Capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges

Capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges
Part of Operation Tonga of the Normandy landings
Caen canal bridge with Horsa gliders in the background, 9 June 1944
Date 6 June 1944 Location Near Ranville, Normandy, France Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
John Howard Richard Coffin Den Brotheridge † Lord Lovat	Hans Schmidt Edgar Feuchtinger
Units involved
Ox & Bucks Light Infantry 7th Parachute Battalion Glider Pilot Regiment 1st Special Service Brigade	736th Grenadier Regiment 21st Panzer Division
Strength
180 6 aircraft	12,400[1] 127 tanks 40 self-propelled artillery 2 gunboats[2]
Casualties and losses
20 killed 50 wounded	Unknown killed Unknown wounded 14 tanks destroyed 1 gunboat sunk

The capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges (wrongly known as Operation Deadstick (which in fact was a specialized glider exercise), and in official documents as Operation Coup de Main) was an operation by airborne forces of the British Army that took place in the early hours of 6 June 1944 as part of the Normandy landings of the Second World War. The objective was to capture intact two road bridges in Normandy across the River Orne and the Caen canal, providing the only exit eastwards for British forces from their landing on Sword Beach.^[3] Intelligence reports said both bridges were heavily defended by the Germans and wired for demolition. Once captured, the bridges had to be held against any counter-attack, until the assault force was relieved by commandos and other infantry advancing from the landing beach.

The mission was vital to the success of Operation Tonga, the overall British airborne landings in Normandy. Failure to capture the bridges intact, or to prevent their demolition by the Germans, would leave the British 6th Airborne Division cut off from the rest of the Allied armies with their backs to the two waterways. If the Germans retained control over the bridges, they could be used by their armoured divisions to attack the landing beaches of Normandy.

Responsibility for the operation was assigned to the members of 'D' Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, part of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division. The assault group comprised a reinforced company of six infantry platoons and an attached platoon of Royal Engineers.

The British assault group flew from the south of England to Normandy in six Airspeed Horsa gliders. The pilots of the gliders succeeded in delivering the company to its objective. After a brief exchange of fire, both bridges were captured and defended successfully against German tank, gunboat and infantry counter-attacks, until relief arrived.