Meet The Real Unsung Heroes Of D-Day telegraph.co.uk

They arrived in a blare of noise, a troop of D-Day commandos led by their flamboyant commander Simon Fraser, the 15th Lord Lovat. They had spent much of the morning fighting their way inland from Sword Beach. Now, they were nearing their goal: the rescue of John Howard and his beleaguered soldiers.

Howard's men had been dropped into Normandy during the night and had succeeded in capturing Bénouville bridge (later renamed Pegasus) from the Germans. Their mission was to hold this strategically vital bridge for the next 12 hours, thereby blocking any German counter-attack against the Allied landing beaches. Howard had been promised that Lovat's commandos would relieve them by noon.