Schultz-Hogan's Heroes)
1912 Jackson Pollock Cody WY, abstract artist (Lavender Mist)
1924 Frank R Lautenberg (Senator-D-NJ)
1928 Slade Gorton (Senator-R-WA, 1981- )
1929 Acker Bilk clarinetist (Stranger on the Shore)
1933 Susan Sontag New York City NY, essayist/novelist/film director (The Benefactor, 1966 Pol Award)
1936 Alan Alda [Alphonso D'Abruzzo], New York City NY, actor (Hawkeye Pierce-M*AS*H)
1944 Brian Keenan New York City NY, rock drummer (Chamber Brothers-Time Has Come Today)
1948 Mamoru Mohri Yoichi-machi Hokkaido Japan, astronaut (STS 47)
1949 Thomas J Downey (Representative-D-NY, 1975- )
1950 Barbi Benton [Klein], California, Playboy model/actress (Hee Haw, Sugar Time!)
1950 David Carl Hilmer Iowa, Colonel USMC/astronaut (STS 51-J, 26, 36, 42)

Deaths which occurred on January 28:
0814 Charlemagne German emperor/Roman Emperor (800-814), dies at 71
1119 Gelasius II [Giovannis Caetani], pope (1118-19), dies
1256 Willem II Earl of Holland/German emperor (1238, 47-56), dies at 22
1547 Henry VIII King of England (1509-47), dies at 55
1595 Sir Francis Drake English navigator/pirate (Porto Bello West Indies), dies at about 50
1621 Paulus V [Camillo Borghese], 233rd pope (1605-21), dies at 68
1725 Peter I "the Great" Romanov czar of Russia, dies at 52
1829 William Burke murderer/body snatcher, executed in Edinburgh
1939 William Butler Yeats Irish poet (Nobel), dies in France at 73
1963 Jean Felix Piccard swiss explorer, dies on his 79th birthday
1973 John Banner actor (Schultz-Hogan's Heroes), dies on 62nd birthday
1980 Jimmy Durante New York City NY, comedian (Jimmy Durante Show), dies at 86

1986 Christa McAuliffe astronaut/teacher, dies in Challenger disaster
1986 Ellison S Onizuka Hawaii, Major USAF/astronaut, dies in Challenger disaster
1986 Francis R Scobee Washington, USAF/astronaut, dies in Challenger disaster
1986 Gregory B. Jarvis Detroit Michigan, payload specialist/astronaut, dies in Challenger disaster
1986 Dr Judith Arlene Resnik Akron OH, astronaut, dies in Challenger disaster
1986 Michael J Smith Beaufort NC, Commander USN, astronaut, dies in Challenger
1986 Ronald E McNair Lake City SC, astronaut, dies in Challenger disaster

1994 Hal Smith actor (Otis Campbell-Andy Griffith Show), dies at 77
1996 Dan Duva boxing promoter, dies at 44
1996 Jerry Siegel comic book writer (Superman), dies at 81
2004 Jack Parr Pioneered tv talkshow format (Tonight Show)

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 MC PHERSON FRED LAWER---OAKLAND CA.
1967 BIEDIGER LARRY W.---LA COSTE TX.
[REMAINS RETURNED 06/03/83]
1967 THORNTON WILLIAM D.---TERRYTOWN NY.
1968 BENGE MICHAEL
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1968 SINGSON WILFREDO D.
1970 ANDERSON GREGORY L.---WHEATON IL.
["MIG HIT, EXPLODED"]
1970 BELL HOLLY G.---BEAUMONT TX.
[REMAINS RETURNED 05/89]
1970 LEESER LEONARD C.---FLORAL PARK NY.
1970 MALLON RICHARD J.---PORTLAND OR.
[REMAINS RETURNED 05/89]
1970 PANEK ROBERT J. SR.---CHICAGO IL.
[PROBABLY KIA, REMAINS RETURNED 04/89]
1970 PRUETT WILLIAM D.---BLUEFIELD VA.
1970 SHINN WILLIAM C.---WOODLAND CA.
1970 SUTTON WILLIAM C.---GOLDSBORO NC.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0028 The Roman Emperor Nerva names Trajan, an army general, as his successor.
1077 Pope Gregory VII pardons German emperor Heinrich IV
1099 1st Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria
1495 Pope gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France
1547 9-year-old Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII as king of England
1561 By Edict of Orleans persecution of French Huguenots is suspended
1581 James VI signs the 2nd Confession of Faith in Scotland
1613 Galileo may have unknowingly viewed undiscovered planet Neptune
1689 English parliament ends king Charles II reign
1787 Philadelphia's Free Africa Society organizes
1788 Lord Gordon found guilty of libel of queen of France
1807 London's Pall Mall is 1st street lit by gaslight
1821 Bellingshausen discovers Alexander Island off Antarctica
1851 Northwestern University (Chicago) chartered
1858 John Brown organized raid on Arsenal at Harper's Ferry
1864 Battle of New Bern, NC
1865 President Jefferson Davis names 3 peace commissioners
1871 Paris surrenders to Prussians ((SHOCK!)
1878 1st telephone exchange (New Haven CT)
1878 George W Coy hired as 1st full-time telephone operator
1878 Yale Daily News published, 1st college daily newspaper
1881 Battle at Laing's Neck Natal Boers beat superior powered British
1899 American Social Science Association incorporated by Congress
1902 Carnegie Institute founded in Washington DC
1904 1st college sports letters given to Seniors who played on University of Chicago's football team are awarded blankets with letter "C" on them
1909 US military forces leave Cuba for 2nd time
1914 Beverly Hills, California, is incorporated
1915 1st US ship lost in WWI, William P Frye (carrying wheat to UK)
1915 US Coast Guard created from Life Saving & Revenue Cutter services
1915 US President Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates
1916 1st Jewish Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, nominated
1922 American Pro Football Association renamed "National Football League"
1922 J E Clair turns Green Bay franchise back to NFL
1923 1st "Reichs Party" (NSDAP) forms in Munich
1925 -46ºF (-43ºC), Pittsburgh NH (state record)
1932 1st US state unemployment insurance act enacted-Wisconsin
1932 Japan occupies Shanghai
1933 French government of Paul Boncour falls
1933 German government of Von Schleicher falls
1934 1st US ski tow (rope) begins operation (Woodstock VT)
1935 Iceland becomes 1st country to legalize abortion
1936 Pravda criticizes Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth" opera
1942 General Timoshenko's troops move into Ukraine
1942 German troops occupy Benghazi Libya
1944 683 British bombers attack Berlin
1945 General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell & truck convoy reopen Burma Road to China
1945 Swedish ships bring food to starving Netherlands
1949 UN Security council condemns Dutch aggression in Indonesia
1950 Preston Tucker, auto maker, found not guilty of mail fraud
1951 "La Vie Commence Demain", which depicted artificial insemination & is the 1st X-rated movie, opened in London
1956 Elvis Presley's 1st TV appearance (Dorsey Brothers Stage Show)
1958 Construction began on 1st private thorium-uranium nuclear reactor
1958 Dodger catcher Roy Campanella is paralyzed in an automobile wreck
1959 Soviet Union wins 62-37 for 1st international basketball loss by US
1960 1st photograph bounced off Moon, Washington DC
1960 NFL announces Dallas Cowboys (1960) & Minnesota Vikings (1961) franchises
1962 Johanne Relleke gets stung by bees 2,443 times in Rhodesia & survives
1963 -34ºF (-37ºC), Cynthiana KY (state record)
1965 The Who make their 1st appearance on British TV
1967 Rolling Stones release "Let's Spend the Night Together"
1968 Goose Goslin & Kiki Cuyler elected to baseball Hall of Fame
1969 Barbara Jo Rubin becomes 1st woman jockey to win in North America
1973 Ron Howard appears on M*AS*H in "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet"
1978 "Fantasy Island" starring Ricardo Montalban premieres on ABC TV
1978 Ranger's Don Murdoch failed on 4th penalty shot against Islanders
1978 Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife
1981 Olympic Glory tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 1 million gallons of oil in a ship collision
1981 William J Casey becomes the 13th director of CIA (until 1987)
1982 US General Dozier freed from Red Brigade of Padua Italy
1984 Mr Glynn Wolfe marries for non-bigamous record 26th time, Las Vegas NV
1984 Record 295,000 dominoes toppled, Fuerth, West Germany

1986 25th Space Shuttle (51L)-Challenger 10 explodes 73 seconds after liftoff

1986 Angolan Unity Leader Jonas Savimbi visits Washington, DC
1987 Wrestler Jim Neidhart indicted for assaulting a flight attendant
1988 Canada's Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional
1991 Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending 22 year rule

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Rwanda : Democracy Day (1961)
Australia : Australia Day (1788 - 1993) (Monday)
US : Meat Week (Day 4)
US : School Nurse Day
US : Spieling Day
National Be On-Purpose Month

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Valerius
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Charlemagne
old Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Peter Nolasco (now 1/31)
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Thomas Aquinas, priest, friar

Religious History
1581 Scotland's King James VI, who in 1603 would become England's James I, signed the Second Scottish Confession of Faith.
1822 Birth of William D. Longstaff, English philanthropist. A close acquaintance of Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, Longstaff is better remembered today as author of the hymn, "Take Time to Be Holy."
1834 Birth of Sabine Baring-Gould, Anglican clergyman and author. A man of widely diverging interests, he published numerous books on history, biography, poetry and fiction. He also penned the enduring hymns, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Now the Day is Over."
1947 In NY City, a copy of the 1640 Bay Psalm Book was purchased at an auction at Parke-Bernet Galleries for $150,000 --the highest price ever paid to date for a single volume. (The original title of the book was: "The Whole Book of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre.")
1977 The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith published an 18-page document ruling out the admission of women to the Roman Catholic priesthood because women lacked a "natural resemblance which must exist between Christ and his ministers."

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours.""

Question of the day...
If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Murphys Law of the day...(Jones's Law)
The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on

Amazing Fact #45...
Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" after his editor dared him to write a book using fewer than 50 different words.