Assault on Normandy: Pegasus Bridge

by Tim Saunders, Mike Peters (Narrator)

Format: PAL

* Charts the mounting of the operation, the Bridges' spectacular seizure and 7 Para's battle to hold it.

* Extra features on the disc include: printable maps and orders, photographs, sample chapters from two Pen and Sword books and exclusive money off vouchers.

* Includes a full electronic color tour guide to the sights and locations of Pegasus Bridge.

This DVD charts the slow development of British airborne forces and the directive given by Churchill in June 1940 to form both the Parachute Regiment and the glider airlanding brigades. We follow the plan to capture the two bridges over the canal and river between Caen and the sea from the germ of an idea, through preparations to its delivery as one of the most successful small unit actions of all time, in the opening hours of D-Day.

The DVD is split into four parts and each concentrate on a particular phase of the D-Day fighting: First are the gliders and their pilots who delivered the force, against all odds, in a poor weather and darkness to the bridges. The surprise and pin-point accuracy they achieved contributed significantly to success of the operation.

Next to be investigated is the thoroughly prepared and highly successful coup de main assault by Major John Howard's Company of Ox & Bucks Light Infantry on the two bridges.

After a badly scattered drop, Colonel Pine Coffin's 7 Para Battalion, only a fraction of its strength, arrived to relieve the Ox & Bucks and fought an equally epic battle against the growing strength of 21st Panzer Division until they in turn were relieved on the evening of D-Day when ground troops finally arrived from the beaches.

The famous Caf� Gondree is also included on the DVD. Indisputably the first house in occupied France to be liberated by the invading Allies, it was central to the story of Pegasus Bridge, its capture and holding. The family Gondree for their willing help and fortitude have over the years, become as much a part of all elements of Airborne Forces as the red beret!

80 pages, Audiobook

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Tim Saunders MBE MA (1956 - ????) served in the British Army as an officer in the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and The Rifles for over 30 years before leaving to become a full time military historian. In his second career he brings together the overlapping spheres of writing, battlefield guiding and military history film making. His intuitive knowledge of warfare and soldiers that is abundantly clear from his insightful and entertaining writing is a result, of his military training, service across the world and his operational experience.
Tim's portfolio of work is wide, with videos from Vikings to WW2 being made with Battlefield History TV and Pen & Sword Digital, variously as presenter, director and editor, His books, now totalling more than twenty title, however, are mainly focused on the Napoleonic Wars and the battles of the Second World War
Tim lives on the edge of the Army's Salisbury Plain Training area and often finds himself writing to the accompaniment of the sound of real tanks and gunfire.