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This epic British glider attack is getting the movie treatment it deserves

Operation Deadstick was the first engagement of D-Day but many people don’t know the awesome story of how a small group of British glider soldiers captured two bridges intact and held them against German counterattacks. Now, the epic fight is becoming a movie. The idea was that holding these two vital bridges over the Caen Canal…

Operation Deadstick was the first engagement of D-Day but many people don’t know the awesome story of how a small group of British glider soldiers captured two bridges intact and held them against German counterattacks. Now, the epic fight is becoming a movie.

The idea was that holding these two vital bridges over the Caen Canal and a nearby river would give the Allies a route inland and would prevent a German counterattack on the Normandy beaches.

So, on Jun. 6, 1944, the men of D Company, 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry crash-landed in gliders at only 16 minutes past midnight. A brilliant performance by pilots put the closest group of paratroopers only 47 yards from the first objective while avoiding anti-glider poles that were still being emplaced around the bridges.

via www.wearethemighty.com

Operation Deadstick was given brief, but glorious, attention in the movie The Longest Day.

But a full length feature film of this epic small unit action?

Oh heck yes!

Ox and Bucks!

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Responses to “This epic British glider attack is getting the movie treatment it deserves”

  1. Esli

    It must have been my ability to tell the story, but when we visited Pegasus Bridge in March, my daughter was insistent on getting a maroon UK airborne t-shirt with the Pegasus logo on it, which she has worn several times since. It’s a great story and walking the grounds is amazing. They’ve marked all three points where the gliders stopped with markers in the shape of a Horsa glider’s nose. It is incredible to see the accomplishment of landing on the small strip of land between the canal and the swamp in a glider in the dark.

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  2. McThag

    I believe the term of art is, “Shut up and take my money!”

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  3. Feh

    Last time I was in Normandy a few years ago, we visited the bridge and ate at the cafe right next to it. Awesome!

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  4. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    Sign me up to be seeing this, fabulous part of D-Day history.

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  5. SCOTTtheBADGER

    OX AND BUCKS!

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  6. NaCly Dog

    Pegasus Bridge by Steven Ambrose tells the tale well.
    Lieutenant Brotheridge was the first one on the bridge. He earned that distinction in a competition during training for the assault. He was the first of four Ox and Bucks leaders killed at the start of the assault.
    To me the most amazing part of the history were the cards carried by the glider pilots. They were signed by General Montgomery and gave them immunity from any other orders besides getting to the beaches for return to Britain.
    This elite coup-de-main force was wasted in line infantry action after the battle lines formed up. I wonder how Market-Garden would have been if this group had been dropped next to the Nijmegen or Arnhem Bridges.

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