Normandy Beaches – Day 1
May 2, 2026
Pegasus Bridge
Just after midnight on the 6th June 1944 the first gliders of the British 6th Airbourne landed a close distance to the Benouville bridge. The D-Day invasion had begun.
The 6th Airbourne insignia is a Winger Pegasus ridden by the Greek warrior Bellerophon – Shortly after its capture the Bridge became known as ‘Pegasus Bridge’
The capture and holding of the two bridges at this location was critical as it prevented the Germans reinforcing and resupplying their forces. Thus protecting somewhat the easternmost beaches of the D-Day landings from effective German Counter-Attacks
The initial gliders landed at 16 minutes past midnight completely surprising the German defenders and capturing the bridge within 10 minutes.
Sword Beach
Sword Beach is the Easternmost beach of the five landing beaches Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword – we’re heading east to west.
Primarily a British beach landing with some 28k troops landed by the end of D-Day
Amid the thump of mortars, shouts, and the whine of machine-gun fire, Millin strode coolly back and forth along the beach, playing the pipes while men streamed past him. Most of the astonished soldiers on the beach cheered and waved when they heard the pipes, a time-honored morale booster in British Army annals. “That’s the stuff, Jock!” yelled one Commando. But some soldiers on Sword Beach regarded it as insane behavior. One sergeant shouted, “Get down, you mad bugger! You’re attracting attention to us.” From then on, Bill Millin was known to many as the “Mad Piper.”
Hillman Fortress
A large series of bunkers interconnected with tunnels. The site covers around 24 Hectares. The Suffolk Regiment attacked this fortification on 6 June having landed earlier at Sword Beach. Tough German resistance meant they did not take it until the following morning. This was one of the reasons given for not taking Caen on the 6th June
End of day one, we are now at our park-up in Hermanville-sur-Mer will use this base for the next three nights, its just a camping car park with basic services on the edge of a village.