Operation Tonga

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Operation Tonga Part of World War II Pathfinders synchronising their watches in front of an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle Date 6 June 1944 Location Caen, Normandy, France Result British victory Belligerents Canada  United Kingdom  Germany Commanders Richard Nelson Gale  ??? Strength 8,500 men[1]  ??? Casualties and losses 821 dead, 2709 wounded, 927 missing[2] estimated 400 dead estimated 400 captured

v • d • e Battle of Normandy Neptune – Tonga – American Airborne Landings – Sword – Juno – Gold – Omaha – Utah – Pointe du Hoc – Brécourt Manor – La Caine – Perch – Carentan – Villers-Bocage – Cherbourg – Epsom – Charnwood – Jupiter – Goodwood – Atlantic – Verriéres Ridge – Spring – Cobra – Bluecoat – Totalise – Lüttich – Tractable – Falaise – Brest – Paris

v • d • e West European Campaign (1944-1945) Normandy - Dragoon - Paris to the Rhine - Bulge - Nordwind - Blackcock - Colmar Pocket - Battle of Central Europe - German capitulation

v • d • e Western Front (World War II) France - Maastricht - The Hague - Rotterdam - Fort Eben-Emael - The Grebbeberg - Afsluitdijk - Hannut - The Netherlands - Battle of Zeeland - Dunkirk - Britain - Dieppe - Normandy - Dragoon - Siegfried Line - Market Garden - Aintree - Scheldt - Hurtgen Forest - Aachen - Bulge - Colmar Pocket - Nordwind - Central Europe - German capitulation

This article summarizes British airborne operations during the Normandy Landings. For American airborne operations, see American airborne landings in Normandy

Operation Tonga was the codename given to the airborne operation undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division between 5 June and 6 June as a part of Operation Overlord and the Normandy Landings. The paratroopers and glider-borne infantry of the division landed on the eastern flank of the invasion area, near the city of Caen, and were tasked with securing several bridges over the Orne River, destroying an artillery battery that threatened to disrupt the infantry and armour landing on Sword Beach, and then securing the flank against German counter-attack until the division could be relieved by Allied forces advancing from the beaches.

The operation was a success for the division, with the airborne troops securing the bridges which were used by advancing Allied forces, destroying the Merville Gun Battery and ensuring that the artilery pieces it possessed could not disrupt the landing at Sword Beach, and finally repelling several German counter-attacks despite being outnumbered and lightly armed. The actions of the division severely limited the ability of the German defenders to communicate and organize themselves, ensuring that the Allied seaborne landings could not be attacked during the first few hours of Allied troops landing, when they were most vulnerable to being defeated.

[edit] Background

Frederick E. Morgan, the original planner of Operation Overlord.

Operation Tonga originated in the planning of Operation Overlord, the plan for the eventual invasion of France and the opening of a Second Front in North-Western Europe. Planning for the invasion of Europe by the Allies had begun in May 1943 when President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had met at the Washington Conference.^[3] The two Allied leaders decided that all available Allied forces in the theatre should be concentrated in Great Britain, and that planning for the invasion of North-Western Europe should begin. A provisional target date of May 1944 was set, the code-name Overlord decided upon, and a joint Anglo-American planning staff created under Lieutenant-General Frederick E. Morgan, who was given the title of Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC).^[4] Planning then began for the invasion of Europe, and even early plans for Overlord called for the commitment of airborne forces to support the ground forces and protect their landing areas. Operation Skyscraper called for the deployment of two airborne divisions to land near Caen and the east coast of the Cotentin Peninsula in support of an invasion of Normandy by five divisions, whose objective would be the capture of Cherbourg and then breaking out to the east of Normandy.^[5] A number of plans were drawn up by Morgan and his cadre of staff officers for the invasion of Normandy, finally deciding that the invasion should take place on a thirty-mile front west of the River Orne, rejecting the need to capture the Pas De Calais and the ports there by calling for the creation of prefabricated artificial ports to ferry equipment and troops ashore once the initial landings had occurred.^[6] The plan underwent a number of further revisions, and on 21 January 1944 a revised Overlord plan was presented to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had been chosen as the Supreme Allied Commander for the invasion. The updated and revised plan widened the landing area to include all of the coastline between the River Orne and the eastern coast of the Cotentin Peninsula, with airborne divisions to land either side of the landing areas to secure their flanks and protect the landing troops from counterattack.^[7] The British airborne forces were to land in the east and the American airborne forces to land to the west of Bayeux in support of the infantry and armoured units advancing from the beachheads.^[8]

[edit] British Preparation

The British airborne forces chosen to participate in the airborne landings on the eastern flank were the units of the British 6th Airborne Division, under the command of Major-General Richard Gale.^[9] The division was relatively new, only having been activated in September 1943 , and participating in Operation Overlord would be its first experience of combat and airborne operation.^[10] On 17 February 1944 Major-General Frederick Browning, commander of all British airborne forces, arrived at the headquarters of the division to brief General Gale on what the division was expected to achieve during Operation Tonga.^[11] The original plan for Tonga did not involve the entire division, however, instead only calling for a single parachute brigade and an anti-tank battery to be attached to 3rd Infantry Division. The brigade and attached battery would be tasked with seizing bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne near the towns of Benouville and Ranville.^[12] Gale, however, objected to this small-scale operation, arguing that a single brigade would not be able to achieve these objectives with such limited manpower, and asked for the entire division to be deployed. After consultation with his superiors, Browning agreed to the request and ordered Gale to begin planning for the operation.^[13] The division was allotted three specific tasks to achieve as a part of Operation Tonga, apart from protecting the eastern flank of the Allied seaborne landings and taking control of the areas of strategic importance to the east of Caen. Firstly, the division was to capture the bridges over the Caen Canal and the Orne River at Benouville and Ranville and then proceed to establish a bridgehead from which the bridges could be defended from German counterattacks. Secondly, the division was to destroy the heavily fortified Merville coastal artillery battery located at Franceville Plage, to ensure that it could not shell the British forces landing on Sword Beach. Finally, the division was to destroy several bridges which spanned the River Dives, located near the towns of Varaville, Robehomme, Bures and Troarn. The division would then hold the territory that it had seized until it could be relieved by advancing Allied ground forces.^[14]

Planning for the operation began in February, starting with the number of transport aircraft assigned to the operation being expanded rapidly to accommodate the entire division. Two Royal Air Force air groups were provided for the operation to ensure that the division could be deployed into Normandy in just two airlifts.^[15] The pilots and crew of these transport aircraft then began a campaign of formation flying training and specialized aircrew training to ensure that they were as familiar with what the operation required of them as was possible.^[16] The 6th Airborne Division carried out several large-scale airborne exercises, using them to find the most efficient way to deploy a brigade group on one or multiple landing-zones. On 6 February the 3rd Parachute Brigade undertook an exercise in which the entire brigade was dropped by some 98 transport aircraft, and at the end of March 284 aircraft were used in Exercise 'Bizz II' in which the entire division was deployed by parachute or glider. Finally, between 21 April and 26 April, Exercise 'Mush' utilized approximately 700 aircraft to deploy the 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade against the 6th Airborne Division, who moved by road, in a simulation of a full-scale airborne operation.^[17] As the date of the operation approached, training became more intensive. Glider units spent hours aloft every day circling over airfields as they practiced the manoeuvers required to land the airborne forces next to the bridges over the Orne and Dive and the Merville artillery battery. Once the pilots had practiced this sufficiently during the day, they were then switched to night operations. In the landing grounds used by thde division for their operations, dozens of poles similar to those in Normandy were erected, with engineering units then timed on how fast they could demolish the obstacles.^[18] The units tasked with destroying the Merville artillery battery spent two weeks at a special camp where they built a replica of the battery and carried out several rehearsal exercises in and around it. The units that were to be used to capture the Orne bridges were transferred to Exeter, where they conducted intensive exercises around the River Exe and the nearby canal.^[19] The pilots of the gliders and transport aircraft were also constantly briefed with thousands of maps and photographs of the landing zones and the surrounding areas, as well as dozens of scale models of the zones and the primary objectives, such as the bridges and the Merville artillery battery. A coloured film was produced from aerial reconnaissance photographs which, when played at the correct speed and height over the scale models, realistically simulated the paths the glider pilots would take towards the landing-zones they would land in.^[20]

Map illustrating the landing areas of Operation Tonga.

[edit] German Preparation

The airborne troops of the 6th Airborne Division would be opposed by the Wehrmacht units stationed in the area around Caen and the River Orne, as well as a large number of static defensive positions and obstacles which had been erected under the orders of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rommel had been appointed Inspector General of Coastal Defences and commander of Army Group B in November 1943 by order of Adolf Hitler. On his arrival he had assessed the existing defences in the region and had immediately begun the process of improving them, particularly those situated inland as he believed no more than thirty percent of the German defenses were adequate.^[21] These anti-airborne measures consisted of planting a large number of mines to create minefields as well as the erection of wire-braced poles up to two metres in height, a great many of which were laced with mines or other booby-traps aimed at destroying gliders and killing or wounding airborne troops.^[22] The Merville artillery battery, the destruction of which was one of the main objectives of the 6th Airborne Division, was an immense and heavily fortified position. From the beach it was protected by two strongpoints, which included approximately thirty bunkers as well as an observation post, and the battery itself consisted of a bunker containing the battery's command post, two blockhouses, a light flak emplacement and four casemates able of containing artillery pieces up to dimensions of 150 mm.^[23] The entire battery covered an area roughly four hundred metres in diameter and was surrounded by an inner perimeter of barbed wire, a minefield, and an outer perimeter of barbed wire as well as an anti-tank ditch.^[24]

[edit] The Battle

[edit] Coup-de-Main

The initial assault was carried out by 181 soldiers -- four platoons of D and two of B Companies, 2nd Ox & Bucks -- in six Horsa gliders, led by Major John Howard. Major Howard's orders were to capture intact the bridges and to hold them until relieved. The part of Operation Tonga involving the capture of the two bridges of the Benouville-Ranville crossing is often referred to as the coup de main.

Transport moving across the Caen Canal Bridge at Benouville, June 1944. The bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the mythical winged horse on the formation sign of British airborne forces.

At 16 minutes past midnight on 6 June, three of the gliders landed near the village of Bénouville on the west bank of the Caen Canal within fifty metres (164 ft) of the canal bridge (Pegasus Bridge). The first, Glider No.91, containing Major Howard and No.1 Platoon of the coup de main force, landed heavily and came to an abrupt halt when, as had been planned during the briefings, it pushed its nose through and penetrated the first belt of barbed wire around the bridge. The force of this sudden halt catapulted both glider pilots through the cockpit screen and rendered them, together with all of their passengers, unconscious. Within a few seconds, however, the men had fully regained their senses and became aware that all around them was quiet. The noise of the crash had not alerted the Germans at the bridge, a mere 50 yards (46 m) from where the glider had come to rest. If it had then the fate of the coup de main might have been decided in seconds. Fortunately, the guards had disregarded the noise that they heard as that of debris falling from a damaged Allied bomber.

No.1 Platoon were quickly out of the glider and instinctively went about the tasks for which they had been training for months. Several men knocked out a machine-gun position whilst the majority of the platoon, led by Lt. Den Brotheridge, rushed over the bridge to capture the other side, firing from the hip and lobbing grenades as they charged. Once across to the western side of the bridge, Brotheridge dropped a grenade into another machine-gun position but was shot through the neck in the next instant. Mortally wounded, Lieutenant Den Brotheridge was the first British soldier to die as a result of enemy action on D-Day. As No.1 Platoon had begun their attack, No.2 Platoon landed safely in the second glider and immediately moved up to help clear the enemy away from the eastern end of the bridge. No.3 Platoon were not so lucky as the abrupt halt to their landing had torn the fuselage from the glider and left a dozen men trapped in the wreckage, one drowned in the adjacent lake. Their commander, Lieutenant Smith, was injured as a result of the crash and was hurt further by the grenade-wielding German whom he encountered and killed several minutes later, however he continued to lead his men and helped to secure the western side of the bridge. Throughout all of these actions, the accompanying Royal Engineers of the 249th Field Company, had been ignoring the enemy fire directed at them as they climbed all over the bridge, looking for wires to cut and detonation devices to remove. The Germans had clearly prepared the bridge for demolition but, fearing an accidental explosion or sabotage by the French Resistance, the charges had not been placed. After overcoming the initial shock of this sudden and violent assault, the German garrison fought back, but defeat was inevitable and many fled the scene. As the firing died down, Major John Howard knew that, for now at least, Bénouville bridge was safely in British hands.

A few hundred yards to the east, spanning the River Orne, stands another bridge known as Horsa Bridge, or Ranville Bridge, after the nearby village. This was the second objective of the Ox and Bucks, and was assaulted by the remaining three gliders, one of which landed miles away from the bridge and so played no part in the raid. The other two gliders, however, landed on target. No.6 Platoon landed first and proceeded to attack the bridge, but by this time the sound of fighting in the direction of Pegasus Bridge had alerted the German garrison. Fortunately, their defensive capability amounted to a single machine-gun position, the crew of which fired a few ineffective rounds at the British as they came into view, and then fled in the face of No.6 Platoon's accurate mortar fire. A few minutes later, No.5 Platoon, who had landed 700 yards (640 m) short of the landing zone, arrived at the bridge, unaware that it had already been taken. They ran across it, expecting to be fired upon at any moment, but in the gloom before them there appeared the unmistakable shape of Lieutenant Fox, the commander of No.6 Platoon. So ended the brief struggle for Horsa bridge.

The coup de main raid had been a complete success. With comparatively few casualties, both bridges had been taken in just ten minutes. The landing of the gliders on to these very small landing zones in the dark was later hailed by Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory, the commander of Allied air forces during the invasion, as "one of the most outstanding flying achievements of the war."

[edit] Reinforcing the Bridges

Most of the 6th Airborne landed by parachute 40 minutes later, one of their many tasks being to reinforce the defenders of the bridges, which were successfully held, against little enemy interference, by Major Howard's men for two hours before the first troops arrived. The role of the 7th Battalion The Parachute Regiment is frequently overlooked in this regard, for they were the relieving force who were to bear the brunt of the German counterattacks to the west of the Caen Canal throughout the 6th June. They had dropped some six hundred strong, however due to a confused and scattered drop, less than half of these had assembled at the rendezvous point and all of their support weaponry, mortars and medium machine guns, were missing. Nevertheless the Battalion distinguished itself in holding a wide bridgehead around Pegasus Bridge against constant enemy probing attacks, frequently supported by armoured vehicles. In particular their "A" Company, based in the nearby village of Bénouville, suffered the most severe fighting and were eventually cut off from the remainder of the 7th Battalion.

The first relief was from 6 Commando, led by the commander of the 1st Special Service Brigade, Lord Lovat, who arrived to the sound of the Scottish bagpipes, played by 21-year-old 'Mad Piper' Private Bill Millin. The arrival of these troops, however, did little to help the defence of the bridges as their orders were to cross over the Bridge and help secure terrain east of the Caen Canal, which the remainder of the 6th Airborne Division was currently holding. The remnants of the 7th Battalion's "A" Company continued to hold out until 9:15pm on the 6th June when British infantry, in the form of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Warwickshires, arrived from the invasion beaches and secured Bénouville, and so allow the evacuation of "A" Company's many wounded. The remaining twenty men of the Company who were still able to fight followed at around midnight.

[edit] The Merville Battery

Each of the four guns of the Merville Battery were sited within a reinforced concrete casemate, six and a half feet thick with a further six feet of soil above. As these could only be destroyed by an unlikely direct hit from the heaviest of ordnance, it was decided that British paratroopers would attack and destroy the guns a few hours before the landings at Sword Beach began. The 9th Battalion The Parachute Regiment was selected for the task.

The northern end of the Battery was protected by an anti-tank ditch, 14 feet (4.3 m) wide and 300 feet (91 m) long, with the remaining circumference protected by two belts of barbed wire, the inner belt being 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, and in between these lay a minefield 50 to 75 feet (23 m) in depth. The garrison of gunners and sentries amounted to one hundred and sixty men, and were supported by numerous machine-gun emplacements and three 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway, the commander of the 9th Battalion, had formulated a complex plan to assault the Battery. Firstly, an advance party of four men was to land in advance of the remainder of the Battalion. They would then proceed to the Battery to cut holes in the barbed wire and clear paths through the minefield. At 00:30, before this reconnaissance party had reached the Battery, one hundred RAF Lancaster and Halifax heavy bombers would attack it with 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) bombs in the hope of destroying the position altogether or at the least inflicting considerable damage upon the defences. At 00:50, the main force of the 9th Battalion would land and they would be expected to reach the Battery by 04:00. With them would come a troop of Royal Engineers from the 591st Parachute Squadron, and a plethora of equipment, including mine-clearance devices, bangalore torpedoes for dealing with the barbed wire, and two six-pounder guns of the 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery, which would be used to puncture the steel doors that sealed each of the casemates. At 04:30, No.4 Platoon was to make a diversionary attack on the main gate area whilst two sniper groups fired at enemy troops in pillboxes, machine-gun emplacements, and upon flak towers. The next phase was to be the timed arrival of three Horsa gliders, containing most of the Battalion's "A" Company and more Engineers, who were to land inside the Battery itself and attack each of the casemates with Sten guns and flame-throwers. At the same time, "C" Company would make the main assault by proceeding along the cleared paths through the minefield, quickly followed by the remainder of "A" and then "B" Companies. In the event of failure, the light cruiser HMS Arethusa (assigned as naval gunfire support for the Division) would open fire on the Battery at 05:30 if no success signal had been received.

The entire plan, as laid out above, broke apart completely. Due to navigational errors, low cloud, and the pathfinders being dropped astray and so unable to mark the drop zone for the 9th Battalion, the paratroopers were scattered anywhere up to ten miles (16 km) from the zone. Lt-Colonel Otway waited at the Rendezvous Point, but by 02:50 only one hundred and fifty of his six hundred and fifty men, and nothing else besides, had arrived. None of the Jeeps, anti-tank guns, mortars, mine-detectors, medical personnel, sappers or the naval liaison party had arrived. With time pressing on, Otway was left with no choice but to attack with what he had. When the 9th Battalion arrived at the Battery they found that their reconnaissance party had gone about their business excellently, having made a thorough study of the German positions as well as clearing four paths through the minefield. The RAF bombing raid had, however, missed the Battery completely and their bombs fell away to the south, doing no harm to the Germans but landing dangerously close to the reconnaissance party.

By 04:30, the Battalion had been reorganised into four assault groups, led by Major Parry and consisting of "A" and "C" Companies, which were to proceed along two of the paths cut through the minefield. As they were forming up, however, they were spotted and as many as six German machine-gunners opened fire upon both of the 9th Battalion's flanks. A small party of paratroopers under Sergeant Knight engaged the three guns near the main gate, taking out their crews with bayonets and grenades, whilst the only Vickers medium machine-gun available to the Battalion dealt with those upon the other flank. Knight then led his group around to the main gate and improvised the diversionary attack by opening fire with everything at their disposal, which suitably distracted the Germans.

As this was happening, two of the assault gliders approached the Battery, the third having cast-off over England when its tow rope snapped. The gliders were to be guided to the Battery by the troops on the ground using Eureka beacons, however none of these had been recovered from the drop, and so the gliders pilots were flying by eyesight alone. Their view was further obscured by clouds and smoke from the bombing raid, which resulted in one of the gliders mistaking a village two miles (3 km) away for their objective. The other, however, found the Battery and was making its final approach when it was spotted and fired upon by a machine-gun, wounding four of the men inside and throwing the glider off course. The glider finally came to rest 750 yards (690 m) away. The glider was a wreck and several men had been hurt in the crash, however they disembarked in time to detect and ambush a party of Germans who were marching towards the Battery.

As the glider flew by, Lt-Colonel Otway gave the order to attack. Major Parry blew his whistle, the Bangalore torpedoes were detonated to further clear the barbed wire, and the four assault groups charged forward. In the darkness, the marked paths were not so clearly visible and so it was inevitable that some men strayed from the path and onto mines. Three German machine-gun positions fired on the assault groups but these were soon dealt with by the Battalion's Bren gunners and snipers. Amidst the enemy fire and exploding mines, firing from the hip and lobbing grenades at any strong-points that they encountered, the paratroopers charged on towards the casemates. Initially taken by surprise, the German garrison quickly recovered, first by shooting flares into the sky to illuminate the area, and then by bringing shellfire down outside the wire, and even arranging for a Battery at Cabourg to fire directly onto the minefield.

Otway ordered in his reserve to deal with the final machine-guns that were hitting the assault teams, who by now were pouring into the casemates and engaging their defenders hand-to-hand. The guns, which were to be destroyed with specialist explosive that had not been recovered after the drop, were knocked out one at a time using the high-explosive anti-tank Gammon bombs which each man carried. The fighting began to die down as the garrison was at last overcome, and by 05:00 it was all over. Inside and around the Battery the scene was one of carnage, with dead and wounded of both sides lying everywhere. The German garrison had numbered approximately one hundred and thirty, but by the end of the battle, only six were unscathed. Of the one hundred and fifty men of the 9th Battalion who began the assault, sixty-five had been killed or wounded.

The guns which had posed such a threat to the invasion, even though they were found to be obsolete 100 mm guns instead of the 150 mm calibre that was expected, had been destroyed and many lives were saved as a result. The assault upon the Merville Battery, by a small and wholly ill-equipped force, is still regarded as one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of the Parachute Regiment.

[edit] The River Dives Bridges

The task of destroying the four bridges over the River Dives, and one over the River Divette, fell to the Royal Engineers of the 3rd Parachute Squadron. In the northern area at Varaville and Robehomme, they were supported by the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, and by the 8th Parachute Battalion in the south at Troarn and Bures.

"B" Company of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was to escort sappers of the 3rd Parachute Squadron to destroy the bridge at Robehomme, however two of their three platoons had landed in the flooded areas that surrounded their drop zone. Many men of the 3rd Parachute Brigade landed in the water that night, the majority, after hours of struggling, made their way to safety although many had been forced to abandon all their weapons and equipment to avoid being dragged under. An unknown number of parachutists drowned. "B" Company's No.5 Platoon, however, landed on dry ground and headed for the bridge, gathering together men from various units on the way, including some 8th Battalion men who should have been seven miles (11 km) away - due to low cloud and navigational difficulties, the drop of all the parachutists in Normandy had been badly scattered. They reached the Bridge to find other men present, but sadly none of the engineers had any of their high explosive with them. An attempt was made to destroy the bridge using 30 lb (14 kg) of explosive taken from the anti-tank Gammon bombs that each man carried. The bridge was considerably damaged but not destroyed. It was finally demolished at around 6am when a party of engineers arrived with 200 lb (91 kg) of explosive.

The Canadian's "C" Company were to accompany other engineers to Varaville to destroy the bridge over the River Divette. The scattered drop badly drained their strength of this Company and only fifteen of the original one hundred and twenty men set off for the village. Engineers of the 3rd Parachute Squadron succeeded in destroying the bridge at around 9am, but the remnants of "C" Company struggled for a further hour before finally overcoming the garrison of Varaville.

The 8th Battalion, seven miles (11 km) to the south-west, had experienced great difficulties in forming up due to the scattered drop. In addition to the usual problems, the pathfinders who were to mark their drop zone in advance of the main landing were mistakenly dropped at Ranville, four miles (6 km) north of where they should have been, and as a consequence the men in fourteen of the thirty-seven Dakota aircraft carrying the 8th Battalion jumped there instead.

By 3:30am, only one hundred and forty-one men had presented themselves at the Rendezvous Point, and with this force Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson began his advance upon Troarn. To cover his rear, Pearson established an ambush of two PIAT anti-tank weapons along the road to intercept any units moving towards the Battalion's rear, and a few hours later this group engaged and destroyed six vehicles of the 21st Panzer Division. The 8th Battalion was not yet strong enough to attack Troarn, and so it came to a halt at a crossroads, a mile to the north of the village, in the midst of the Bois de Bavent woodland. No.2 Troop of the 3rd Parachute Squadron were ordered to make their way to Bures to destroy the two bridges over the River Dives there, a task which was accomplished by 9:15am.

Unknown to the 8th Battalion, Major Roseveare, the commander of the 3rd Parachute Squadron, was already on his way to Troarn in a Jeep with some of his men. They drove straight through the village and in so doing attracted a great deal of fire from the German garrison. The men in the Jeep returned fire with their machine-guns and raced through the village unscathed, except for one man who fell out of the Jeep at speed and was captured. Roseveare and his party arrived at the bridge, beyond the village, and set up their explosives, and by 5am a 20-foot (6.1 m) gap had been created in the centre of the bridge. The 8th Battalion knew nothing of this, however, and were preparing to make their own way to Troarn. When No.2 Troop returned from Bures, they were ordered to move on Troarn with the Battalion's No.9 Platoon to protect them. The group were involved in several highly successful skirmishes with German troops on the way, and when they reached the now destroyed bridge, they laid additional charges and doubled the damage.

[edit] Defensive Positions

With all of their primary tasks complete, the 6th Airborne Division prepared to defend their gains. Of the 5th Parachute Brigade, the 7th Battalion was still fighting hard in Bénouville to the west of the River Orne, whilst to the east of it, the 13th Battalion had captured Ranville several hours after they had landed, and this became the first village to be liberated in the invasion. The 12th Parachute Battalion was positioned a little to the south of Ranville, dug in along a small ridge which screened the Division against attack from the south. Several times on D-Day, the 12th Battalion was attacked by the 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, and despite the significant loss of strength they had incurred on the drop, the Battalion, supported by well-sited anti-tank guns, nevertheless held their ground most successfully and dissuaded further attacks.

The seriously understrength 3rd Parachute Brigade was charged with holding the vast ridge to the north and east of Ranville. The 8th and the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalions had already established themselves in the Bois de Bavent woodland and the village of Le Mesnil respectively. In the north, the 9th Battalion had left the Merville Battery behind and was proceeding towards its final objective, the village of Le Plein. The Battalion had only eighty men left, however, and despite an attempt to take Le Plein, it was far too weak to overwhelm the Germans in the village. Instead they concentrated themselves in the Chateau d'Amfreville and successfully tied down the enemy throughout the day. During the afternoon, the 1st Special Service Brigade arrived to take over responsibility for the northern sector of the ridge, and the task of driving the Germans out of Le Plein and digging out the 9th Battalion from amongst them fell to No.4 Commando. Despite suffering numerous casualties as a result, the Commandos had secured the village by nightfall and the remainder of the Brigade similarly occupied various positions in the northern sector. The ridge, for the time being, was secure.

[edit] Aftermath

Operation Tonga had been a complete success, despite the scattered drop of the parachutists which denied them, at the very best, of 50% of their strength. The arrival of the 6th Airlanding Brigade and other units with the Second Lift, Operation Mallard, did much to consolidate the positions gained on the first night. Subsequent attempts by the 6th Airlanding Brigade to expand the bridgehead southwards by capturing the villages of Escoville and Longueval were unsuccessful, but in spite of frequent battles, the southern flank was not hard pressed by the enemy.

In the north and east, however, it was a different story. On the 8th June, the excellently equipped 346th Division of the German 15th Army crossed the River Dives and during the next four days launched a succession of violent attacks on the 3rd Parachute and 1st Special Service Brigades in the hope of ripping the crucial ridge from their grasp. Both units were extremely hard pressed, especially the 3rd Parachute Brigade which had been severely understrength from the moment that it had landed in Normandy. However, both Brigades fought with great cunning and extraordinary tenacity, and they inflicted notably severe losses on the 346th Division. Indeed, in just four days, they successfully shattered the offensive capability of this fine Division. On the 10th June, the 346th Division had exploited a gap in between the two British brigades, but this came to nothing as the 7th and 13th Parachute Battalions had been positioned in Ranville to combat just such a threat, and the German force was destroyed with an estimated 400 dead and 400 captured. The Germans had always maintained a foothold in Bréville, a village on the ridge situated in between the 3rd Parachute and 1st Special Service Brigades, and this position was a platform for the German attacks, each of which threatened to destabilise the entire position of the 6th Airborne Division. On the night of the 12th June, with the 3rd Parachute Brigade having barely managed to fight off the attacks on it during the day, the decision was made to deal with Bréville and eliminate the threat. The responsibility fell to the 12th Parachute Battalion, aided by some of the commandos, and despite suffering heavy losses in the attempt they managed to capture the village. This victory was extremely significant. From that day forth no further truly serious attacks were made on the 6th Airborne Division.

The arrival of the 51st (Highland) Division did much to make the 6th Airborne Division's positions solid, the Highlanders taking over responsibility for the whole of the southern flank, allowing the Airborne troops to concentrate on holding a considerably shorter line facing eastwards. For the next two months, the Division did not advance, but remained in its positions, and did excellent work in patrolling amongst and harassing their neighbouring enemy. On the 17th August, with the German defence in Normandy cracking, the Division was given the order to follow up a planned withdrawal of the Germans in their area. Despite lacking the vehicles and many of the support weapons that an ordinary ground-based army unit is accustomed to, the 6th Airborne Division won high praise in the rapidity of its advance, overcoming stubborn enemy rearguards, forcing numerous crossings across rivers, pursuing the Germans to the mouth of the River Seine. Here their part in the Normandy campaign ended and they were returned to England in the first week of September to await further operations.

The fight for one of the bridges over the River Orne became one of the best known incidents of the invasion. It was portrayed in the film The Longest Day and the bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the Airborne troops' badge. The bridge, which was replaced by a more modern one, can be found in the Pegasus Bridge museum and memorial, next to the original battle site.

The exploits of the British 6th Airborne Division will be dramatized in a mini-series to be produced by BBC.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Operation Tonga

• The 6th Airborne Division in Normandy
• D-Day : Etat des Lieux : 6th Airborne Division in Normandy
• D-Day: a detailed and informative website devoted to the battlefields and events of 6th June 1944

[edit] See also