Customer Reviews

Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944

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2 star:		(4)
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Stephen Ambrose has done a remarkable job in giving the reader a front row seat to the fighting at Pegasus Bridge. His writing takes you right to the action and flows over into the heat of battle as if you were there at the time of the attack.

He vividy describes the training leading up to the assault on bridge in such detail that you may need to set aside the book to rest, and catch your breath from the rigors of the last double time march.

Even though this aspect of the invasion (Pegasus Bridge) encompasses such a small area, the high level of detailed research lends itself to a wonderful account of the early morning hours of 6 June 1944.

This book is very easy to read and is a must for those intrigued by the battle that took place at this simple stone bridge over the Caen Canal in the Norman countryside.

If you've seen "The Longest Day" you may recall the scene in which a small band of glider-borne commandos seizes a bridge and defends it until relieved by Lord Lovett and his commandos. What you may not know is that this was a singular event- the very first combat engagement of D-Day and the first and only use of this technique by the Allies in the war.

Ambrose is one of the best contemporary historians to write about World War 2, always managing to be both accurate and entertaining. Here, he gives us profiles of the men involved on both sides of the battle, the development of the glider assault technique, a detailed minute-by-minute account of the fighting, and the story of the aftermath of the battle and the lives of the men (and women) after the war, up to the 50th Anneversary D-Day ceremonies in France.

If you're a history buff, this book is a must-have for your library. If you're interested in a more accurate verison of the details surrounding the battle than the movie presented, read the book. And if you simply want to understand a little better how ordinary men can acheive the extraordinary when called on to do so, read this book.

Having been stationed in Germany for three years I was fortunate enough to travel to many of the WWII battlegrounds that exist in Europe and the beaches that made up Operation Overlord is one trip that I will never forget. Before making the trip I read "Citizen Soldier," "D-Day" and "Pegasus Bridge" all written by Stephen Ambrose. I carried "D-Day" and "Pegasus Bridge" with me during my trip to use as a reference as I visited 4 of the 5 beaches involved in the D-Day invasion.
"Pegasus Bridge" is the story of the men from D company from the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry Regiment of the British 6th Airborne Division. Ambrose does a masterful job of relating the story of these men and tying to results of the battle to the overall operation of D-Day. Ambrose gives the background on the training of the men, personal insights of many of the men, and the man who held them all together Major John Howard.
As good as Ambrose tells the story of D company nothing compares to actually standing on that bridge and the feeling that you get thinking that right here is where the D-Day invasion began! Ambrose has included some great photos and drawing of the gliders landing site. When you visit the bridge itself you will find markers indicating the locations of the first three gliders and it is only then you will realize what a magnificent job of piloting Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork did in landing the nose of his glider "to break through the barbed wire" as requested by Major Howard. Some the machine gun nest are still there beside the bridge and gives you an idea of what the men faced. The original bridge, replaced with a modern bridge, but thankfully was saved and is located nearby as part of a museum.
"The first place liberated in France" is what the Gondrée's café has as a label according to a plague affixed over the entrance to the café. If you do not go inside you will miss a stunning collection of "Pegasus" military memorabilia! If you are lucky, you might even meet Madam Gondrée, who was a child at the time of the battle, and was still running the café at the time of my visit. She sat with friends and me and related a few stories concerning the story of the bridge and their current fight with the local government to preserve the café and other local building from a campaign to broaden the canal.
As I walk around outside the café and bridge site, I used Ambrose's book to take me through the battle almost moment by moment. I could almost hear Lt. Brotheridge's Sten gun rattle off as he killed one of the two guards on the bridge that night and sadly wonder if he knew what he and his men accomplished that night as he lay dying only moments after engaging the Germans.
If have any interest in the D-Day invasion then you cannot go wrong with this book. Ambrose does a wonderful job in presenting the story. The book is easy to read; I finished it in two days, yet does not insult your intelligence. If you do visit the Normandy region make sure you block out at least half a day to visit the bridge and Madam Gondrée's café you will not be disappointed. Ste.-Mère-Église is another place not to miss, but that is another story.

As a military officer I have had the great good fortune to meet the author and two of the protagonists in this account of a pivotal moment in the opening of the Battle of Normandy as well as being fortunate enough to travel to the site of most of the action. While Ambrose captures some of the exuberant personality of Maj John Howard, he most certainly excelled at recounting the herculean efforts leading up to the event -- the training, the organization, the bureaucracy -- and leading the reader through the night of hell endured by the troops on both sides as well as the terrified, suspicious, yet grateful civilians caught in the middle.

What I liked most about the book (being an avid WWII history buff) is the immediacy of Ambrose's writing. When I traveled to Caen and saw the bridge's modern replacement and the adjacent glider landing fields where "Rommel's Asparagus" had been "planted" I knew instantly where I was and where the actions took place. I could easily trace from memory what had happened, to whom, and where. Ambrose has the capacity to make his spare prose come alive and cause the reader to see the panzers lumbering into the targeted intersection, only to be knocked out by a man's phenomenally skillful use of a woefully inaccurate weapon. It's all there in this small, rather inconspicuous book.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who may be interested in learning some detail about what happened in one small area of the Norman countryside shortly after midnite, in the wee hours of the 6th of June, 1944. I might also recommend viewing a representation of Maj John Howard's exploits as a part of the movie, "The Longest Day." For those who have seen that film, this book will provide wonderful detail for enhancing their comprehension of the stunning complexity of the invasion by illustrating this one tiny piece of the invasion scenario.

Stephen Ambrose states in "Band Of Brothers" that as an honorary member of D Company Ox and Bucks and of E company,506,101st,he has both his flanks covered. Indeed so. "Pegasus Bridge" should probably be read in conjunction with "Band of Brothers" although it is much more the story of a single action on a single night than the odyssey that is the record of Easy Co. Ambrose writes vividly of the night of the 5th June ,his style ideally suited to his subject. One feels the elation ,the fear ,the shock of the combatants as the events unfold.The death of Den Brotheridge ,the key destruction of a mk4 Panzer and later a patrol boat by men armed with only the erratic and makeshift PIAT,the discordantly amusing destruction of a German OP situated on a water tower by means of a captured AT gun, all clearly recreated in the mind of the reader by the concise prose and carefully chosen eyewitness accounts. There are some minor gripes.Most non-American readers will feel that Ambrose has more understanding of the pysche and motivations of G.Is than of Tommies, but this is understandable. While wholeheartedly agreeing with his assessment of the Sten and PIAT as erratic and alarming weapons to use, he errs when describing the Bren in like terms as inferior to the German equivalents. These are not major issues. "Pegasus Bridge", with "Band of Brothers", stands as a wonderful read and a fitting tribute to the young men of 1944 who gave so much for freedom.

Hats off to Capt. John Howard and D Company of Britain's "Ox and Bucks" regiment. As the first Allied unit to land in France on D-Day, these glider borne men had the job of capturing two bridges that would help secure the flank of Operation Overlord.

Stephen Ambrose makes a good case that had these men failed, the German panzers may have had the opportunity to crush first the British 6th Airborne Division and then roll up the invasion beaches. We'll never know, because these men did not fail. Silently landing within yards of their target, they quickly secured the Caen Canal Bridge and an adjacent span fifty yards away over the Orne River. Both had been wired for demolition and were guarded (although not by boys from the Fatherland but forced conscripts from occupied Eastern Europe the Germans had rounded up to fill their need for men). Howard's men literally stole the bridges in a manner of minutes with minimal fighting. They then established a perimiter to beat off any German counter-attack until they could be relieved by paratroopers who dropped shortly after D Company pulled off their coup de main. While waiting for relief, they faced a tank counter-attack. Holding only one Piat, a hand held anti-tank weapon that was not held in high regard by the troops, a sergeant nailed the lead tank at a distance of forty yards. This persuaded the rest of the German column to retreat and wait -- thinking that Howard's men possessed larger anti-tank weapons. Thus less than two hundred glider borne air troopers were able to attack, take and hold two critical bridges -- and right under the nose of a nearby enemy tank regiment.

This is a delightful book that moves along at Ambrose's usual fast pace. He fills it with first hand accounts from British, German and French participants -- luckily many of the principals were alive when he wrote the book which gives it an unparralled directness and detail. Ambrose goes into the personalities of the principals and discusses the training and planning that went into making D Company a premeir fighting outfit. Capt. Howard deserves much of the credit for sharpening his unit into what must have been one of the most effective small units in the war. Over a period of almost two years, he put them through his own designed training regimen that earned for them the mission.

This is a short book at less than two hundred pages (and oddly shaped -- I've never read a book as tall and skinny and am curious as to why it was published in these dimensions). Perfect if one has the hours to dive into and finish a good war story in one sitting.

I'm a firm believer that no one can weave together a battle, invasion or engagement that took place in the European Theater quite like Stephen Ambrose. He has a knack for understanding the soldiers, getting inside their minds and allowing them to tell the tale for him. Pegasus Bridge is no different. It's a fascinating account of how one British unit seized the most critical objective in the wee hours just prior to D-Day. Much like Band of Brothers, Ambrose starts with the beginning of the unit -- how it was formed, its commanders, its training regiment and it soldiers -- transitions to the climax of seizing the bridge and holding it and finally flows into the denouement of D-Day plus one. I highly recommend this book as well as Ambrose's other works on the subject of WWII. As a twentysomething who has never experienced combat or war on a worldwide scale, I personally credit Ambrose for my newfound respect for the fighting men and women who have participated in all of our wars.

This is the story of the Ox and Bucks regiment who captured Pegasus bridge on D-Day. This book is superb it 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. The book then goes on to explain how the bridge was held and includes good detail of when the re-enforcements arrived. The book is written very well and it has lots of eye witness accounts in it by people who were actually there. I recently visited the bridge during the 60th anniversary of D-Day and I would certainly reccommend reading the book if you are to visit the bridge ( I would also reccommend a visit to Pegasus bridge). 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.

Stephen Ambrose's book tells the story of D company, 6th para. and the taking of the bridges over the Orne canal and river. It is an excellent, if skimpy, telling of one of the facinating stories of WWII. I have always found the incident interesting since seeing it portrayed in "The Longest Day" It is a quick read, and I'd have liked more detail, but it is a good book none the less.

Stephen Ambrose is one of those authors that I would give anything he wrote a chance. In the past I have not been disappointed with his work. That positive track record came to an end with this book. To be fair this book was written a number of years ago and before his best World War 2 works - D-Day and Citizen Soldiers. This book also covers an event that was performed by UK soldiers and the author's real strength has been with American forces. With those two books in my mind I grabbed this book hoping for the same detailed account of this particular event.

Unfortunately for me the detail level was just not there. He briefly touched on the training and lead up to the event but not in the kind of detail that would really give me some insight into the men. He covered the assault on the bridge, but his coverage of the importance of the bridge to the overall D-Day effort and the German response was a bit lacking. And finally he also touched on what happened to the group for the rest of the war but in such a general way that it left me wanting more and frustrated at the extremely brief overview. I do not want to come off too harsh, overall this is an interesting and easy to read book that gives the reader a better then average coverage of the event. I was just thinking it would be better based on the author's track record.