Airborne pathfinders
On the airborne troops landed behind enemy lines on D-Day ...
Shortly after midnight the British 6th and American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions began landing. On the eastern flank, British glider-borne troops seized the vital 'Pegasus' bridge across the river Orne, while others attacked and temporarily disabled a German battery at Merville, the guns of which covered Sword beach. Subsequent drops allowed 6th Airborne Division to form a defensive crust protecting the eastern flank of the beachhead.
Excerpt from D-Day: Beachhead by Duncan Anderson
