Bénouville, Calvados

Bénouville is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northern France, alongside the Canal de Caen à la Mer. Its postal code is 14970. The INSEE code is 14060. It is close to Caen and Ouistreham. Approximately 2,000 inhabitants.

ights

* Château de Bénouville completed in 1777 by Claude Nicolas Ledoux
* Pegasus Bridge, the bridge of D-Day fame

Twin towns

Bénouville is twinned with:
* Lynton and Lynmouth, United Kingdom

D-Day and Pegasus Bridge

Benouville was the scene of the first - and possibly most vital - battle of the Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day, June 6, 1944. At 12.15am, a reinforced company of glider-borne troops from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, led by Major John Howard, landed around the bridge over the Caen Canal at Bénouville 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 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, 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 Gondree Cafe 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 an excellent museum telling the story of the Airborne operation. For a classic account of the battle for the bridges, read "Pegasus Bridge", by Stephen Ambrose.