RANVILLE BRIDGE ('HORSA BRIDGE')

Operation 'Coup-de-Main' - Operation 'Tonga' - 6th Airborne Division

   
Richard N. Gale
John Howard		    
 
On the night of 5 June 1944, a force of 181 men ('Operation Tonga'), led by Major John HOWARD, took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in Dorset, southern England in six Horsa to capture 'Bénouville Bridge', and also 'Ranville Bridge', a few hundred yards to the east, over the Orne River.
The force was composed of D Company (reinforced with two platoons of B Company), 2nd Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry; 20 sappers of the Royal Engineers of 249 (Airborne) Field Company; and men of the Glider Pilot Regiment. The object of this action was to prevent German armour from crossing the bridges and attacking the eastern flank of the landings at Sword Beach.
Five of the Ox and Bucks's gliders landed as close as 47 yards from their objectives from 16 minutes past midnight. The attackers poured out of their battered gliders, completely surprising the German defenders, and took the bridges within 10 minutes. They lost two men in the process, Lieutenant Denaham M. BROTHERIDGE and Lance Corporal Fred GREENHALGH.
Greenhalgh drowned in a nearby pond when his glider landed. Lieutenant Den BROTHERIDGE was mortally wounded crossing the bridge in the first minutes of the assault.
One glider, assigned to the capture of the river bridge, landed at the bridge over the River Dives, some 7 miles off. Most of the soldiers in this glider moved through German lines towards the village of Ranville where they eventually re-joined the British forces. The Ox and Bucks were reinforced at 03.00hrs by Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffroy PINE-COFFIN’s 7th Parachute Battalion, and linked up with the beach landing forces with the arrival of Lord LOVAT's Commandos.
 
      
 
Commander: Major General Richard N. Gale  [view folder]
  6th Airlanding Brigade: Brigadier The Honourable Hugh Kindersley  [view folder]
    2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Inf.: Lt. Colonel Michael Roberts  [view folder]
      D Company: Major John Howard  [view folder]
 
Glider #4 (Glider Chalk No. 94)
  Staff Sergeant Anthony Lawrence  [view folder]: Glider Pilot Regiment (Pilot)
  Staff Sergeant Harry Shorter  [view folder]: Glider Pilot Regiment (Co-Pilot)
  Captain B C Priday  [view folder]: Headquarters, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lance Corporal Lambley  [view folder]: Headquarters, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lieutenant Charles A. Hooper  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Sergeant Christopher C. Barwick  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Ambrose  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Bateman  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Goodsir  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Hunt  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lance Corporal Rayner  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Allwood  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Clive  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Erick J. Everett  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Frank Gardener  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Hammond  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private William P. Hedges  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Jeffrey  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Johnson  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Lathbury  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private St. Clair  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Timms  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Waite  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Whitford  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Wilson  [view folder]: No. 22 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Sergeant Brown  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Deighton  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Guest  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Paget  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Roberts  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
   
Glider #5 (Glider Chalk No. 95)
  Staff Sergeant Stan Pearson  [view folder]: Glider Pilot Regiment (Pilot)
  Staff Sergeant Leonard Guthrie  [view folder]: Glider Pilot Regiment (Co-Pilot)
  Lieutenant Henry J. "Tod" Sweeney  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Sergeant Gooch  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Howard  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Jennings  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Murton  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lance Corporal Porter  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lance Corporal Lawrence Stacey  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Allen  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Bleach  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Percy W. Bowden  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Bright  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Buller  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Clark  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Galbraith  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Jackson  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Read  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Roach  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Roberts  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Tibbett  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Wilcox  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Wixon  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Wood  [view folder]: No. 23 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lieutenant MacDonald  [view folder]: 7th Parachute Battalion (Liaision Officer)
  Corporal Straw  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Bradford  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Carter  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Field  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Wilkinson  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
   
Glider #6 (Glider Chalk No. 96)
  Staff Sergeant Roy A. Howard  [view folder]: Glider Pilot Regiment (Pilot)
  Staff Sergeant Frederick W. Baacke  [view folder]: Glider Pilot Regiment (Co-Pilot)
  Lieutenant Dennis Fox  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Sergeant Charles Thornton  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Burns  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Lally  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Corporal Reynolds  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lance Corporal Loveday  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Annetts  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Clare  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Collett  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Hubbert  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Lawton  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private O'Shaughnessy  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Peverill  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Pope  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Rudge  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Storr  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Arthur A L. Summersby  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Ward  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Whitbread  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Whitehouse  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Eric Woods  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Private Wyatt  [view folder]: No. 17 Platoon, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck.
  Lance Corporal Lawson  [view folder]: Headquarters, D Company, 2nd Bn. Oxf. & Buck. (Medic)
  Lieutenant Bence  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Burns  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper C. H. Larkin  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper C. W. Larkin  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company
  Sapper Maxted  [view folder]: 249th (Airborne) Field Company