It’s the night of the 5th of June, 1944
and high above the English Channel
6 Horsa gliders are being towed by Halifax bombers.
These flimsy aircraft are made almost entirely of wood.
Contained inside the gliders are a force of 181 brave men.
These men are on an incredibly daring mission
called Operation Deadstick.
The purpose of which is to capture and hold bridges near Caen.
It’s essential they are captured or destroyed
otherwise the Germans may be able to contain the assault on Sword beach
that’s due to start in the morning.
The bridges are called the Ranville and Benouville bridges.
But after tonight’s operation they will be known by far more famous names.
The Horsa bridge and the Pegasus Bridge!
Releasing the cables over France from their tows,
the engine noise of the Halifax bombers recedes into the distance
and the men just hear the sound of the wind.
There’s low cloud obscuring any landmarks
so the pilots have to navigate by compass, and stopwatch, and airspeed.
3,5 minutes after cast off and they turn right.
Then shortly after another right
and another...
All timed to perfection.
3 gliders are assigned to land near Pegasus bridge.
Now descending rapidly the lead glider Chalk 91,
piloted by Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork,
is at just 500 ft and traveling at 110mph.
Then suddenly the pilots spot the bridge!
Incredibly they’ve navigated blind through the dark
to the right location.
Inside the glider the command is given:
“Brace for impact!“
The men link arms and lift their legs in preparation for a rough landing.
At 0016 hours Chalk 91 came in low and fast.
Wrestling at the controls,
Wallwork aimed for the barbed wire fence that protected the bridge
and the Horsa crashed through it.
Hitting the fence the glider came to a sharp stop,
sending the 2 pilots crashing through the front windscreen.
They had landed less than 50 meters from the bridge.
The men inside were thrown about the place
many breaking their seatbelts, some were knocked unconscious and injured.
But gathering themselves they opened the doors and the men piled out,
quickly and quietly gathered together outside the plane.
To the hushed call of Lt Den Brotheridge saying:
“Come on lads”,
the platoon rallied, and they hurried towards the bridge and battle.
Private Billy Gray spotted a German on the bridge
and let him have it with his Bren gun.
Then he raced across the bridge,
his job to clear the barn opposite.
Reaching the barn he threw in a grenade and then dashed in after it.
Since being over the channel, Billy was absolutely desperate to use the toilet
and he dashed in shortly after his grenade went off
to pay a call of nature.
Meanwhile outside the machine gun bunker was taken out with a grenade.
The Germans managed to fire a warning flare into the sky
as Lt Den Brotheridge was dashing across the bridge.
Suddenly lit up
he was cut down with machine gun fire,
the first man to fall on D-Day to enemy fire.
Billy Gray emerging from the barn was horrified to see Den
mortally wounded, but being held by his friend, Wally Parr, in his final moments.
Now the second Horsa, Chalk 92,
was coming into land.
The plane hit the ground with an almighty thump,
skipped and then came to a very sudden halt.
Several of the men were thrown through the side of the glider.
Then Chalk 93, the last glider, came in.
Just barely missing the other 2 planes, it was a very rough landing
with one of the men in the back
being propelled past the two pilots and through the windscreen.
The plane's fuselage shattered and the men were deposited about the place.
Meanwhile the British platoon worked fast.
Two men dropped grenades into the pillboxes on the west side of the Pegasus bridge,
ensuring the German soldiers inside
couldn't detonate the explosives which were in place to destroy it.
Return fire was directed at other Germans now shooting from the opposite shore.
Lt Sandy Smith in Chalk 93
was coming to his senses in the crashed glider when one of his men asked:
“Well, what are we waiting for, sir?”
With that despite a badly injured knee
he led his men across the bridge.
Encountering German resistance a stick grenade exploded near Smith.
He was busy firing back when one of his men asked:
“Are you ok, sir?”
Looking down he was horrified to see his wrist was badly hit
and he thought to himself,
“Christ! No more cricket!”
Café Gondree was run by Georges and Therese Gondrée
who lived there with their 2 daughters, Georgette and Arlette.
At great risk to her family
Therese had listened in on the German conversations
and passed on information to the resistance.
But now poking his head out of the window of Café Gondrée,
Msr George Gondrée was nearly shot in the head
by the now infuriated Sandy Smith
who mistook him for a German.
After radioing to each other
the teams understood that the 2 bridges had been captured,
and the code for success “Ham and Jam”
could be transmitted.
The radio operator said into the receiver proudly,
“Ham and Jam!”
There was no reply.
“Ham and Jam, Ham and Jam,
Ham and bloody Jam!
Why won’t anyone answer?"
he screamed.
Eventually the signal was acknowledged…
the operation – a complete success.
Café Gondrée was commandeered.
And the children were given chocolate by the British troops.
For 5-year-old Arlette Gondrée
it was the first chocolate that she had ever tasted.
Café Gondrée is a small coffee house that still operates even today.
The owner?
Arlette Gondrée now proudly runs the café that overlooks Pegasus Bridge.
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