Zone 1: Horsa glider headstones
Stand in front of the bust of Major Howard.
Observe and discover the different monuments around you.
YOUR INVESTIGATION: 00:18, the glider of Lieutenant R. A. Smith's glider landed, piloted by Staff Sergeants Barkway and Boyle. How many soldiers were on board with the doctor, Captain J. Vaughan?
Then go to zone 2: cross the Pegasus bridge and take the voie verte directly on your left, following the canal in the direction of Caen.
Bénouville, summer 1944 | © IWM
A little history on your route
In 1811, Napoleon I, after a short stay in Caen, ordered an immediate study into straightening the Orne, pending the establishment of a canal between Caen and the sea.
The 14 km canal linking Caen to Ouistreham was inaugurated on 1 July 1857.
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On 26 June 1944, the bridge was named Pegasus Bridge in tribute to the British liberating troops of the 6th Airborne Division, whose emblem is the winged horse Pegasus. Following the 1944 bombings, the canal and port were redeveloped, and twenty years later the bridge was extended by 5 metres.
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In 1994, the growing needs of motor traffic and shipping required the installation of a new bridge.
This bridge, identical in structure to the old one, was widened to allow two-way traffic.
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Zone 2: The Canal from Caen to the sea
Halfway between the Pegasus Bridge and the Castle, on the edge of the canal, there is a small stele surrounded by bricks. Find it.
YOUR INVESTIGATION: Much less well known than the Pegasus Bridge, a few days after 6 June 1944, to the south of the Pegasus Bridge, this Bailey-type bridge was the first to be built in France.What is the number in its name?
Then go to zone 3: Continue along the Canal and take the small footbridge on your right to go up behind the Château de Bénouville.
Engineer Donald Coleman Bailey presenting a scale model of his bridge | © IWM, D 23 537
A little history on your route
The history of Bénouville during the Battle of Normandy does not end with the events surrounding the capture of the Pegasus Bridge: 21 Bailey bridges were built between Ouistreham and Caen in 1944.Their function: to help the many vehicles, particularly armoured vehicles, crossing from one bank to the other.
In the 18th century, the Marquis de Livry built a second home in Bénouville, on the remains of an ancient medieval seigneury. Château de Bénouville, in the French neo-classical style, was designed by the architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux.
In 1927, the estate became the property of the Conseil Général du Calvados, which set up a maternity home with a maternity ward, inaugurated on 27 October, and a nursery.The establishment, run by nuns at the time, also provided accommodation for young women in difficulty.Léa Vion took over as director in 1935.
During the Second World War, Léa Vion, known as the Countess by her nickname in the Resistance, hid Allied airmen, weapons and explosives in the château, provided false papers and passed information to the Allies. The château and its maternity hospital became an important site for the Resistance in Calvados.
Zone 3: The Château de Bénouville
After walking along the castle walls, approach the entrance at the junction of Avenue de Caen and Rue du Grand Clos.
YOUR INVESTIGATION: Find out all the information around the entrance to the castle. How many children were born here, in the maternity hospital?
Continue along Rue du Grand Clos, in the direction of the Town Hall, zone no. 4. This street features some very fine residences and a small square in the shade, ideal for a short break.
Château de Bénouville and its chapel in the 1930s | © Private collection
A little history on your route
18 to 20 July 1944 | Five weeks after the Normandy landings, under the command of B. Montgomery, the Allies launched a major attack to liberate the town of Caen. This operation, known as Goodwood, was the Allies' most massive on the Western European front.
Halfway along the route, at the end of chemin du Lavoir, is the former main washhouse of Bénouville. It was in use until the 1960s. Witnesses to the great and small moments of our villages, the washhouses evoke the memory of an ancient era and recall the hard work of women.
Access to the washhouses was codified, as were their locations: women working for the most influential families were placed directly next to the 'clean' water supply.
As for the men, they were forbidden to come and disturb or, above all, spy on this eminently social time between women.
The women used to get together at least once a week and exchange all the latest village news. They used to sing: "Every day, minus Sundays, you can hear the merry beater, beating the white washing in the green water of the wash-house". Refrain from a song by Pierre Dupont (1848).
Zone 4: Bénouville Town Hall
In 1793, Bénouville had a population of just 250. Today it is home to more than 2,000!
Take a close look at all the memorial plaques on its facade.
YOUR INVESTIGATION: The foundation stone for the Town Hall was laid by the Viscount de Janzé, who owned the Château de Bénouville at the time. In what year was this first stone laid?
Discover the various commemorative steles around the town hall and head towards the church, in zone 5.
Bénouville Town Hall, 20th century | © Private collection
A little history on your route
The broken obelisk in front of Bénouville town hall: On one side is a golden palm. It symbolises the martyrdom and death of the poilus who fell in battle between 1914 and 1918.
Other memorial plaques were later added around it, to commemorate the soldiers who fell in other wars and other battles.
Menhirs and the remains of a Roman camp can be found in Bénouville. However, the first traces of the village date back to the Middle Ages. At that time, a ferry (a flat-bottomed boat) and a port were created on Bénouville to cross the River Orne.
The name of the village is mentioned as early as 1066 in the Latinised form of Burnolfivilla". This is an en-ville toponymic formation, with the ancient meaning of "country estate", which is preceded by the Old Danish anthroponym "Biornulf", which is perpetuated in the Norman surname Burnouf."
The arms (on the coat of arms) of the commune of Bénouville are composed as follows:Sable, a chevron Or between, in dexter chief, a crescent Argent and, in sinister, a mullet of six points also Or and, in base, a lion of the same langued Gules.""
Zone 5: Notre-Dame du Port Church
Here you are in front of Bénouville church. Enter the cemetery beside the building to discover the 23 graves of the soldiers who lie there.
YOUR INVESTIGATION: Soldiers from the British Army are buried in the Bénouville cemetery. One of them, from the parachute regiment, has a message inscribed on his headstone by his father: [...] You were a man my son! (on his headstone.) How old was this soldier?
Take time to explore the church and its works of art. Then take the Rue du Bac du Port back along the canal towards the Pegasus bridge, towards zone 6.
Visit the Church of Bénouville | © Transmissus
A little history of this church
Notre-Dame du Port de Bénouvile church dates back to the second half of the 12th century, with its choir (the part where ceremonies take place around the altar) in Romanesque style. The nave (the room in which those attending the ceremony are seated) is Gothic in style and dates from the 16th or 17th century.
The choir was decorated with frescoes by the religious painter Louis Chifflet, around 1895. Born in Chartres in 1853, he founded his studio in Caen in 1883. A large number of Norman churches bear witness to his theological painting: Noron-la-Poterie, Saint-Julien-le-Faucon, Orbec, Clécy and Valognes. He died in Caen in 1897, aged 44.
Bells have been around since ancient times. The first Christians used them as a symbol of messianic call and rallying. Before the First World War, France had over a hundred bell foundries.
Today, only three French bell foundries remain, including the one at Villedieu-les-Poêles in Normandy.
Zone 6: The former Bénouville railway station
In 1892, the first railway line in Calvados linked Cabourg to Luc-sur-mer, thanks to the passage of the train over the first bridge at Bénouville.
YOUR INVESTIGATION: Scour the surrounding area, looking at the many information panels and commemorative steles to answer this final question: In what year was the first bascule bridge installed, the one that was renamed the Pegasus Bridge in 1944?
For this final search, look out for all the information you can find within a 70-metre radius, without having to cross the bridge.
Train passing over the first swing bridge in 1857 | © Archives du Calvados - 18Fi
A little history on your route
The bridge we cross today is an exact copy of the original. Before the liberation in 1944, the Pegasus Bridge was known simply as the Bénouville Bridge. It is a "Scherzer-type bascule bridge", named after the American who invented it in the 19th century. This technique is inherited from the drawbridges of the Middle Ages.
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Les Chemins de fer du Calvados is an old company that operated a network of railways. From 1929 onwards, increasing competition from road transport led to the beginning of the closure of its lines. The last line in service was seriously damaged during the Battle of Normandy, and operations ceased for good in 1944.
A strategic area, the Bénouville and Ranville bridges enabled Allied troops to leave the landing beaches. As the bridges were defended by the German 716 Infantry Division, the Allies had to capture them in order to create a bridgehead on the eastern flank, thus avoiding a German counter-attack towards the beaches.
THIS IS THE END OF YOUR INVESTIGATION
After going through the 6 search zones, place each answer end-to-end, starting with zone 1 and working your way down to zone 6.
You must obtain an 18-digit code.If you get the code wrong, you'll have to start all over again!
So, have you succeeded in your investigation?
