Horsa Bridge

The Horsa Bridge is located a few hundred meters east of the Pegasus Bridge near Ranville in Normandy . Before it was renamed after the Second World War , it was known under the simple name Orne Bridge .

The bridge crosses the Orne , which at this point runs parallel to the Caen Canal . Both come from Caen to the south and flow north into the English Channel . The Horsa Bridge was the second target of Major John Howard's task force in Operation Tonga , which landed in the early morning hours of D-Day with its Airspeed Horsa gliders right next to the Pegasus Bridge. At the Horsabrücke went down a sailor with infantrymen under Lieutenant D. Fox and engineers under Lieutenant H. J. Bence, who took and secured the bridge. Shortly afterwards they were joined by a second group under Sergeant S. Pearson and Lieutenant L. Guthrie. The current name of the bridge is derived from the landing planes used at the time.

In contrast to the Pegasus Bridge, which was restored as a monument in 1994 and rebuilt in the “Memorial Pegasus” museum , the Horsa Bridge is not very well known. The original bridge was demolished a long time ago and replaced by a modern bridge. Next to the bridge there is now a stele commemorating its importance in Operation Overlord and its British conquerors.

literature

• Neil Barber: The Pegasus and Orne Bridges: Their Capture, Defenses and Relief on D-Day . Pen & Sword, Barnsley 2014, ISBN 978-1-4738-2274-0 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Stephen E. Ambrose: Pegasus Bridge . Simon & Schuster, New York 1985, ISBN 978-0-671-52374-9 ( limited preview in Google book search).
• Will Fowler: Pegasus Bridge: Bénouville D-Day 1944 . Osprey, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-1-84603-848-8 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Coordinates: 49 ° 14 ′ 25.3 ″  N , 0 ° 16 ′ 0.8 ″  W.