"Raising Pegasus Bridge" Topic

I saw an image on a blog recently that showed Pegasus Bridge partially raised and that got me thinking. Was there any tactical advantage in leaving the bridge down until the commandos arrived? Was raising it after it was captured even considered? Nothing I have read suggests this was an option. Did it require specialist skills to raise the bridge?

It makes for an interesting "what if" scenario.

If the intent was to prevent German armour from crossing could the bridge be raised and the mechanism to lower it destroyed? Would the allies need to hold it or could they have moved on to another target?

I need to look at some sources to work out which side of the bridge had the equipment to raise and was that on the side that had the landing allies or the counter attacking Germans? I understand the bridge was moved but did this change the orientation?

No the bridge was captured by Glider to stop the Germans from destroying it. Raising i would have slit the airborne troops on either side of the river, down they could move reserves and supplies much more easily. Also if it had been damaged while in the raised position, say a hi to the controls it would mean the allies couldn't use it. Down nothing short of dropping the span would take it out.

Fatman

Thanks Fatman you are correct of course it was a coup de main to prevent destruction of the bridge and keep it as a crossing point but I was not being clear in what I was asking

What I meant was that in a what if scenario could the aim be to block a german counter attack on Sword beach by raising the bridge and preventing the Germans from lowering it? That may mean damaging the equipment and repairing it once reinforcements arrived or simply holding one side with the control tower until relieved. Would that make for an interesting game?

The controls and mechanisms are all on the eastern side of the bridge (the side that the Airborne landings were made). As a 'bascule' bridge, the mechanism is relatively simple – water is pumped up into the overhead tank, which then overbalances the bridge, which then rocks back and lifts the bridge.

In theory, all you'd need to do to drop the bridge would be to shoot holes in the tank until enough water drained out to lower the bridge. I don't know if there was a 'handbrake' to stop it lowering. I know two former bascule bridges on my bit of the railway and neither had a 'handbrake' – they were totally dependent on the weight of the water to keep them open.

Once the battle started the tank became liberally peppered with holes anyway, which must surely have stopped the bridge from opening again until extensive repairs were made.

Makes you wonder how many 'Pegasus Bridge' models are out there in wargame land doe n't it?

Nor do we, but it's been a close call. We've recently had to resist the temptation to get some Market Garden bridges in 54mm.

I don't have one either, though it's something that I really should have! :)

On a semi-related note, I did write a historical scenario a while back that involved the lowering of a canal bridge (which on this occasion required British Sappers, Belgian Resistance and civilians climbing up the decking to drop it through their combined weight):

PDF link

At the same time as the Pegasus Bridge assaults, there were several others that were tasked with destroying or damaging other bridges in the area. The goal was to keep the Pegasus (canal) and Horsa (river) bridges intact for use by the expanding beach landings for both supply purposes and expansion on the flanks. The glider forces brought along some little rubber boats in case the bridge was blown and one of the first units to reach the bridgehead from the beaches was a convoy of bridging equipment. The plan was to definitely hold the bridges for use or failing that, to hold the crossing points for repair or replacement.

Was looking at a 6mm Pegasus Bridge but for those who are interested here is a 15mm.

link

There biggest Pegasus Bridge is 28mm

I picked up an MDF version in 20mm too……….very nice!