Pegasus Bridge & the British Airborne Landings

The first Allied action of D-Day took place not on a beach but at a canal bridge. Shortly after midnight on 6 June 1944, gliders of the British 6th Airborne Division landed yards from Pegasus Bridge and seized it in minutes.

The coup secured the eastern flank of the invasion and prevented German armour from crossing the Orne. The original bridge now stands beside the Mémorial Pegasus museum.

The same division stormed the Merville Gun Battery before dawn and liberated the village of Ranville, often called the first in France to be freed. By daylight the airborne troops linked up with commandos coming ashore at Sword Beach.

See how these places sit in relation to each other on the interactive map.