Pegasus Bridge

Honza

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Here is a photo of a map from Death Ride Normandy which shows Pegasus Bridge. There are two waterways! One is the Orne River and one is a canal. How come there is only one waterway on the ASL map? Was the other one just off map to the south? This surprised me....

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klasmalmstrom

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Here is a photo of a map from Death Ride Normandy which shows Pegasus Bridge. There are two waterways! One is the Orne River and one is a canal. How come there is only one waterway on the ASL map?
From footnote 18:
18. 9.51-.52: PB CAMPAIGN GAME I & PB CAMPAIGN GAME II: The Victory Conditions are designed to prevent the British player from merely huddling around the bridge, while at the same time giving the German player a powerful incentive to take back the bridge from the British. Also, Lord Lovatt’s (non-Airborne) commandos were desperately needed in Ranville. Delaying a significant portion of them in Benouville would surely have allowed the 21st Panzer Division to break through in that sector - victory enough for the Germans. Capture of the Orne River Bridge (500 meters east of the canal) was just as important to the Allied effort as Pegasus Bridge, but historically the river bridge fell to the Ox and Bucks without a shot being fired, and no fighting occurred around it. Early renditions of the map included the river bridge, but, unlike the western edge of the map, it never came into play.
 

Martin Mayers

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I read a story a while back, it may have been apocryphal, I think about the Orne River Bridge. A few Paras jumped in a glider-dropped Jeep to recce the place, drove too fast not realising quite how close the bridge was, flew across the bridge and the small German garrison in the area thought they were being assaulted by a large company of Red Devils and just downed arms.

I hope it's true, and that I've not mis-stated the story.
 

Martin Mayers

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Also, having visited Pegasus Bridge four or five years back it's hard to not be extremely impressed by how close the three gliders landed to the bridge. You could run from the closest glider to the bridge in probably 10 seconds. Amazing feat of flying. Those Germans must have not known what hit them.
 

Honza

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I think Pegasus Bridge could lift up and let boats pass underneath.
 

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IIRC there was also a German Boat Attack and a Frogman attack on the Pegasus Bridge. Been a while since I have read Ambrose.
 

thedrake

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IIRC there was also a German Boat Attack and a Frogman attack on the Pegasus Bridge. Been a while since I have read Ambrose.
Remember seeing a documentary a few years back which stated an Fw-190 bombed the bridge,with the bomb hitting the bridge but was a dud. Would be neat to include that plus the E-boat+frogman attacks into PB.
 

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IIRC there was also a German Boat Attack and a Frogman attack on the Pegasus Bridge. Been a while since I have read Ambrose.
There are better books about Pegasus Bridge than the one written by Ambrose.
Check out the Battleground Europe books for a start.
 

Hutch

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There are better books about Pegasus Bridge than the one written by Ambrose.
Also have read Pegasus Diaries by Penny Bates,
 

Hutch

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In Andrew Stewart's "Caen Controversy" you can read an almost hour by hour account of the PB scenarios ...
Darn, I've got the book, just haven't read it yet... :(
 

Von Kar

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Darn, I've got the book, just haven't read it yet... :(
Then turn to page 59 "Airborne Prologue" quickly.

Spoiler (p. 65) :

LZ W was actually about 300 metres long and the glider touched down at a speed of about 80 mph before an arrester parachute deployed.
Such was the impact of the landing and the rapid halt that both pilot and co-pilot were ejected throught the cockpit windscreen, technically making them the first British personnel in the invasion to land on French soil.
As Major Howard later wrote, "the nearness to the bridge astounded everyone, the pilots had indeed exceeded all expectations."


How the burning wreck in hex Y14 of SSR 4 of scenario PB2 came to be, is mentioned on page 67.
 
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