NORMANDY COMMEMORATION JUMP

NORMANDY COMMEMORATION JUMP

13-06-2010
Pathfinder jumped DZ K near Sannerville, Normandy on 6 / 7 June 2010 to commemorate the 6th Airborne Division jump in 1944. 


Forty Eight parachutists of Pathfinder Parachute Group jumped on DZ K on June 6/7 2010. All jumps were made successfully with no injuries.

This is the first time that Pathfinder have jumped on DZ K (near Sannerville) and the first time parachutists have jumped on it since 1944.

Three members of Pathfinder Ireland jumped as part of this commemoration.

This DZ was originally jumped by 8 Parachute Battalion, part of the 3rd Parachute Brigade of the 6th (British) Airborne Division. 


History of the 1944 Operation

The 8th Parachute Battalion was tasked with destroying two bridges near Bures and a third by Troarn, was dropped at the same time as 9th Parachute Battalion and was also widely scattered with a number of its paratroopers landing in the operational area of 5th Parachute Brigade.

When the commanding officer of the battalion arrived at the battalion rendezvous point at 01:20 he found only thirty paratroopers and a small group of sappers with a Jeep and trailer. By 03:30 this number had increased to just over 140 paratroopers, but there were still no other signs of the sappers who would be required to demolish the bridges.The commanding officer therefore decided to send a small force to demolish the bridges at Bures and lead the rest of the battalion to a crossroad north of Troarn where it would await more reinforcements before it attacked Troarn itself. However, the small force sent to Bures discovered that the two bridges had already been demolished by a group of sappers who had reached the bridges a few hours earlier, and so rejoined the battalion at the crossroads, which had increased in numbers after another fifty men had arrived.

A reconnaissance party was sent into Troarn to ascertain the status of the bridge there, alongside a party of sappers, which came under fire from a house near the bridge. After a brief fire-fight the paratroopers captured a number of Germans from the 21st Panzer Division and then made their way to the bridge, which they discovered had been demolished already. Once the sappers had widened the length of bridge demolished using their explosives, the party retreated back to the battalion at the crossroad. Having achieved its objective, the battalion then moved north and took up positions near Le Mesnail to widen the airborne bridgehead formed by the division.

Map of the 6th Airborne Division's Area of Operations in Normandy 
 






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