Tonga- 233 Squadron’s first Glider Towing operation.

The mission of the 8th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment engineers carried in the gliders towed by 233 Squadron was to join with paratroops dropped on DZ ‘K’ and destroy three bridges over the River Dives and the Divette before dawn (05:20) on June 6th. This was to protect the eastern flank of the beach head. There should have been a total of 610 fighting men under the command of Major Tim Roseveare, but only 140 troops and the two gliders landed on, or very close, to LZ ‘K’. Upon landing by parachute, Roseveare himself didn’t recognise the topography as being close to ‘K’ but he could hear gunfire from the south-west. The sappers job was to gather men and munitions in the jeeps and, protected by infantry, dash to the bridges at Bures and Troarn. However, after forty minutes, Roseveare had only gathered six officers, forty other ranks and twenty infantry, none of them officers. They seem to have had adequate explosives and trolleys to move them but none of the jeeps; these must have been still with the gliders at ‘K’ and ‘N’ while the paratroopers were at neither LZ. Nonetheless, Roseveare set-off and shortly came to a crossroads which, helpfully, retained a signpost. This confirmed that they were some two miles too far north – not a lot in flying time but a problem for troops on foot. And then….Salvation! The No 2 Section Para Field Ambulance and trailer from Laurie Weeden’s Horsa at Landing Zone ‘N’ appeared out of the dusk. Nothwithstanding the complaints of the medical orderlies, the sappers commandeered the jeep and, with daylight approaching, offloaded the medical stores at a nearby timber mill. Roseveare despatched the majority of his force to march cross-country to the road and rail bridges at Bures. He then loaded an officer, seven men and General Wade explosive charges onto the jeep and trailer and, taking the wheel himself, headed for Troarn. But luck was still elusive, the heavily-laden jeep would hardly reach 35 mph and, approaching a railway level crossing, they ran into a barbed wire entanglement across the highway. The German guard made a swift exit but it still took 20 precious minutes to disentangle the vehicle. Eventually, the jeep approached the main road at the edge of Troarn and the Major sent two scouts on ahead. After a scuffle with a German soldier on a bike, the advance party shot him with a Sten gun – completely destroying any element of surprise.

Troarn was occupied by German forces but the jeep full of eight soldiers had to drive down the mile-long main street to reach the bridge on the opposite side of town. Withering fire from houses and shops on either side of the street was returned by the British Bren and Sten machine guns as the jeep and trailer gathered speed, snaking downhill towards the target. The bridge was found to be unguarded and thirty-nine charges were hastily set. The 20′ bridge centre section was successfully blown right on 05:20 and the jeep driven up a cart track and abandoned just as the sun began to rise. Concerned that they had under-achieved, a party commanded by Sergeant Shrubsole returned at midday to destroy a second span of the bridge. A couple of kilometres further north, the sappers under the command of of Captain Tim Juckes had reached the road and rail bridges at Bures-sur-Dives around 06:30. They demolished the bridges around 09:15, successfully completing the objectives of the 8th Battalion (3) (4).

(3) Extra detail from the magazine ‘After the Battle’ Vol 1, #1.

(4) Following the bridge demolition at Bures, Juckes’ party then turned its attention to trying to recover a jeep and trailer from Horsa Chalk # 102 which had crashed into the River Dives immediately to the south of the rail bridge. The glider was resting with its nose on the western bank. the second pilot had suffered severe fractures and two of the three gunners had injuries.