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Pegasus Bridge is a bascule bridge (a type of movable bridge), built in 1934, that crossed the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham, in Normandy, France.

Also known as the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, it was, with the nearby Ranville Bridge over the river Orne, a major objective of Operation Tonga in the opening minutes of the invasion of Normandy. A gliderborne unit of the British 6th Airborne Division, commanded by Major John Howard were to land, take the bridges intact and hold them until relieved. The successful taking of the bridges played an important role in limiting the effectiveness of a German counter-attack in the days and weeks following the invasion.

In 1944 it was renamed Pegasus Bridge in honour of the operation. The name is derived from the shoulder emblem worn by the British airborne forces, which is the flying horse Pegasus.

[edit] Battle for the bridge

Main article: Operation Tonga#5th Parachute Brigade

Pegasus Bridge in 1944

On the night of 5 June 1944, a force of 181 men, led by Major John Howard, took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset, southern England in six Horsa gliders to capture Pegasus Bridge, and also "Horsa Bridge", a few hundred yards to the east, over the Orne River. The force included elements of B and D Companies, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a platoon of B Company, Royal Engineers, and men of the Glider Pilot Regiment. The object of this action was to prevent German armour from crossing the bridges and attacking the eastern flank of the landings at Sword Beach.

Five of the Ox and Bucks's gliders landed as close as 40 yards from their objectives from 16 minutes past midnight. The attackers poured out of their battered gliders, completely surprising the German defenders, and took the bridges within 10 minutes. They lost two men in the process, Lieutenant Den Brotheridge and Lance-Corporal Fred Greenhalgh.

Greenhalgh drowned when his glider landed. Lieutenant Brotheridge was killed crossing the bridge in the first minutes of the assault and thus became the first member of the invading Allied armies to die in combat on D-Day.

One glider, assigned to the capture of Horsa Bridge, landed at the bridge over the River Dives, some 7 miles off. Most of the soldiers in this glider moved through German lines towards the village of Ranville where they eventually rejoined the British forces. The Ox & Bucks were reinforced half-an-hour after the landings by 7th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment and linked up with the beach landing forces with the arrival of Lord Lovat's Commandos.^[1]

One of the members of the 7th Battalion reinforcements was young actor Richard Todd who would, nearly two decades later, play Major Howard in the film The Longest Day^[2] Five years before his death, Major Howard described the portrayal of the events surrounding the capture of the bridges and his role in them as "sentimental rubbish".^[3]

[edit] Today

Original bridge in the Pegasus Museum - July 2005

Pegasus Bridge now resides in the grounds of the Pegasus Memorial Museum. The museum was inaugurated by HRH The Prince of Wales on 4 June 2004^[4] and lies at the Eastern end of the current bridge. The original bridge was replaced in 1994 by the wider, stronger structure, built by Spie Batignolles^[5], that exists today. It had been extended by 5 metres in the early 1960s to accommodate the widening of the canal and remained in use until 1993. After its replacement, Pegasus Bridge was left on waste ground^[6] until it was rescued, being bought for the token sum of one pound sterling^{[citation needed]}, and moved to the grounds of the museum.

Many of the soldiers killed in the actions of June 1944 are buried in the war cemetery at Ranville^[7]. Lt. Brotheridge's grave, which is located in the churchyard next to the cemetery^[8], has a commemorative plaque that was installed by the family Gondrée, whose house near Pegasus Bridge was the first to be liberated during D-Day^[9]. It still exists and nowadays contains a café and a small museum shop that sells Pegasus Bridge related material. Arlette Gondrée, who now runs Café Gondrée, was a small child living in the home when it was liberated.

[edit] Design

The replacement Pegasus Bridge built in 1994

Pegasus Bridge and the structure that replaced it in 1994 are examples of a distinct subtype of bascule bridge, the Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge" or "rolling bridge". Bridges of this type do not pivot about a hinge point, but roll back on curved tread plates attached to the girders of the main span. This design allows a greater clearance of the waterway for a given opening angle.^[10]

[edit] See also

Animation of operation

[edit] References

^ Ambrose, Stephen E. (1994), D-Day (First ed.), New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-80137-X .
^ ."Film star recalls his own longest day". http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/may/30/military.film. Retrieved on 5 June 2009.
^ "Major John Howard". http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/1999/may/07/guardianobituaries. Retrieved on 5 June 2009.
^ "Pegasus Memorial Museum". http://www.memorial-pegasus.org/mmp/musee_debarquement/index.php. Retrieved on 23 May 2009.
^ Pegasus Bridge on Structurae database
^ "The Pegasus Bridge". http://www.normandy1944.com/include/pegasus_bridge.swf. Retrieved on 23 May 2009.
^ "Commonwealth War Graves Commission : Ranville War Cemetery". http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=2033500&mode=1. Retrieved on 27 May 2009.
^ "Commonwealth War Graves Commission : Casualty Details". http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2345255. Retrieved on 27 May 2009.
^ "Lieut Herbert Denham Brotheridge ( - 1944) - Find A Grave Photos". http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=14087495&PIpi=3030935. Retrieved on 27 May 2009.
^ Koglin, Terry L. (2003), Movable bridge engineering, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 46,47, ISBN 9780471419600, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_cyqkMJ7QDgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA46,M1, retrieved on 5 June 2009.

[edit] Further reading

Ambrose, Stephen E. (1985; 2nd print 1988). Pegasus Bridge. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780671523749
Edwards, Denis (1999). The Devil's Own Luck: Pegasus Bridge to the Baltic 1945-45. Leo Cooper/Pen & Sword. ISBN 9780850526677
Parr, Barry (2007). What d'ya do in the war, Dad? Trafford Publishing. ISBN 9781425110734
Norbert Hugedé, Le commando du pont Pégase (unreliable on many points, but witness reports of local French civilians cited)
Historica Nr. 34: Normandie 1944 (publ. Heimdal. 1993)
John Howard en Penny Bates, The Pegasus Diaries about the military career of Major Reginald John Howard, commanding officer of D Company Ox and Bucks who took both bridges over the river Orne (Ranville) and the Canal de Caen (Benouville) in the night before D-Day.

[edit] External links

Pegasus Memorial Museum
Pegasus bridge as model
Musée de Pegasus Bridge
Pegasus Bridge in the Structurae database
Royal Engineers Museum 6th Airborne Divisional Engineers - D Day 1944
The 6th Airborne Division in Normandy
BBC 'The People's War'
The bridge in 1944
A detailed description of the area and operation
D-Day : Etat des Lieux : 6th Airborne Division in Normandy
True Loyals: A History of 7th Battalion, the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) / 92nd (Loyals) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery 1940-1946
Pegasus Bridge Forum
Project 65

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Dimanche 5 juillet 2009

Bois brûlé LORRAINE 14-18 LIOUVILLE

14-18

LORRAINE

BOIS BRûlé

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WIKIMAPIA BOIS BRULé

APREMONT-LA-FORêT

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FORT de LIOUVILLE

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WIKIMAPIA

SAINT-AGNANT-SOUS-LES-CôTES lorraine

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Dimanche 5 juillet 2009

CARENTAN UTAH BEACH

NORMANDIE

D-DAY

JOURJ

WW II

06 JUIN 1944

1 CARENTAN

PONT-CANAL

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=49.311974&lon=-1.2331724&z=15&l=2&m=h

2 PASSE DE CARENTAN

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=49.3930999&lon=-1.1858368&z=12&l=2&m=h&search=passe%20de%20carentan

3 UTAH BEACH

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- .

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-

PASSE DE CARENTAN

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UTAH BEACH

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Dimanche 5 juillet 2009

CARENTAN D-DAY

CARENTAN

D-DAY

6 JUIN 1944

1944 JUNE 06

NORMANDIE

NORMANDY

http://www.flickr.com/search/?adv=1&w=all&q=carentan+il+-elle+-moi+-me+-you+-tu+-she+-him+-sans+-&m=text

CARENTAN

D-DAY

6 JUIN 1944

1944 JUNE 06

NORMANDIE

NORMANDY

http://www.flickr.com/search/?adv=1&w=all&q=carentan+il+-elle+-moi+-me+-you+-tu+-she+-him+-sans+-&m=text

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Dimanche 5 juillet 2009

OPPIDUM d'INCHEVILLE

INCHEVILLE
OPPIDUM
WIKIMAPIA

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Dimanche 5 juillet 2009

MOTS

--------------------------
ARCHIPEL ( évolution )   désigne la Grèce
archipel du Goulag
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ALLOGène
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Bélligérant
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TRANSPORT
évolution du mot   =
transport des humeurs , des sens
transport de la Cour à Versailles ( 2009 = 500 000 Euros pour quelques heures
de clownerie incompétente )
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transport routier ( HAULAGE )

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NEUTRE
NEUTRALITé (fausse neutralité carbone )
NEUTRALISME
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CONCEPTION
CONTRACEPTION    " Immaculée contraception "
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VIVIFIER
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BORNER   , il est borné   bornitude ????
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PRATIQUE   - mot    - adj
, école pratique des hautes études
pratiquer ( la femme )
-------------------------------

UNION
le terme " UNION EUROPEENNE " par exemple est faux
il n'unit pas TOUTE l'Europe ( Ukraine , Russie exclues par exemple )
ce n'est donc pas l'UNION Européenne , mais
seulement d'une PARTIE et non le tout
.
il est donc mensonger d'utiliser l'adjectif qui désigne TOUTE l'europe !!
sinon il fallait utiliser
états unis d'europe
qui désignait alors ceux qui étaient unis
--------------------------------------
UNION # REUNION

ne fallait-il pas utiliser Réunion plutôt qu'Union
--------------------------------------

ENGAGEMENT
" engagement pris , promesse tenue"
terme de la pub envoyée par l'UMP à tous les cafetiers -restaurateurs
( avec bulletin d'adhésion joint )

ENGAGEMENT DEMAGOGIQUE de ruiner encore plus les finances de la France
PROMESSE DEMAGOGIQUE tenue !!!

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BISSE
--------------------------------
ESSENTES / ESSENTAGE
----------------------------------
ROUMANCHE
-------------------------------------
LADIN
--------------------------------
VALLEUSE
-------------------------------------------
MAYEN
----------------------------------------
HUBAC   = devenu UBAC
--------------------------------------------
FIRTH
-------------------------------------

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Dimanche 5 juillet 2009

LONDRES BEXLEY CHURCH UK

UK
LONDRES LONDON
BEXLEY CHURCH

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Dimanche 5 juillet 2009

GUILDFORD ABBOTS HOSPITAL UK

UK GUILDFORD

ABBOTS HOSPITAL

dans la rue principale de Guildford, est l´un des bâtiments emblématiques de la ville. Il a été légué par l´archevêque de Canterbury, George Abbot, qui est sans doute le guildfordien le plus célèbre de l´histoire ! Abbot a vécu au XVIIème siècle, et cet hôpital qu´il a donné sert désormais aux retraités de la ville, qui peuvent y loger gratuitement, sous conditions de ressources, et d´avoir toujours vécu à Guildford ou presque.

L´immeuble a été préservé avec soin par les différents gestionnaires de l´ hôpital, et on peut le visiter, soit en allant au Tunsgate voir les horaires des visites de la ville, qui sont gratuites, deux fois par semaines, avec des retraités passionnés d´histoire, qui ont toujours une anecdote rigolote sur comment était la ville dans le temps, soit en contactant l´hôpital lui-même et en réservant une visite spéciale du hôpital uniquement.