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A successful landing at Sword Beach would then initiate an inward movement of forces that were to link up with the Airborne efforts in the St. Mere Eglise (saint mare aay-gleez) area, as well as other Airborne units nearby. Thus, the capture of Ouistreham ([we-struh-ham] near Sword Beach) and St. Mere Eglise made two important pivot points for the success of the Airborne forces, and their receiving of supplies and reinforcements.
The principal objectives for the taking of the bridges, then, were code named Euston 1 (the taking of the canal drawbridge) and Euston 2 (the taking of the Orne River bridge [Le Pont Tournant - marked the entry to Ranville]).
The length of Euston 1 was 32.95 meters (98.85 feet - see footnote 1) , and the width was 6 meters (18 feet), with two sidewalks 1.3 meters (3.9 feet) wide, which were on either side of the bridge. Wooden crossboards gave this bridge a very distinct sound when it was crossed. The total weight of this assembly, including the counterweight, was 700 tons.
Grace to the French poet Paul Verlaine (vare-lane), the well-known verse The Sighs of Autumn... contained the announcement to the French that the objective of the British Ox and Bucks, the light Airborne infantry commanded by Major John Howard (see footnote 2), was the taking of the drawbridge at Benouville. These men would arrive at night around 12:10a.m. in Horsa gliders,
which would touch down in chaotic, unlit conditions on the East bank of the canal, just 50 meters (150 feet) from the head of the Orne River bridge. This was a difficult task, to be done with a minimum of casualties, in a small, specified area.
On the evening of June 5th, 1944, there was no wind.
It rained momentarily, and the clouds were moving quickly
towards the sea. The Ablemarles (British Halifax Bombers)
that towed the gliders (each glider had 28 men on board)
continued their flight to drop bombs on La Cartoucherie de
Lebissey (lah car-two-sherry de lay-bee-say), a town west of Caen (kaw).
The German guards on the bridge heard the noise of the bombs, which they were
well familiar with, and then the screeching and rustling of what they thought
was an airplane downed by flak, but which was actually a glider landing.
Footnotes:
1) The length was extended in 1962 to 37.95 meters [113.85 feet]
2) Howard, for his efforts during the taking of the Pegasus Bridge, was awarded the DSO, and the French Cross of War with Palm Leaf. Each June 6th he returns to the site of where the gliders landed to place a wreath, and then visits the bridge and the Cafe Gondree [gone-dray] known as the Pegasus Bridge Cafe.
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