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CHAPTER II

BRIEFING FOR OPERATION "OVERLORD".

As this account deals only with experiences of the battalion it is not proposed to go, at any length, into the divisional plan as a whole. It will only be referred to in outline.

The Eastern edge of the Allied bridgehead was bounded by the Canal de Caen, which runs between Ouistrehem, on the coast, and the town from which the canal takes its name. Parallel to this canal, and four hundred yards to the East of it, runs the Rivor Orne. One road crosses these two water obstacles and it does so at right angles from the little village of Benouville, crossing the canal by a swing bridge and the river by a turning bridge, pivotted in the centre. Benouville is about mid way between Ouistrehem and Caen.

The 6th Airborne Division was to land at midnight on the night before D day and to seize both these bridges and to hold them. It would thus fulfil the dual role of safeguarding the Allied left flank and preserving the bridges for Allied use at a later date.

The seizure of the bridges: intact was very desirable, but not absolutely vital. Gen Gale planned to get them by surprise with a Coup de Main force to be landed in gliders right on the bridges themselves and thirty minutes before the main parachute landing.

Simultaneously with the arrival of the Coup de Main party a small number of parachutists were to land on the main dropping zone (DZ) with guide lights, and other aids, to hasten the forming up of the reminder of the parachutists, when they landed.

The main drop was timed for 0050 hrs and was to be followed a few hours later by a small number of essential gliders. The main glider element was to come in at noon the following day.

The battalion was selected for the job of holding the bridges themselves and, with them, also the West flank of the Divisional bridgehead until such time as the seaborne troops closed the gap. It also had the subsidiary job of establishing contact with these seaborne troops. The Coup de Main party. which consisted of some seventy members of the 2nd Bn Oxf & Bucks L.I. under the command of Major J. Howard, was to come under command of the battalion as soon as it had done its job.

The battalion was to establish a bridgehead West of the canal whether, or not, the bridges had been blown.

First contact with the seaborne troops was to be expected about 11 a.m. on D day and was to be with No 1 Commando Brigade under Brigadier Lord Lovat, DSO, MC. Lovat’s force was to cross the bridges and enter the divisional bridgehead, where it come under command of the division. It would however be several hours ahead of the bulk of the troops as its orders were to force its way through somehow and not to wait for the main forces, whose advance was to be systematic and therefore slower. These main forces were expected to reach the canal by about 5 p.m. and, until they arrived, the holding off of all attacks on the divisional bridgehead from the West would fall wholly on the battalion and the Coup de Main force. The battalion had certainly been given a plum job but the responsibility was a very heavy one.