Why This Book: I had heard about Pegasus bridge and it was mentioned in Ryan’s and Ambrose’s books.  it was a classic strategic special operation that succeeded.  I like the way Ambrose writes, and as this seemed to be a relatively short book (~200 pages) I thought it would be worth reading. It turned out to be one of my favorites.

Summary in 3 Sentences:  This is the famous story of the glider-born commando raid at the very beginning of the invasion –  British commandos inserted to land near a critical bridge on the east flank of the invasion beaches just 16 minutes after midnight on the morning of 6 June.  The audacity of the raid and how it succeeded by guile and by luck, aided by strategic errors by the Germans, was key to securing the eastern flank of the invasion against counterattack by a German tank division, and is one of the great stories and successes of the invasion.   The book was written in the 1980s when Ambrose had access to both British and Germans who had been involved in the operation, so the book is largely first person accounts expertly woven together by Ambrose into a page turning narrative.

My Impressions:  One of the most fun reads of the books I’ve read on D-Day.  We get to know the players well – from forming up the company, through their rehearsals and long preparation period, through the operation itself, and beyond.  Ambrose himself got to know these men and shared his own enthusiasm in the telling of this, one of the signature events of their lives.

One of the key sources of the book is Maj John Howard who Ambrose coincidentally met while leading American tourists to visit Pegasus bridge in the 1970s.  Ambrose befriended Howard and they went on to collaborate not only in leading tours, but also in giving publicity to this event and in writing this book.

The book is mostly about the build up, training, rehearsals and then the 36 or so hours from the time the gliders landed until they were relieved in place by Lord Lovett’s 10 Commando.   One of their key objectives was to keep the Germans from destroying the two bridges that crossed the river and the nearby canal, so that once the British forces had secured the beach head at Gold beach, they’d be able to move out to the east and continue to consolidate their gains in France and prevent the Germans from regrouping for a counter attack.

After surprising the Germans with their gliders and securing the bridges, they barely held on while the Germans regrouped and counter attacked during the day.  The force did lose quite a few of their men in this period, when the battle for the bridges could have gone either way, but the training and focus of the British, combined with the disorganization of the Germans allowed them to prevail until more substantial forces from the amphibious landing on Gold Beach could relieve them in place.  They had hoped to be augmented sooner by airborne troops, but those troops had been scattered all over the countryside and were ineffective until they could connect and regroup.   Then after being relieved, Maj Howard and his Pegasus bridge force went on to fight in follow on battles as the British moved east, and nearly all of the original attacking force eventually were wounded and some were killed in subsequent battles.

Ambrose originally published the book in the 1980s and is subsequent additions, he shares what happened later in the lives of the key players since the previous edition. In the paper back edition I read, Ambrose tells us what the key players did immediately after the war, and then there are 40 years later, and then 50 years later post-scripts.

A picture taken of Pegasus Bridge shortly after the British Commandos’ successful operation. Note the glider in the background. I took this picture on my visit to the actual site in Normandy. It doesn’t look a lot different today.