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Lord Lovat had already earned quite a reputation for courage even before D-Day. He believed in leading from the front and never asked his men to do something he would not do himself. He was a physically powerful man, but more than that he was a powerful man in personality and everyone who served under him agreed that they had implicit faith in his leadership His training of commandos was a legend all of its own. He took them to the Highlands with live ammunition and taught them speed, decisiveness and initiative, sometimes telling them that they would have an early morning rendezvous the next day 50, 60 or even 80 miles away. Where it was and how they were to get there was up to them to discover. In the great D-Day plan, Lord Lovat and his men were to land at Sword Beach, clear a way through the town of Ouistreham and then meet the hard-pressed troops of the British 6th Airborne Division at the Orne bridgehead. (Pegasus Bridge) |
The
Commandos |
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 Sword Beach  Zoom
In  Pegasus Bridge today Zoom
In |
Pegasus was captured by British 6th Airborne Division glider troops
in the first few minutes of D-day. The three Horsa gliders, visible
in the top right of the photo, brought Major John Howard and his troopers
in on time, accurately placing them in position to seize the bridge
by rapid surprise. Lt. Den Brotheridge, the first allied death on
D-day was killed where the Jeep is standing as he and his men rushed
across the bridge from the eastern side. An engineer's truck is returning
from the airborne headquarters area to secure supplies from Sword
Beach. The drivers, although in Europe, are still driving on the left
side as in England.
At Ouistreham the assaulting troops were faced by a solid line of sea-front villas-even a casino that the Germans had turned into a fortress. After a massive preliminary bombardment, the heaviest on any of the beaches that day, the DD tanks were launched.. On their heels came the infantry, who managed to clear the shore line and then stormed the houses one by one. |
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Soon the first groups of grey-clad German prisoners were stumbling back towards the shore. As the tide rose, the strip of beach became so congested that further landing had to be halted until the specialist armour and the engineers could clear the exits. The Commandos made short work of the fortified casino and quickly cleared the town of Ouistreham. Lord Lovat and his men broke out into the open country and began their march towards the bridges over the Orne and the canal. Lovat led his men through enemy fire which was fiercer than expected and at 12.14 the Airborne Division had just about given up hope of seeing them when suddenly through the smoke and noise they heard the skirl of pipes. Lord Lovat's own piper, Bill Millin, led
the way to the astonishment of the enemy and Lovat himself followed behind
with rifle over shoulder and pistol in hand. Behind them came a long line
of green beret commandos. Read more about Bill Millin
He was hailed as "an incomparable leader in battle" and that
is exactly how he has been remembered - a hero of the 20th century and
more especially, a hero of D-Day. |
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