page_title: Operation Deadstick
section_title: British forces
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Deadstick / Background / British forces
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Air Force Flying Training Command, 1940-1945. Airborne troops seated in an Airspeed Horsa of the Heavy Glider Conversion Unit at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, ready for take off. Français&#160;: Royal Air Force Flying Training Command, 1940-1945. Des soldats aéroportés assis à l'intérieur d'un Airspeed Horsa, de l'Unité de conversion sur planeur lourd à Brize Norton, dans l'Oxfordshire, prêts à décoller.
context_page_description: Operation Deadstick was the codename for 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. 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.
context_section_description: During the planning stage of the Normandy invasion, the decision was made to land the 6th Airborne Division (Major-General Richard Gale) on the left flank of the invasion beaches between the River Orne and the River Dives. Their primary objective was to capture the two road bridges over the River Orne and the Caen Canal and prevent a German flanking attack on the landing area. Failure to capture the bridges would leave the 6th Airborne Division cut off in enemy territory, so the 5th Parachute Brigade were earmarked to defend the bridges against counter-attacks. Gale decided that the only way to capture the bridges intact was by a glider coup de main assault. He then asked Brigadier Hugh Kindersley of the 6th Airlanding Brigade to nominate his best company for the operation.
  'D' Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Major John Howard) and second in command Captain Brian Priday, was selected for the mission. The company had trained hard and became the fittest in the battalion, often utilizing bomb-damaged inner-city areas to practice street fighting with live ammunition. Howard expected the invasion to involve night-fighting and changed the daily routine to ensure that his men were up to the task. For weeks at a time, they rose at 20:00 and completed exercises, drills and normal paperwork throughout the night before retiring at 13:00. Gale tested the company through two exercises where the objective was to capture bridges, when it became apparent that the company would not be able to carry out the mission on its own. Asked to select two more platoons from the battalion to join them, Howard chose two from 'B' Company commanded by Lieutenants Fox and Smith. Any explosive charges found attached to the bridges were the responsibility of 30 Royal Engineers from the 249th (Airborne) Field Company, commanded by Captain Jock Neilson. Changes were then made to the operational plan to accommodate six platoons. Three were assigned to attack each bridge simultaneously with infantry overcoming the troops on guard duty while the engineers located and dismantled any demolition charges. For six days and nights the company carried out exercises just outside Exeter, in the south-west of England, where two bridges similar to their objectives were found over the Exeter Ship Canal.
  Transport to Normandy was arranged in six Airspeed Horsa gliders, piloted by 12 NCOs from 'C' Squadron, Glider Pilot Regiment.  The Horsa had a wingspan of 88 feet (27 m) and a length of 67 feet (20 m), with a maximum load of 15,750 pounds (7,140 kg) or space for two pilots, twenty-eight troops or a mixture of two jeeps, artillery guns and trailers. Pilot training involved practice landings on a small strip of land, instrument flying using stopwatches for accurate course changes and fitting flight crew goggles with dark glass to get them used to night flying. By May 1944 they had carried out 54 training sorties, flying in all weathers both day and night.
  Howard was not told the exact details of the operation until 2 May, 1944. His orders were to seize the bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal at Bénouville and Ranville intact and hold them until relieved. The relief force would initially be a company from the 7th Parachute Battalion under Howard's command. When the remainder of the parachute battalion arrived, he would hand over to their commander Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Pine-Coffin. The 3rd Infantry Division and the commandos of the 1st Commando Brigade were scheduled to land at Sword at 06:00 on the day then advance to the bridges where they were expected to arrive at 11:00.
  At the end of May 1944, 'D' Company left the battalion camp at Bulford in Wiltshire for RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset. The base was then secured and Howard briefed everyone on the mission, distributing photographs of the bridges and unveiling a model of the area. Glider pilot commander Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork told Howard that with a full load of men, ammunition, assault boats and engineers' stores his gliders would be dangerously overloa
caption: Interior of a Horsa glider, looking to the rear from the cockpit.
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