THE idea of the parachute drops shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, was to secure the western and eastern flanks before the soldiers landed on the beaches in between at dawn.

The US troops dropped to the west. Bad weather and poorly trained pilots soon had them in disarray as they dropped around the village of Ste- Mere-Eglise. Up to 50 per cent of them were lost and one - Private John Steele - was dangling on the church steeple.

Nevertheless, come daybreak, they had secured most of the bridges over the rivers Merderet and Douve. They were behind Utah Beach to assist the US troops, and they were ready to act as a bulwark against the expected German assault from the Cotentin Peninsula to the west.

The British dropped to the east about an hour before the Americans. Their plan was to capture the bridges over the River Orne and the Caen Canal and to act as a block so the Germans from the Paris area could not reach the beaches.

They also had to deal with the Merville battery which, information from the French resistance suggested, was heavily armed and could rain down fire on British soldiers on Sword Beach.

To take the bridges, six Horsa gliders were employed in one of the most famous operations of the day.

The bridge over the River Orne was renamed Horsa Bridge in their honour, and the one over the canal was renamed Pegasus Bridge, after the airborne division's winged horse badge.

To take Merville Battery, defended by 130 Germans, it was planned to simultaneously crash-land three gliders on its roof. The nearest one landed 50 yards away, another 200 yards away and the third turned round and flew back to England because its tow-rope snapped.

Despite these setbacks, the battery was bravely taken - but it was found to have only small calibre Czech guns that were left over from the First World War and that would not have threatened Sword Beach.

Still, about 5,000 paratroops were dropping in. They were more accurate than the US landings, but the Germans had flooded many fields to give them a wet welcome.

The Germans had also prepared for the gliders that brought in the heavy artillery and tanks that could not be parachuted in.

On flat ground, they had planted "Rommel's asparagus" -poles and wires designed to rip the wings off any landing aircraft.

Curiously, the attackers were able to use the asparagus to their benefit, because anything that slows you when you are crash-landing at 100mph is of use.

But being a glider pilot was still a dangerous job -71 of the 196 that landed were killed or injured.

Despite all this, just as on the western flank, when day broke, all objectives had been achieved, and the way was ready for the seaborne invasion.