Page 36 - Bugle Autumn 2024

6 RIFLES
D DAY 80 EXETER
On the morning of the 6th of June 2024, members of 6 RIFLES paraded in memory of those who served on D Day 80 years ago. The location we paraded was particularly poignant, as it was the bridge where the rehearsals were conducted for the airborne assault on what later became known as Pegasus Bridge. Members of HQ Coy (many present at the parade), had visited the
real location in Normandy last year on a Battlefield Study.
To put the operation in context:
The seizure of two strategic road bridges in
Normandy, France, during the Second World War was crucial to the advance of the allied troops from the D-Day beaches. One bridge spanned the Caen Canal, and the second bridge was over the river Orne, and it was vital to capture and hold both crossings to thwart their destruction by the occupying forces and to prevent any counterattack.
The capture of the bridges, codenamed Operation Deadstick, was carried out in an airborne assault by the Second Battalion the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, under the command of Major John Howard. The troops were ferried to the area in Horsa personnel-carrying gliders which skilfully landed adjacent to the bridges. The raid was swift and successful.
Major Howard supervised rehearsals for this top-secret mission and one of the places he chose for training was Countess Wear
Countess Wear bridge Exeter
bridge in Exeter. The reason for this was that the swing bridge over the Exeter Ship Canal, together with the bridge over the river Exe and the surrounding landscape, closely resembled the structures and countryside of the Caen Canal and River Orne region. The Exeter bridges were used over a period of three days and nights for realistic preparations for the raid.
The bascule bridge adjacent to the swing bridge is sometimes wrongly linked with the D-day training since it resembles the bridge over the Caen Canal. However, the Exeter bascule bridge was not constructed until
one of the places he chose for training was Countess Wear bridge
1972 and thus played no part in the wartime military exercises. The canal bridge in France was later to be re-named Pegasus Bridge and the river bridge was re-titled Horsa Bridge.
All present on parade paid respects to the bravery, dedication, and skill of those who conducted that small but vital operation 80 years ago in a small village in France. To have been to the actual location last year, gave
me a very vivid idea what it must have been like to conduct that operation and as such a huge amount of respect for those soldiers that conducted such an audacious and successful attack.
Pegasus Bridge Normandy France
36 RIFLES The Bugle