Product Description

In the early hours of 6th June 1944, a small detachment of British airborne troops stormed the German defence forces and paved the way for the Allied invasion of Europe. Pegasus Bridge was the first engagement of D-Day, the turning point of World War II. This gripping account of it brings to life a daring mission so crucial that, had it been unsuccessful, the entire Normandy invasion might have failed. The author of this book traces each step of the preparations over many months to the minute-by-minute excitement of the hand-to-hand confrontations on the bridge, a story of heroism and cowardice, kindness and brutality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18622 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Stephen E. Ambrose, leading World War II historian, is the author of numerous books on history including the bestselling BAND OF BROTHERS and PEGASUS BRIDGE and definitive biographies on EISENHOWER and NIXON. He is founder of the Eisenhower Center and the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans.

Customer Reviews

Up the Ox and Bucks.
This is the story of the Ox and Bucks regiment who captured Pegasus bridge on D-Day. This book is superb and gives an excellent account of the importance of the mission and the training of the men leading up to the actual assault and capture of the bridge. It then goes on to explain how the bridge was held and includes good detail of when the re-enforcements arrived. This book is written very well and it has lots of eye witness accounts in it by people who were actually there. I visited the bridge during the 60th anniversary of D-Day and I would certainly reccommend reading this book prior to visiting the bridge. This will ensure that you know the full facts and will increase your interest when you see the bridge and its surrounding areas. This book has inspired me to purchase another book titled "The devils own luck" which is about the Ox and Bucks regiment after Pegasus bridge up to the end of the war.

A "Boys' Own" adventure
...except this one happens to be true. Of all the stories of 6 June 1944, few are as extraordinary - or as important - as this one. The description of the taking and holding of Pegasus Bridge by British airborne troops under the command of the late Maj. John Howard just after midnight on 6 June, including the training leading up to it and the aftermath, is an amazing one. The glider landing, in a tiny space through barbed wire and within yards of the bridge itself, was described as the best bit of flying of the whole of the war. It all went perfectly to plan, one of the few things on D-Day that did. One can only wonder what would have happened had it not - and be thankful that it did (not to mention that Hitler had gone to bed and could not be disturbed to release the Panzer Divisions under his personal command).

One of the old soldiers interviewed by Ambrose stopped a German tank by holding his fire until the thing was almost on top of him. "Now don't you be making me out to be some sort of hero!" he said. To which Ambrose delightfully retorted that he didn't make heroes, he merely wrote about them. And he does very well. The story is well-written and gripping.

A nice touch. One of the reinforcing paratroopers dropped in after the initial glider assault was a Captain Richard Todd. Todd was later to play Maj. Howard in the Darryl Zanuck fim "The Longest Day".

Ripping yarn
This is a reprint of one of Ambrose's earlier books, and it's come to light because of the popularity of Band of Brothers. It's very much in the same style as B-o-B, easy to read, interesting, lucid, and not at all like the dire Wild Blue.
It tells the story of one of the British Army's most dashing actions in a very personal way - concentrating on the characters involved in the glider landing on Pegasus Bridge. The timeline is well maintained, and it makes it a real page-turner.
To be picky, I would have liked to have read more about the reasons the paras stayed in the field so long after D-Day, rather than just criticising High Command; and the book doesn't say much about the battle the relief troops had to keep out German counter-attacks, even though it was serious enough to call for support from the glider troops they had relieved. Better maps would have been nice, but as Ambrose includes copies of the actual orders given to the unit, and the intelligence briefing they used, you always know roughly where you are.
In short - read 'Pegasus Bridge', especially if you enjoyed Band of Brothers or Blackhawk Down. And it's much better than Wild Blue. Honest.