The Caen Canal Bridge at Benouville is better known to people in the UK as Pegasus Bridge. This bridge became famous because it was liberated, along with the Orme Bridge, on the night of 5th/6th June 1944 by Major John Howard and his troops. It was the first objective for the Allies on D-Day and the first bridge to be liberated in mainland France.
The eastern, or left, flank of the Allied beaches, Sword, was on the river Orne next to the Caen canal. To the east of this river valley a ridge separates it from the valley of the Dives. The Germans had flooded the Dives and thus, provided the British could secure the ridge and blow the brides over the floods, they could create a moat that would protect the invaders from counter attack from the east. To support their airborne forces, the Allies had to capture the Orne and canal brides undamaged. At 11:00 pm on the 5th June the glider-borne men of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry took off from England to be released one hour later. The leading glider bounced and smashed its way to a halt only 50 yards from the canal bridge with its two companions close behind. These men took the bridge in a swift fight and within minutes D-Days first objective was in British hands.
The eastern, or left, flank of the Allied beaches, Sword, was on the river Orne next to the Caen canal. To the east of this river valley a ridge separates it from the valley of the Dives. The Germans had flooded the Dives and thus, provided the British could secure the ridge and blow the brides over the floods, they could create a moat that would protect the invaders from counter attack from the east. To support their airborne forces, the Allies had to capture the Orne and canal brides undamaged. At 11:00 pm on the 5th June the glider-borne men of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry took off from England to be released one hour later. The leading glider bounced and smashed its way to a halt only 50 yards from the canal bridge with its two companions close behind. These men took the bridge in a swift fight and within minutes D-Days first objective was in British hands.
The original bridge was replaced, by a similar bridge, when the canal was widened. The original is now in an excellent museum, which was well worth a visit, situated close by in the area that the gliders first landed.