I'm somewhat surprised that Stephen Ambrose was an actual historian, back before the plagiarism scandals and shoddy work that put the period on his career. This is the first of his WW2 oral histories, written fresh on the heels of 20 years of Eisenhower research and the 40th Anniversary of D-Day. The book covers the legendary assault on Pegasus bridge: the training of D company, a minute-by-minute account of the battle, and the aftermath. The bridges over the Orne River and canal, which would later be named Pegasus and Horsa bridge in honor of the Paras, had a vital role. If the Germans held these bridges, their Panzers could attack directly into the flank of the landing, possibly defeating Overlord. If the bridges were destroyed, the 6th Paras would be stranded on the far side without armor or heavy weapons, and would be destroyed in force. The only option was a daring coup de main, sailing in silently on gliders to 'prang' almost on the bridge itself, to seize it by storm in seconds, and then hold it at all costs. Ambrose recovers the battle through careful oral histories, and brings all his talents as a writer to describe the terror of close range firefights, the heroism of the soldiers, the glory of tracers and tanks burning up, and the moments of hilarity--such as a German soldier who had slept through the assault being discovered in his bunker by Paras, woken, and believing that it was an elaborate prank telling them to get lost and going back to sleep.This is an elegant and excellent little book. Best of all, while Ambrose likes, respects, and admires the Brits, he doesn't worship them like he does with American GIs. The men who defeated the Nazis were pretty amazing, but a historian can't rightfully worship his subjects.
"At a maximum, failure at Pegasus Bridge might have meant failure for the invasion as a whole, with consequences for world history too staggering to contemplate." ~Stephen E. AmbrosePegasus Bridge is a lesser known book by Ambrose on a lesser known battle on D-Day. It is likely lesser known to me because the British are the heroes of this story. This book tells of the British airborne troops that landed in gliders in the early hours of D-Day. They were the first to arrive on this historical day. They took over this bridge as it was a key bridge for the Nazi army. The Brits' mission was to seize the bridge to protect the Allied flanks on the beaches. If the Nazis would have been able to cross that bridge with their tanks they could have just parked on the beaches and made life a lot worse for the Allied forces. It was also a key bridge to bring the Allied forces deeper into France so they had to take it without it being destroyed.As usual, Ambrose's writing style is superb. His account reads like a story or even a movie script. The armies on both sides had been training for two years for this very day. The Nazis had the better guns and artillery and they had already deeply entrenched themselves ready for an attack. The Brits had two key advantages: the element of surprise and a just cause. I heartily recommend this book on heroism and true grit. I have read a handful of Ambrose books and none have disappointed. I plan to eventually read them all.
What do You think about Pegasus Bridge (1988)?
I'm not normally a fan of war books as I think there are so many around they are often just variations on a very limited theme, so i was pleasantly surprised by this book as it was something new I hadn't heard of before.I've read many books on D-Day and the beach landings, but 'Pegasus Bridge' looks at the very start of the day and the landing of 6 gliders in France and the operation to secure a key route for the allies. The book takes us through the preparation for the day and the operation itself.The book has pros and cons. The main con is the writing style - I found it very simplistic and at times a little like a list of events rather than having any real structure to the tale. The author clearly knows the subject well but I bought he lacked a little flare in conveying this to the reader. There are a number of pros though. The operation itself is very interesting, and something I hadn't heard about before. I don't think there will he many people who know where Pegasus Bridge is or what happened there which is a shame as it was a real turning point in WWII. It also has some interesting people in it who I was intrigued to read about.It si difficult to get too excited about this book because of the writing style, but it was an interesting book which I am glad to have read as it has taught me something new I would like to find out more about.
—Sam Woodfield
The inspiring story of the first Allied troops to land in Normandy on the morning of the Sixth of June, 1944. A detachment of the British 6th Airborne Division, under the command of Major John Howard, arrived in Normandy via Horza gliders, near the town of Ranville, with orders to seize the bridge over the Caen Canal (Code-named Pegasus Bridge after the insignia of the British Airborne) on the inland left flank of the Allied landing beaches, and then to "hold until relieved," which in the end meant holding the bridge for the next 24 hours.In the movie "The Longest Day" Major Howard was portrayed by British Actor, Richard Todd, who in real life had helped seize Pegasus Bridge as a Captain under Howard's command.
—Curtiss
This is the story of one company's effort in the vanguard of D-day. It tells the story in excellent detail, how they were developed into elite soldiers, how their competitive edge was honed, and how they led the assault to take and hold 2 vital bridges. The story is beautifully told, with great detail and character. D Company were warned in the briefing that they must not tell anyone about the nature of their training or mission on pain of being discharged from the mission - that night Wally Parr was telling his wife the news on the phone. The story is told from several viewpoints - Major John Howard tells that the men were greatly cheered by the delivery 2 days before D-day of escape packs (hidden compasses, etc) and French Francs. Wally Parr notes that the Francs were all gambled away within a couple of hours. I thoroughly enjoyed this - a very approachable book on a very complex event.
—Tom
