Den Brotheridge

Den Brotheridge was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire, the son of Herbert Charles and Lilian Brotheridge. He was educated at Smethwick Technical College and played football for the Aston Villa Colts and cricket for Mitchells and Butlers, Smethwick. He became an inspector of weights and measures with Aylesbury County Council. He married Margaret Plant on 30 August 1940 who was eight months pregnant when he left for Normandy. His daughter Margaret Brotheridge was born two weeks after he was killed.

Brotheridge was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in July 1942. Brotheridge first met Major John Howard at Slade Barracks, Oxford and Howard was to recommend him, whilst he was a corporal, to join the Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU). Later at a conference in Bournemouth he advised Howard, who was seeking to recruit him as a platoon commander, that he would join D Company, following completion of his OCTU training. They both had a similar social background and a keen interest in sports. It was expected that Brotheridge would pursue a career as a professional footballer following the war. They had both served in the ranks and Howard considered him to be a friend. Brotheridge did not initially enjoy an easy relationship with his fellow platoon leaders who all came from a different social background to himself. He was popular with the members of his platoon.

Brotheridge was chosen to command 25 Platoon (also known as first platoon) in Major John Howard's 'D' Company, 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division. The original plan was for Lieutenant David Wood to lead the first platoon across the Caen canal bridge, however shortly before D-Day Howard changed the order of landing and Brotheridge was selected to lead the first platoon across the bridge at Benouville.

The first coup de main glider-borne platoon left RAF Tarrant Rushton, Dorset, at 22.56hrs on 5 June 1944 on a moonlit night,[3] initially flying 70 miles eastwards[4] and crossing the English coast over Worthing, Sussex. Brotheridge's platoon's glider piloted by Staff Sergeant Jim Wallwork fell from approximately 6000 feet and then glided more slowly earthwards,[5] landing in Normandy at 00.16hrs on 6 June. The glider had landed less than 50 feet from the water tower of the Benouville Bridge, and Brotheridge led the first charge across the bridge, now known as Pegasus Bridge.

He managed to silence the left German machine-gun post at the western bank of the Caen Canal; he and his platoon then came under attack by machine gun fire from the direction of the Gondree Cafe on the far side of the canal. Brotheridge was hit in the back of the neck by the machine gun fire and died of wounds without regaining consciousness in the early hours of 6 June, aged 28, in a Casualty Collection Post situated in a trench between the Caen Canal and Orne bridges, where Captain John Vaughan RAMC took care of him. Lt. Herbert Denham Brotheridge is buried in the War Cemetery in Ranville Churchyard, near Caen, in France.[6] Ranville was the first village in France to be liberated.

Gravestone at Ranville Churchyard

He received a mention in despatches for this action.[7] He had been granted an immediate award of the Military Cross by Field Marshal Montgomery the C-in-C of 21st Army Group on 16 June 1944, however regulations for the award of the MC at that time prevented confirmation of the award by King George VI as the citation had not been initiated until after Brotheridge's death.

Another member of the coup de main platoon was killed during the operation. Lance-Corporal Fred Greenhalgh of No 14 platoon, 2nd Ox and Bucks, was knocked unconscious following the crash landing and thrown out of his glider and died by drowning.[8]

Major John Howard's D Company 2nd Ox and Bucks (the 52nd) was the first Allied unit to land in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944 and Brotheridge was the first soldier from the glider-borne 2nd Ox and Bucks coup de main operation to be killed in action. Brotheridge was the first man to be wounded in action during the Normandy landings and is widely recognised as being the first Allied soldier to be killed by enemy action on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

A memorial plaque to commemorate the events of Brotheridge's death was unveiled at Smethwick Council House on 2 April 1995 by his daughter, Margaret Brotheridge.

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• Barber, Neil (2009). The Pegasus and Orne Bridges. Pen & Sword Books ISBN 978-1848840416.
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• Shilleto, Carl (2010). Pegasus Bridge and Horsa Bridge. Pen & Sword Books Ltd ISBN 978-1848843097.
• Tillett, JMA (1993). An Outline History of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry 1741–1992.
• The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry War Chronicle Vol 1V 1944/45. Gale & Polden. 1954.