Sword Beach and British Airborne assault
"We are going to be landing in Ouistreham in Normandy !"
-a Free French Soldier when he recognized the Norman coastline on the unmarked training maps...
Landing operations on June 6th on Sword Beach
Sword Beach was the codename of the farthest east of the five D-Day landing beaches. Stretching 7 kms from Lion sur Mer to Ouistreham, it was assigned to the 3rd British Infantry Division. Among this strength of 28,000 men were also 177 Free French soldiers under their commander, Commandant Kieffer. The landing itself was planned on a narrow one and a half miles of coast divided into 2 sectors code named Queen White and Queen Red.
Objectives were to relieve the British Airborne forces who had been dropped hours before and to capture the German-occupied city of Caen located 10 miles south of Sword beach.
Objectives were to relieve the British Airborne forces who had been dropped hours before and to capture the German-occupied city of Caen located 10 miles south of Sword beach.
The 21st Panzer Division counterattacks...
German mark IV tank of the 21st Panzer Division
Despite low casualties during initial landings the British forces ran into heavily defended areas behind the beachhead and faced a German armored couterattack in the early afternoon of D-Day.
Before a linking up with the Canadian troops on their right flank, elements of the 21st Panzer Division had pushed north into the gap between these two allied forces. By the late afternoon, some German units even reached the seafront coastal defenses…
Forced to deal with this unplanned danger, the 3rd British Infantry Division would not manage to fulfill its D-Day objectives and would have to postpone their planned attack on Caen…
Before a linking up with the Canadian troops on their right flank, elements of the 21st Panzer Division had pushed north into the gap between these two allied forces. By the late afternoon, some German units even reached the seafront coastal defenses…
Forced to deal with this unplanned danger, the 3rd British Infantry Division would not manage to fulfill its D-Day objectives and would have to postpone their planned attack on Caen…
The Airborne troops in the British sector
'Pegasus Bridge'
The 9,000 men of the British 6th Airborne Division, under the command of the General Richard Gale, parachuted into Normandy during the early hours of June 6, 1944, on the Eastern side flank of invasion.
The assigned objectives were to capture key positions, crossroads, and strategic bridges, including "Pegasus Bridge" and to neutralize the German coastal battery in Merville-Franceville that would later threaten the Landings on Sword Beach...
On this British sector tour you will be taken to visit the site of Pegasus Bridge, stormed after midnight on June 6th by Major Howard’s men of the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry Regiment.
The assigned objectives were to capture key positions, crossroads, and strategic bridges, including "Pegasus Bridge" and to neutralize the German coastal battery in Merville-Franceville that would later threaten the Landings on Sword Beach...
On this British sector tour you will be taken to visit the site of Pegasus Bridge, stormed after midnight on June 6th by Major Howard’s men of the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry Regiment.
The outstanding assault upon the Merville battery
One of the 4 casemates menacing the beach...
Only a few miles to the northeast you will be taken to follow in the footsteps of the British paratroopers that led them to the German coastal battery in Merville. This menacing battery's guns were potentially a serious threat to any landing operations on Sword Beach...
On Queen Red and White sectors you will be shown the remains of the German beach defenses, the different bunkers and dragon teeth and also the Ouistreham command post, nicknamed "Le Grand Bunker".
You will then be driven along the same roads used by the soldiers as you move inland to where, 4 miles south of the beach, you will see the German defensive strong point code-named "Hillman" by the Allies that gave the Suffolk Regiment so much trouble late on the afternoon of June 6th, 1944.
On Queen Red and White sectors you will be shown the remains of the German beach defenses, the different bunkers and dragon teeth and also the Ouistreham command post, nicknamed "Le Grand Bunker".
You will then be driven along the same roads used by the soldiers as you move inland to where, 4 miles south of the beach, you will see the German defensive strong point code-named "Hillman" by the Allies that gave the Suffolk Regiment so much trouble late on the afternoon of June 6th, 1944.