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Visite de Pegasus Bridge en Normandie

A short visit around the famous Benouville bridge (Pegasus Bridge) which was one of the first objectives of the landing in the night of June 5-6, 1944.

One of the first objectives of the landing was the control of some bridges to ensure the communications between the different units of the landing. In this context, during the night of June 5-6, 1944, gliders landed right next to the Bénouville bridge (renamed Pegasus Bridge by the Allies) and seized it quite easily, there were only a handful of German defenders.

The visit of this site is easy, the most interesting to see is the museum. The actual bridge is not the one of the landing, the historical bridge has been moved to the museum.

The entrance to the museum is not free, but it is worth a visit.

Interest: ratinggood (1 user)
Difficulty: difficulty
Duration: 3 h.
Departure point (Google Maps)

The Pegasus Bridge Museum

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The Pegasus Bridge Museum
Inside you can see many objects of the landing. In order to have all the information on the course of the events you can also follow a commented visit.

The "historic" bridge

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The "historic" bridge
The bridge has been moved and is now inside the museum. If you look closely you can see the bullet holes on the bridge. A soldier was killed in the middle of the bridge during the operation.

HORSA glider

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HORSA glider
318 gliders landed in the area during the landings. None of them remain because they were destroyed by the British to make room for the new gliders and by the local population who used the wood for heating.

A reconstructed HORSA glider

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A reconstructed HORSA glider
A glider was reconstituted according to the original plans. It could carry 30 men or equipment.

The interior of the HORSA glider

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The interior of the HORSA glider
View of the interior of a glider. It is entirely made of wood. The men had to hold on to each other when they landed.

Anti-aircraft machine guns in the museum.

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Anti-aircraft machine guns in the museum.
12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun that was mounted on a half-track.

Entrance to the current bridge

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Entrance to the current bridge
In memory of the events, a tank stands at the entrance of the present bridge.

Landing area

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Landing area
Right next to the bridge is the glider landing area. The aircraft practically touched down side by side, with only a few minutes between them. Unfortunately, one of the gliders broke up on landing, as the runway was very short. The steles visible in the photo mark the precise locations where the gliders touched down. This area is literally next to the bridge.

The current bridge

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The current bridge
They look just like the historical bridge of the Second World War.

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