British 6th Airborne Division
▶ Explore on the mapThe British 6th Airborne Division landed by parachute and glider on the eastern flank of the invasion in the early hours of 6 June 1944. Its tasks were to seize the bridges over the Orne river and the Caen canal — the latter taken in a famous coup de main by glider-borne troops — and to destroy the Merville gun battery, which threatened the Sword Beach landings. Holding the high ground east of the Orne, the division secured the left flank of the bridgehead and stayed in the line through the summer, taking part in the fighting around Caen. Its positions proved vital in preventing German armour from striking the landings from the east. The positions shown here are schematic and trace the division's general area of operations from the Orne bridges eastwards, not precise unit locations. Its capture of the Orne bridges intact was one of the most celebrated small-unit actions of the whole invasion, and it helped anchor the eastern flank for the rest of the campaign.
Sources
- Wikimedia Commons — Charnwood (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operations Greenwood and Pomegranate, Normandy, July 1944 (EN.svg)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operation Tractable (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikipedia — 352nd Infantry Division (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Falaise pocket (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Normandy landings (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikipedia — Operation Overlord (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Related
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