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Pegasus Bridge
First bridge taken on D-Day
by the British 6th Airborne
using Horsa gliders
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The historical combat and the taking of Euston 1 and 2,
and the modern day saving of the Pegasus Bridge
and the conservation of its site.
June 5th 1944
The objective of the operation Tonga was to take the drawbridge intact that was in the community of Benouville (bay-new-veel), a small Normandy town some 10 kilometers from Caen (kaw). This town was situated next to a canal that gave the large city of Caen shipping access to the sea.
The strategic interest of this place is that the canal shares the same bank as the Orne (or-nnn) River that goes through Caen - this made a strategic piece of ground between the canal and the river that would be valuable to hold, in addition to the next consecutive bridge crossing the Orne River.
This other bridge was called Le Pont Tournant (le poe tewern-ah), and provided access to the village of Ranville (rahn-veel).
These bridges combined made access to the beach by any inland enemy tank forces. Thus, controlling these bridges meant protecting the Allied beach landing on D-Day: more specifically the British landing at Sword Beach.
The Pegasus Bridge (crossing the canal)
and the Tournant Bridge (crossing the Orne River)
are located between Benouville and Ranville
(see red line)
and are directly South of Sword Beach:
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