Bénouville, Calvados
Encyclopedia
Bénouville is a commune
in the Calvados
department in the Basse-Normandie
region
in northwestern France
.
It is located on the Canal de Caen à la Mer
close to Caen
and Ouistreham
.
Bénouville was the scene of the first - and possibly most vital - battle of the Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day, June 6, 1944. From 12.15 am (British Double Summertime = 23:15 German/Middle-European time), a reinforced company of glider-borne troops from the 2nd Batt. Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, led by Major Reginald John Howard, landed around the bridge over the Caen Canal at Bénouville in three Horsa gliders and captured it from the Germans in a swift and dramatic attack. Control of this bridge was vital to the success of the whole Operation Overlord invasion, because it would be the route of any German counter-attack against the seaborne forces which were due to start landing a few hours later on Sword Beach.
At the same time, another Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire glider-borne force of sixty men (one glider was wrongly released) captured the neighbouring bridge over the River Orne, about a quarter of a mile away near Ranville - which was vital for the same reason. The Caen Canal bridge was later renamed Pegasus Bridge by Royal Engineers, in honour of the winged horse symbol of the Airborne Forces, while the River Orne bridge was renamed Horsa Bridge, after the gliders which carried the men to war. Today, Pegasus Bridge and the nearby Gondrée Café are known worldwide and are the scene of many pilgrimages and commemoration ceremonies, particularly around June 6. A few hundred yards from Pegasus Bridge, there is the excellent Musée Mémorial Pégasus telling the story of the Airborne coup de main-operation. For a classic, but even in the second print in details faulty account of the battle for the bridges, read Pegasus Bridge, by Stephen Ambrose.
On D Day M and Mme Gondrée who lived in the café were woken up by the landing of the gliders. M Gondrée looked out of a window of the café and saw black masked troops running over the bridge which he later learned were British, and in celebration dug up some 99 bottles of champagne which he had hidden in the garden and celebrated his liberation with some of the men from the gliders. The Gondrées had three daughters and one of them, Arlette, bought the café some years ago and now maintains it as a memorial to the men who landed on June 6, 1944. (her picture is in the Holt's Normandy Battlefield Guide Book published by Pen and Sword). It is also a working café. For many years after the war Major John Howard could be found in the café over the June 6 anniversary and even today many veterans and current members of the Airborne Forces visit Arlette, though not D Company-members who rather preferred the new, opposite establishment Les Trois Planeurs after a row with Arlette.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Calvados
Calvados
The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...
department in the Basse-Normandie
Basse-Normandie
Lower Normandy is an administrative region of France. It was created in 1956, when the Normandy region was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy...
region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
in northwestern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
It is located on the Canal de Caen à la Mer
Canal de Caen à la Mer
Canal de Caen à la Mer also called the "Caen Canal") is a short canal in the department of Calvados, France, connecting the Port of Caen, in the city of Caen, downstream to the town of Ouistreham and the English Channel....
close to Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
and Ouistreham
Ouistreham
Ouistreham is a commune in the Calvados department' in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry-harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town is about the mouth of the Canal de Caen à la...
.
Sights
- Château de BénouvilleChâteau de BénouvilleThe Château de Bénouville is a building in Bénouville, Normandy, near Caen The Château de Bénouville is a building in Bénouville, Normandy, near Caen The Château de Bénouville is a building in Bénouville, Normandy, near Caen (northern France. It was designed in 1769 by architect Claude Nicolas...
completed in 1777 by Claude Nicolas LedouxClaude Nicolas LedouxClaude-Nicolas Ledoux was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only in domestic architecture but town planning; as a consequence of his visionary plan for the Ideal City of Chaux, he became known as a utopian... - Pegasus BridgePegasus BridgePegasus Bridge is a bascule bridge , built in 1934, that crossed the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham, in Normandy, France....
D-Day and Pegasus Bridge
At the same time, another Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire glider-borne force of sixty men (one glider was wrongly released) captured the neighbouring bridge over the River Orne, about a quarter of a mile away near Ranville - which was vital for the same reason. The Caen Canal bridge was later renamed Pegasus Bridge by Royal Engineers, in honour of the winged horse symbol of the Airborne Forces, while the River Orne bridge was renamed Horsa Bridge, after the gliders which carried the men to war. Today, Pegasus Bridge and the nearby Gondrée Café are known worldwide and are the scene of many pilgrimages and commemoration ceremonies, particularly around June 6. A few hundred yards from Pegasus Bridge, there is the excellent Musée Mémorial Pégasus telling the story of the Airborne coup de main-operation. For a classic, but even in the second print in details faulty account of the battle for the bridges, read Pegasus Bridge, by Stephen Ambrose.
On D Day M and Mme Gondrée who lived in the café were woken up by the landing of the gliders. M Gondrée looked out of a window of the café and saw black masked troops running over the bridge which he later learned were British, and in celebration dug up some 99 bottles of champagne which he had hidden in the garden and celebrated his liberation with some of the men from the gliders. The Gondrées had three daughters and one of them, Arlette, bought the café some years ago and now maintains it as a memorial to the men who landed on June 6, 1944. (her picture is in the Holt's Normandy Battlefield Guide Book published by Pen and Sword). It is also a working café. For many years after the war Major John Howard could be found in the café over the June 6 anniversary and even today many veterans and current members of the Airborne Forces visit Arlette, though not D Company-members who rather preferred the new, opposite establishment Les Trois Planeurs after a row with Arlette.
Population
See also
- Communes of the Calvados department