​​9th Parachute Battalion Rendezvous Point​

​​Operation Tonga was undertaken by the men of the British 6th Airborne Division on 6 June 1944, D-Day. The operation was formed of several key objectives. These were to capture to the two bridges over the Orne river and Caen canal. Destroy five bridges over the Dives river and to neutralise the Merville gun battery. 

​The task to destroy the guns at the Merville Battery was allocated to Lieutenant Colonel Otway of the 9th Parachute Battalion. In total his allocation of men should have been around 600. They were to mainly parachute into drop zone V which was located to the west of Varavile. Some would land via Horsa gliders. 

​Drop zone V is located 1km to the southeast of the Rendez-Vous (RV) position. It can be accessed via the lane, Le Déebparquement, which heads off towards it. The drop zone sat to the north and south of Chem de la Breche Binette. This is the lane that was used by Otway and his men to move to the RV position from the drop zone. 

​At 00:30, 6 June 1944, a group of Lancaster bombers carried out their pre bombardment of the Merville Battery. This resulted in many bombs missing the target and landing close to the first group of men from the 9th Parachute Battalion who had parachuted in. This was to the northern area of the RV. They were known as the Trowbridge Party. Shortly after this the main contingent of the men would parachute in. 

​Following the drop, Otway moved from the drop zone RV and arrived here at the RV point in Gonneville-en-Auge at 01:30. He was highly concerned as only a small number of his men had made the RV. Many being miss dropped, lost or killed in the landings. Otway knew that regardless of the number of men, he had to move forward from here and onto the Merville Battery to make the attack. If he did not, the guns would potentially have been able to fire on to Sword Beach and the landings as they came ashore in the morning. This was a great threat to the landings. 

​At 02:45 as Otway began to prepare to move for the battery a group of 40 men arrived. This took Otway’s numbers to 150 men in total. Otway should have had 600. He also had no heavy equipment for the attack which should have included mine detectors. His men needed to break through a mine field at the battery once there. 

​Otway and 150 men left from this RV and made their way along Rue du Douet Philibery and towards the battery. The memorial commemorates the men who made the attack on the Merville battery which is 1km north of this position.​