Improved 2 part episode of the Merville assault.

In the early hours of June 6th, 1944, the 9th Parachute Battalion drops into chaos. Aircraft scatter six hundred men across the flooded fields of Normandy. A handful find their way to the wire of Batterie de Merville. What follows is one of the most audacious small-unit actions of the Second World War.

In this episode we follow Major George Smith's Trowbridge Party from the wire back to a battalion that barely exists. We follow Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway as he organises an assault with a fraction of his force, no engineers, no specialist charges, and no way to illuminate the target for the gliders. We follow the men through the breach in the wire, across the minefield, and into the casemates. And we follow the survivors as they fight their way to Amfreville and hold it until the Commandos arrive.

This episode draws on the works of Neil Barber in The Day the Devils Dropped In and The Silencing of the Merville Battery, Carl Shilletos's Merville Battery and the Dives Bridges, Jon Cookseys operation Tonga: 6th Airborne Division, Stephen Wright and Kevin Shannon's in Operation Tonga: The Glider Assault, and the war diaries of the 6th Airborne Division.

For maps, photographs, original documents, and the full source base behind this series, visit www.worldwar2-sof.com.

#WorldWarII #WWII #DDay #Normandy #MervilleBattery #9ParachuteBattalion #BritishAirborne #6thAirborneDivision #SpecialForces #MilitaryHistory #Paratrooper #OperationOverlord #DDay1944 #WW2Podcast #MilitaryPodcast #Airborne #WarHistory #NeilBarber #SwordBeach #Parachute

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Improved 2 part episode of the Merville assault.

In the early hours of June 6th, 1944, the men of the 9th Parachute Battalion will jump into the darkness over Normandy. Their objective is the Merville Battery, four guns in reinforced concrete, behind wire, mines, and a garrison of one hundred and sixty men. From its emplacements the battery commands the approaches to Sword Beach, where the British infantry will come ashore at dawn. It must be silenced before the landings begin.

This is part one of the Merville Battery. We follow Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway and his battalion from the intelligence picture in the spring of 1944, through the plan, the rehearsals on a full-scale replica of the position, the glider pilots and their compressed Rebecca-Eureka course, and the final days in the transit camp. We follow them to the airfields on the evening of June 5th. We follow them across the Channel into a storm of flak, and down into the fields and floodwaters of Normandy. Part one ends as the last men jump from their Dakotas into the night sky over France.

In part two, the assault itself.

This episode draws on the work of Neil Barber, Carl Shilleto, Jon Cooksey, Stephen Wright, Kevin Shannon and the official war diaries of the 6th Airborne Division. Full sources at worldwar2-sof.com.

#DDay #WW2 #WW2History #MervilleBattery #9thParachuteBattalion #OperationTonga #6thAirborneDivision #BritishAirborne #Normandy1944 #SwordBeach #WW2Podcast #MilitaryHistory #SpecialForces #Paratroopers #June61944

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In the thrilling conclusion of our series on the Coup de Main, we take you to the night of June 6, 1944. Join us as we follow Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork, Major John Howard, and the men of the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in their daring glider assault on the Pegasus and Horsa bridges. Experience the tension, bravery, and chaos as these soldiers fight to secure these vital crossings against formidable German defenses. From the precise crash landings to the intense firefights, witness the extraordinary courage and determination that ensured the success of this pivotal mission in the Normandy invasion.

Don't miss this action-packed episode as we bring history to life!

#WWII #HistoryPodcast #PegasusBridge #DDay #CoupDeMain #SpecialForces #MilitaryHistory #OxAndBucks #NormandyInvasion #MajorJohnHoward #PodcastSeries #HistoricalEvents #WarStories #HeroicMissions

Listen now on Spotify and relive the incredible story of the Coup de Main and the heroes who made history.

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