Читать книгу Remembering D-day: Personal Histories of Everyday Heroes - Martin Bowman - Страница 79
ОглавлениеAir landing Brigade troops give the thumbs up before departure.
Imperial War Museum 11 (H39182)
Brigadier S. J. L. Hill
Commanding 3rd Parachute Brigade.
‘Do not be daunted if chaos reigns. It undoubtedly will.’
Major General Richard Gale
6th Airborne Division Commander; his orders to Brigadier Nigel Poett, 5th Parachute Brigade, for the capture of the parallel bridges over the Canal de Caen at Bénouville and the River Orne at Ranville.
‘The seizing of the crossing intact is of the utmost importance to the conduct of future operations. As the bridges will certainly have been prepared for demolition, the speedy overpowering of the bridge defences should be your first object. They must therefore be seized by a coup-de-main party, landed in gliders as near to the bridges as is humanly possible. You must accept risks to achieve this.’
Major John Howard commanded the coup-de-main party of six platoons (150 men) of D Company, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckingham-shire Light Infantry, and 30 men of 249 Field Company (Airborne) Royal Engineers. After capture their task was to hold the bridges until relieved.
Red Beret and the Winged Pegasus.
Author title page
Imperial War Museum 11 (3923)
Brigadier Nigel Poett
Commander 5th Parachute Brigade.
‘As my small aircraft skimmed over the defences of the Atlantic Wall, not a shot was fired. The red light came on and then the green. I was out, seconds later bump. It was the soil of France. The time some 20 minutes after midnight. The darkness was complete; the silence unbroken except for sound of my disappearing aircraft. A few minutes later the sky to the west lit up – firing, explosions, all the sights and sounds of battle. It was John Howard’s assault. He also had been timed to land at 20 minutes after midnight.
‘Now I must get to the bridges as quickly as possible and be able, if need be to adjust the Brigade plan. Would the bridges be in the hands of friend or foe? Intact or damaged? Indeed Howard’s Company had achieved a splendid success. The bridges were in our hands, intact. All was well!’
Lt General Gale boards a Horsa glider on the night of 5/6 June.
Sergeant Edgar Gurney BEM
7th (LI) Battalion, 5th Parachute Brigade.
‘Just before midnight Sunday 4 June I was lying on a gas cape spread over wet ground inside a bivouac made of groundsheets on the perimeter of Keevil airfield, going over coming events. The 6th Airborne Division was to spearhead the invasion of Europe and secure the left flank of the Landing Beaches. The next day was spent resting during the morning, a short service after lunch and then a final check of personal equipment. Together with spare clothes I had 100 rounds .303 (50 tracer and 50 incendiary), four No. 36 grenades fitted with four second fuses, anti-tank Gammon Bombs and four spare Bren Gun mags, a Lee Enfield rifle and a telescopic sight (I was a sniper). In addition I had to carry an inflatable rubber dinghy attached to my right leg (to cross any water obstacles if the “Ox & Bucks” failed to capture the bridges). Loading into an adapted Stirling Bomber I learned that the aircraft was to go on a dummy bombing raid prior to dropping us. I found my place in the line of 20 paras, which the aircraft carried. We all sat on the floor; even numbers on one side and odd numbers on the other. No smoking until we were airborne so to ease the tension we sang paras songs to the tune of “Knees up Mother Brown”, the end of the chorus going, “I’ll always keep my trousers on when jumping through the hole”. I wondered if that would be true that night.
‘We took off and as we neared the French coast anti-aircraft shells started bursting all around the plane causing it to rock, but the pilot flew straight towards our target area near the village of Ranville. Suddenly, a red light appeared near the rear of the aircraft, which denoted 20 seconds to the commencement of the drop. The tension could have been cut with a knife; we were all as taut as bow-strings. Soon the voice of the Despatcher was heard, “Stand up, Hook up”. We formed a single line down the centre of the aircraft and each man hooked up the man in front of him. The Despatcher opened the floor doors and remarked, “There are thousands of ships down there so you’ll soon have plenty of company”. The red light changed to green and the Despatcher shouted, “GO”.
‘The first man disappeared through the hole in the floor, swiftly followed by others who were shuffling towards it, until it was my turn at No. 17. I stepped into space, but just as I did so the plane rocked and I hit both sides of the hole during my exit, breaking my army watch which I later found had stopped at 00:36 hours.
‘I heard the crack of the chute developing slowing my descent. I grabbed the rope holding the kit bag on my leg and pulled the quick release, then lowered it to its full length. I had a quick look round, noting the pretty patterns made by the searchlights and tracer bullets. Many searchlights were trying to locate our planes whilst the tracer shells and bullets weaved a beautiful pattern in the night sky. Then in the distance I saw a church with a detached tower, silhouetted against the lighted background, which I instantly recognized as Ranville Church. I had seen it many times before on photographs and the scale model of the dropping area. I heard a thump as my kit-bag hit the ground. Then for a full minute, I was violently sick from the fear and the release of tension.
‘“Stand with your back to the church and run forward and slightly left, there you will find a road leading to the bridges.” These words were imprinted in my brain and I blindly followed instructions. Gathering my kitbag I turned my back towards Ranville Church and ran. I knew I would find the road that led to the bridges now known at Horsa and Pegasus bridges. I shuffled on under my heavy load and then the W/Op shouted “Ham and Jam”, the signal that the bridges had been captured intact by the “Ox & Bucks” bridge party. I immediately discarded the kit bag, as the dinghy would no longer be needed. Soon we had made a group of 20 to 30 parachutists, one of whom was a wireless operator, who was trying to make contact with the bridge party. Had they captured the bridges intact?
Map of the eastern flank of the British and Canadian beaches.
Red Devils’ Timeline
The 6th Airborne Division is to support Sir Miles Dempsey’s British Second Army and Henry Crerar’s First Canadian Army. 6th Airborne’s task is to seize and hold the left flank of the bridgehead. Brigadier Poett’s 5th Parachute Brigade is to seize the ground each side of the bridges over the Canal du Caen and the Orne River and to hold positions on the long wooded ridge beyond the waterways, running from Troarn in the south to the sea. This ridge with the bridges behind will eventually form the critical left flank of the army and the bridges have to be intact to permit Allied troops and supplies to pass easily to and fro. Brigadier James Hill’s 3rd Parachute Brigade, made up of the 8th and 9th Battalions and the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion (1,800 men) is to prevent enemy reinforcements moving towards the British beachhead. The 8th Battalion and the 1st Canadian Brigade are to destroy five bridges in the flooded valley of the Dives. The 9th Battalion, commanded by Lt Col. Terence B. H. Otway DSO, is to silence a battery of four concrete gun emplacements on high ground near the village of Merville, 3 miles east of Ouistreham.
5 June
38 and 46 Groups RAF despatch 264 aircraft and 98 glider combinations, the glider tugs being Albemarles, Dakotas, Halifaxes and Stirlings, the gliders mainly Horsas with a few Hamilcars (carrying light tanks and 17-pounder anti-tank guns).
22:30 Coup de main party takes off from Tarrant Rushton, Dorset, in six Horsa gliders towed by Halifax bombers of 298 and 644 Squadrons, who will bomb Caen after the gliders are released.
22:49 Seven Horsas leave Down Ampney behind Dakotas of 271 Squadron.
22:50 Dakotas of 233 Squadron tow six Horsas into the air above Blakehill Farm.
23:10 Four Horsas carrying paratroops and medical staff leave Harwell towed by Albemarles of 295 and 570 Squadrons.
6 June
00:15 At 5,000 ft over Cabourg the gliders carrying the coup de main party are released from their tugs and they begin their five-mile glide to the bridges over the Canal de Caen and Orne River.
00:20 Three of the gliders land within 30 yards of the Canal de Caen bridge.
00:20 North of Ranville pathfinders with radar beacons and coloured lights to mark the dropping zones, together with the advance parties of the 5th Parachute Brigade, drop from 27 aircraft.
