Pegasus Bridge

Pegasus Bridge
Pegasus Bridge before its replacement
Coordinates	49°14′32″N 0°16′28″W / 49.24222°N 0.27444°W / 49.24222; -0.27444Coordinates: 49°14′32″N 0°16′28″W / 49.24222°N 0.27444°W / 49.24222; -0.27444
Crosses	Caen Canal
Locale	Bénouville
Characteristics
Design	Bascule bridge
History
Opened	1934

Pegasus Bridge is a bascule bridge (a type of movable bridge), that was built in 1934, that crossed the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham, in Normandy, France.

Also known as the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, it was, with the nearby Ranville Bridge over the river Orne, later renamed Horsa Bridge, a major objective of the British airborne troops during Operation Deadstick, part of Operation Tonga in the opening minutes of the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944 during the Second World War. A unit of Glider infantry of the 2nd Battalion, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, British 6th Airborne Division, commanded by Major John Howard, was to land, take the bridges intact and hold them until relieved. The successful taking of the bridges played an important role in limiting the effectiveness of a German counter-attack in the days and weeks following the Normandy invasion.

In 1944 it was renamed Pegasus Bridge in honour of the operation. The name is derived from the shoulder emblem worn by the British airborne forces, which is the flying horse Pegasus.