D-Day: Assault on Pegasus Bridge: D-Day and the Battle of Normandy Short Historical Military Fiction

ISBN-10
1521426112
ISBN-13
9781521426111
Pages
132
Language
English
Published
2017-06-02
Author
Vincent Cooper

Description

6th June 1944 00:16 Pegasus Bridge, Normandy, France D Company of the Ox and Bucks supported by two platoons from B Company led by Major John Howard make a glider borne landing in Normandy, France in a daring coup de main operation to capture two key strategic bridges spanning the Caen canal and the River Orne vital to the success of D-Day. This fast-paced fictive / descriptive historical short story takes you to the heart of the battle. Follow the actions of individual soldiers as the Ox and Bucks fight hard to win through. NOTE: This is a stand alone short story that is a key chapter in my full length novel D-Day Pegasus Bridge (Available on Kindle and in paperback from Amazon). NOTE: Assault on Pegasus Bridge is available on Kindle and in paperback from Amazon. Bonus Chapter: Assault on Pegasus Bridge for Boys is a 'PG' version intended for minors and taken from my novel D-Day Pegasus Bridge for Boys. For updates please check Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ddayandthebattleofnormandy Historical Background to D-Day and the Assault on Pegasus Bridge D-Day took place on 6th June 1944. Allied activity started around midnight 5/6 June when pathfinders landed in the Normandy area to guide in paratroopers. The British 6th Airborne Div. Canadian 1st (Independent) Parachute Div and the U.S. 82nd and 101st Parachute Divisions descended behind the coast line to seize vital objectives and disrupt German attempts to reinforce the beaches. The British were tasked with two important objectives: seizing the bridges over the Orne canal and the River Orne, the operation carried out by the Ox and Bucks, and destroying the Merville battery close to Ouistreham and capable of shelling Sword beach with heavy caliber artillery. This task fell to 9th Para Battalion. Despite the paratroopers often been scattered and landing in areas some distance away from their intended Landing Zones, the airborne forces performed admirably throughout the night. At dawn seaborne troops were scheduled to make landings at five beach. From east to west these were codenamed Sword (British 3rd Infantry Div supported by the 27th Armored Brigade and the 1st and 4th Special Service Brigades), Juno (3rd Canadian Infantry Div supported by the 2nd Canadian Armored Brig and No. 48 Royal Marine Commando), Gold (British 50th Infantry Div supported by the British 8th Armored Brig, British 56th Infantry Brig and No. 47 Royal Marine Commando), Omaha (U.S. V Corps comprised of the 1st Infantry Div, the 29th Infantry Div and the U.S Army Rangers) and Utah (U.S. VII Corps comprised of the 4th Infantry Div, the 90th Infantry Div and the 4th Cavalry Regiment). Sword beach was closest to Caen and what would later be named Pegasus Bridge and it was from here that Lord Lovat was to lead his commandos to establish the first link up with the Ox and Bucks from the sea. Omaha beach saw the heaviest fighting with perhaps some 2,000 casualties. The U.S Army Rangers 2nd Batt was tasked with a particularly dangerous mission: scaling 90 foot cliffs at Pointe du Hoc while under enemy fire to destroy 155mm guns (which, as it turned out, had been moved from the area). Before the troops landed a massive air and naval bombardment was carried out. The air bombardment for the most part was a failure, but the naval bombardment, which was far more accurate, met with some success and smaller vessels were able to continue to provide support fire throughout the struggle for the beaches. By the end of the day all the beaches were secure and the Allies had advanced inland; not as far as intended or planned, but nevertheless a foot hold in western Europe had been established and more men and materiel would arrive through Normandy in the coming days and weeks allowing the Battle of Normandy to be successfully fought and won.

Get the book

Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Search the book
eBay.com
eBay.com
Search the book

Similar books

  • Pegasus Bridge
    Pegasus Bridge
    By Stephen E. Ambrose

    Over England, at 0020, Captain Richard Todd's Stirling bomber began to straighten out for its run over the Channel. Todd, twenty-four years old, had set aside a promising acting career to join the paratroopers.

  • Pegasus Bridge - D-Day: The Daring British Airborne Raid
    Pegasus Bridge - D-Day: The Daring British Airborne Raid
    By Stephen E. Ambrose

    From the #1 bestselling author of BAND OF BROTHERS comes a breathtaking minute-by-minute account of the first engagement of D-Day, a British operation that was crucial to the ultimate success of the Normandy invasion.

  • Pegasus Bridge: Bénouville D-Day 1944
    Pegasus Bridge: Bénouville D-Day 1944
    By Will Fowler

    Quickly overwhelming the guards, they managed to hold the bridge and help prevent German reinforcements from reaching the British landing beaches. Will Fowler provides a detailed blow-by-blow account of this classic wartime raid.

  • Well Past Trouble: Normandy Battle of Pegasus Bridge
    Well Past Trouble: Normandy Battle of Pegasus Bridge
    By Sergeant Lofthouse

    This book was written in the year of the seventieth anniversary of Operation Overlord, and there is a poignancy and sense of place and time embedded in Robert's writing.

  • Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944
    By Stephen E. Ambrose

    This is a story of heroism and cowardice, kindness and brutality -- the stuff of all great adventures.

  • Assault on Normandy: Pegasus Bridge
    Assault on Normandy: Pegasus Bridge
    By Mike Peters, Tim Saunders

    Pegasus Bridge charts the mounting of the operation that sent the 6th Airborne Division behind enemy lines to take and preserve the Caen Canal Bridge, cutting German reinforcements off from the upcoming fighting on Normandy's beaches, and ...

  • Operation Tonga: 6th Airborne Division – June 1944
    Operation Tonga: 6th Airborne Division – June 1944
    By Jon Cooksey

    The seizure of Pegasus Bridge by six glider borne platoons of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry under Major John Howard very early 6th June 1944, is one of the better-known stories of D-Day.

  • Pegasus Bridge: D-Day: the Daring British Airborne Rescue
    By Stephen E. Ambrose

    Pegasus Bridge was the first engagement of D-Day, the turning point of World War II.

  • Pegasus: The Red Devils in Normandy
    Pegasus: The Red Devils in Normandy
    By Lloyd Clark

    Full of color photos and detailed maps, this is the must-have guide for any armchair historian or battlefield tourist.

  • The Pegasus and Orne Bridges: Their Capture, Defences and Relief on D-Day
    The Pegasus and Orne Bridges: Their Capture, Defences and Relief on D-Day
    By Neil Barber

    The bicycle Troop of 6 Commando, 1 Troop, was led by Captain Douglas Robinson. They had begun to approach the high ground before Le Port when a machine gun opened up, hitting one of the cyclists. Robinson ordered his men to dismount and ...