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Marble Hill, Manhattan

Marble Hill is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Although once part of Manhattan Island, it has been cut off from the island since 1817. The Bronx surrounds the neighborhood to the west, north, and east, while the Harlem River is its southern border.

The area of Marble Hill became a Dutch colonial settlement in 1646. It served as a crossing point to the mainland when the colonial British had the King's Bridge constructed in 1693 to span the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. It gained its current name in 1891 from the Tuckahoe marble deposits discovered underneath the neighborhood.

Marble Hill once unmistakably belonged to Manhattan, forming the island's northernmost tip. The Spuyten Duyvil Creek flowed to the neighborhood's north, connecting the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. The creek separated Marble Hill from the Bronx, and by extension, the North American mainland. Marble Hill became an island in its own right in 1817, when two small streams were dug up to form a canal. The waterway ran from the Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Harlem River, cutting off Marble Hill from Manhattan Island.

The mill canal was expanded in 1895 to become the Harlem River Ship Canal. The new channel, constructed at the direction of the federal government, was 400 feet wide and at least 15 feet deep at its competition. Marble Hill remained an island for years until it was physically connected to the Bronx in 1913, when the old Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in.

The boundaries of the neighborhood are approximately between Terrace View Avenue and Johnson Avenue to the west, between 228th Street and 230th Street to the north, and cutting through the Marble Hill Houses and River Plaza Shopping Center to the east. It is connected to the rest of Manhattan by the Broadway Bridge.

Because of this change in topography, Marble Hill is often associated with the Bronx and is part of Bronx Community District 8. In addition, Marble Hill has a Bronx ZIP Code of 10463, and is served by the New York City Police Department's 50th Precinct, headquartered in the Bronx. Unlike the rest of Manhattan, it carries the Bronx area codes 718, 347, and 929, which are overlaid by the citywide area code 917.

Colonial era
Marble Hill has been occupied since the Dutch colonial period. On August 18, 1646, Governor Willem Kieft, the Dutch Director of New Netherland, signed a land grant to Mattius Jansen van Keulan and Huyck Aertsen which included the whole of the present community. Johannes Verveelen petitioned the Harlem authorities to move his ferry from what is now the East River and 125th Street to Spuyten Duyvil Creek because the creek was shallow enough to wade across, thus providing a means of evading the toll. The ferry charter was granted in 1667. Many settlers circumvented the toll for the ferry by crossing the creek from northern Marble Hill to modern Kingsbridge, Bronx, a point where it was feasible to wade or swim through the waters. In 1669 Verveelen transplanted his ferry to the northern tip of Marble Hill, at today's Broadway and West 231st Street.

Bridges
Two bridges connected Marble Hill with the mainland: the King's Bridge and the Dyckman Free Bridge. In 1693 Frederick Philipse, a Frisian-born merchant who had sworn allegiance to the Crown upon the British takeover of Dutch New Netherlands in 1664, built the King's Bridge at Marble Hill near what is now West 230th Street in the Bronx. A prominent trader in New Amsterdam, Philipse had purchased vast landholdings in what was then Westchester County during the 1670s and 1680s. Granted the title Lord of Philipse Manor, he established a plantation and provisioning depot for his shipping business upriver on the Hudson in present-day Sleepy Hollow. His toll bridge provided access and opened his land to settlement. Later, it carried the Boston Post Road. In 1758, the Free Bridge was erected by Jacob Dyckman and Benjamin Palmer. It opened on January 1, 1759. Its purpose was to serve the farmers who refused to pay the toll. Stagecoach service was later established across the span. The new bridge proceeded to take much of the traffic away from the King's Bridge.

One of the local visiting spots during this period was a tavern operated by the Dyckman family, which also owned the Dyckman House. The tavern was situated to cater to the traffic from both bridges. In 1772 the Dyckmans sold the tavern to Caleb Hyatt, known afterwards as Hyatt's Tavern at the Free Bridge. The Dyckmans used the proceeds to finance a new operation on the west side of Broadway and 226th Street that was to be managed by Benjamin Palmer, who owned property on City Island.

American Revolution
When hostilities broke out at the start of the American Revolution, the Continental Army constructed a fort on Marble Hill as part of a series of forts to defend the area. By November 1776, the fort had been taken over by Hessian forces and renamed Fort Prince Charles in honor of Charles, Duke of Brunswick, brother-in-law to George III. Despite contrary beliefs, the King's Bridge and the Dyckman Free Bridge served as escape routes for the retreating American forces after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776. The latter of these bridges was destroyed during the war. In January 1777, an American attack was made in the Marble Hill area against the Hessian occupiers. This particular raid was under the command of General William Heath, which, when the cannons opened up, forced the Hessians to retreat from the tavern to the fort to return fire.

Hyatt's Tavern remained in the Hyatt family until 1807, when it was leased to James Devoe. The building was eventually razed, succeeded by the Kingsbridge Hotel on the east side of Broadway at 226th Street. The hotel had a mansard roof and a central turret. It catered to the anglers and sportsman who came to the area either by the Hudson River Railroad Company or boat service up the Harlem River. One of the meals served at the hotel was turtle dinner, which became a favorite of the guests. The hotel's business declined when Broadway was widened and interest was lost in the community. The hotel eventually fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1917.

Philipse Manor was forfeited to the state legislature after the war. Afterward, the King's Bridge was free. In 1817, Curtis and John Bolton purchased land in the area, laying a road called Bolton Road. Their home was on the south side of the community and included a marble mill.

The name of Marble Hill was conceived when Darius C. Crosby came up with the name in 1891 from the 100 to 500 ft deposits of dolomite marble underlying it, a relatively soft rock that crops out in Inwood and Marble Hill, known as Inwood marble. The marble was quarried for the federal buildings in lower Manhattan when New York was the capital of the United States in the 1780s.

Saint Stephen's United Methodist Church, a community fixture since its 1898 construction, is located at 228th Street and Marble Hill Avenue. It is the third structure of the same name, as well as one of the oldest remaining buildings in Marble Hill. The congregation was founded on Mosholu Parkway in 1826 and was incorporated a decade later, making it one of the earliest religious institutions in the area. It moved to another structure in Riverdale in 1876. The church building was restored in the 1950s, and again in 2010. One of its corners, the one closest to the intersection, has a tall bell tower. There are circular stained glass windows facing both streets. Inside is an Akron Plan-inspired setup with balconies and an auditorium that is laid out like an amphitheater. One of the pastors of St. Stephen's was Reverend William Tieck, who served the church from 1946 to 1977. Tieck was the official Bronx County historian from 1989 to 1996, authoring several books about the Bronx.

Separation from Manhattan Island
Marble Hill once unmistakably belonged to Manhattan, forming the island's northernmost tip. The Spuyten Duyvil Creek flowed to the neighborhood's north, connecting the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. The creek separated Marble Hill from the Bronx, and by extension, the North American mainland. Marble Hill became an island in its own right in 1817, when two small streams were dug up to form a 30-foot-wide canal. This waterway ran 1500 feet east–west from the Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Harlem River at approximately 222nd Street, cutting off Marble Hill from Manhattan Island. Known at different times as Dyckman's Canal, Boltons’ Canal, or Nichols’ Canal, the waterway once powered Curtis and John Bolton's marble mill, which sat alongside it.

After an increase in ship traffic in the 1890s, the United States Army Corps of Engineers determined that a wide canal was needed for a shipping route between the Hudson and Harlem rivers. Such a canal had been proposed since the early 19th century.

Construction of such a waterway, the Harlem River Ship Channel, finally started in January 1888. The canal was to be 400 ft in width and had a depth of 15 ft to 18 ft. It would be cut directly through the rock of Dyckman's Meadow, making a straight course to the Hudson River.

The first section of the canal, the cut at Marble Hill, was completed in 1895 and opened on June 17 of that year. Several festivities including parades were held to commemorate the occasion. This rendered Marble Hill an island bounded by the canal to the south and the original course of the Harlem River to the north. The Greater New York Charter of 1897 designated Marble Hill as part of the Borough of Manhattan. A bridge opened over the former Marble Hill alignment of the creek in 1900, carrying Broadway. The bridge's superstructure was demolished shortly afterward, with the construction of the IRT subway above Broadway in 1904.

Marble Hill remained an island for years until it was physically connected to the Bronx in 1913, when the old Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in with rocks that were removed to build Grand Central Terminal in central Manhattan. Both the King's and Dyckman Free Bridges were covered over with landfill. The bridge carrying Broadway over the former alignment of the creek at 230th Street was destroyed in the late 1920s. At 210 West 230th Street, at the southwest corner with Broadway, is a plaque designating the area as the site of the King's Bridge. The site of the Dyckman Free Bridge is located on the grounds of today's Marble Hill Houses.

On January 1, 1914, following passage of an act of the New York State Legislature, Bronx County was created, but Marble Hill remained part of New York County.

Housing
Six-story apartment houses were constructed in the 20th century, and in the early 1950s urban renewal came to the area. A complex was built bounded by Broadway, Exterior Street and 225th Street and was called the Marble Hill Houses. This property was acquired by New York City on August 26, 1948. The houses were completed in 1952. Part of the acquisition became the Marble Hill Playground, which is located on Marble Hill Avenue between 228th and 230th Streets. Despite the name, only seven of the 11 towers are actually in Marble Hill; the other four are in Kingsbridge.

Out of Marble Hill's 4,000 households, only 135 lived in private houses, down from 138 such households in 1989. The majority of Marble Hill's 9,481 residents (as of the 2010 United States Census) live in the Marble Hill Houses. There are also Art Deco apartment buildings lining some streets. These buildings even boast one pedestrian alley, Marble Hill Lane, in a manner similar to in Inwood and surrounding Bronx neighborhoods.

Private residences in Marble Hill include detached single- and two-story houses. It is not uncommon to see a detached house next to a multilevel apartment building in Marble Hill. The neighborhood is described as cozy, with neighbors watching out for one another, and a sense of "community spirit." The blocks of Marble Hill with these single-story houses were described as a "well-kept secret": relatively cheap, with ample space and a backyard. In 1995 one reporter wrote of these houses, "Where else in Manhattan can you find a six-bedroom, three-story house on a quiet, tree-lined street with an attic, a basement, an enclosed front porch and a pretty facade for sale for $174,000? Or a three-family house with six bedrooms on an architecturally magnificent street with an asking price of $295,000?"

Street naming
Many of the neighborhood's streets were named for Dutch settlers to Marble Hill. For instance, Teunissen Place, a dead-end alley off Terrace View Avenue to the neighborhood's west, is named after Tobias Teunissen, a wool washer from Leyden, Holland, who came to the area in 1636. He applied for and received a land grant to live in Inwood near 213th Street. Occasionally he had worked on the De La Montagne farm, which was in what is now the Harlem section of Manhattan. Teunissen was killed in an Indian raid in 1655, and his wife and child were held hostage until they were ransomed by the Dutch authorities. The Dyckmans and the Nagles, who owned land in Inwood, purchased the Teunissen property in 1677.

Adrian Avenue is named after Adriaen van der Donck, an early lawyer in New Amsterdam. With permission, he bought a strip of land from local Native American tribes in 1646. This land stretched from Spuyten Duyvil to present-day Yonkers along the Hudson coastline.

Van Corlear Place, which comprises half of a U-shaped street curving around Marble Hill, has detached one- and two-family homes in addition to a few brick townhouses. It was named after Anthony Van Corlaer, a messenger of New Amsterdam Governor-General Peter Stuyvesant who was sent to the mainland Bronx for backup soldiers following reports of attempts by British forces to seize New Amsterdam. In Washington Irving's book A History of New York, van Corlaer is said to have drowned while crossing Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The street's name is misspelled.

Jacobus Place, the other half of the U-shape that includes Van Corlear Place, has both a large brick apartment building and freestanding private houses with diverse designs. It is named after Jacob (Jacobus) Dyckman, the owner of the Dyckman Tavern and a sponsor of the Dyckman Free Bridge.

Fort Charles Place remains as a token of the Hessian-named Fort Prince Charles.

Shopping mall
River Plaza, a shopping mall located on 40 West 225th Street between Broadway and Exterior Street and overlooking the Harlem River, opened in August 2004. It is the commercial center for Marble Hill. It cost $90 million and has a floor area of 235000 ft2. The mall, which has an open-air format in which the passageways between stores are outdoors, has a 640-space parking lot on the roof. In 2002, before construction, developers purchased adjacent land from six owners, with the largest building on these lots being a deteriorating, $3 1/2$-floor, 326,000 ft2 warehouse owned by NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital. Since the building could not be renovated cheaply enough, it was demolished. The mall was built on a foundation of soft soil and a shallow water table, so builders had to place 1,500 concrete-capped steel piles into the soil. The finished building was designed to retain views of landmarks like the George Washington Bridge and the Empire State Building.

Demographics
For census purposes, the New York City government classifies Marble Hill as part of a larger neighborhood tabulation area encompassing Inwood and Marble Hill. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Inwood and Marble Hill was 46,746, a change of -2,341 (-5%) from the 49,087 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 405.79 acres, the neighborhood had a population density of 115.2 PD/acre. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 15.1% (7,060) White, 9.1% (4,239) African American, 0.1% (64) Native American, 1.9% (884) Asian, 0% (5) Pacific Islander, 0.4% (179) from other races, and 1% (458) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 72.4% (33,857) of the population.

The racial composition of Marble Hill and Inwood changed moderately from 2000 to 2010, with the most significant changes being the Black population's decrease by 13% (661) and the Hispanic / Latino population's decrease by 5% (1,880). Meanwhile, the White population grew by 5% (335) and remained a minority, as with the Asian population which grew by 11% (86); the small population of all other races decreased by 24% (221).

The entirety of Bronx Community District 8, which comprises Marble Hill as well as Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Fieldston, and Van Cortlandt Village, had 102,927 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 80.9 years. This is about the slightly lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are children and middle-aged adults: 28% are between the ages of 25–44, while 25% are between 45 and 64, and 20% are between 0–17. The proportion of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 18% respectively.

As of 2019, the median household income in Bronx Community District 8 was $47,000 compared to $53,000 in the entire city. In 2019, an estimated 15% of residents lived in poverty, compared to 25% in all of the Bronx and 20% in all of New York City. One in eleven residents (9%) were unemployed, compared to 13% in the Bronx and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 52% in Community District 8, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 58% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Community District 8 is not considered to be gentrifying: according to the Community Health Profile, the district was not low-income in 1990.

Police and crime
Marble Hill is patrolled by the 50th Precinct of the NYPD in the Bronx, located at 3450 Kingsbridge Avenue. The 50th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 69.9% between 1990 and 2022. The precinct reported three murders, 22 rapes, 185 robberies, 213 felony assaults, 126 burglaries, 695 grand larcenies, and 288 grand larcenies auto in 2022.

, Bronx Community District 8 has a non-fatal assault hospitalization rate of 40 per 100,000 people, compared to the Bronx's rate of 113 per 100,000 and the citywide rate of 59 per 100,000. Its incarceration rate is 225 per 100,000 people, compared to the Bronx's rate of 670 per 100,000 and the citywide rate of 425 per 100,000.

Of the five major violent felonies (murder, rape, felony assault, robbery, and burglary), the 50th Precinct had a rate of 363 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to the Bronx's average of 851 crimes per 100,000 and the citywide average of 572 crimes per 100,000.

In 2019, the highest concentration of felony assaults in Marble Hill was on Broadway between 225th Street and 228th Street, where there were 13 felony assaults. The highest concentration of robberies was nearby, at the intersection of Broadway and 225th Street, where there were 8 robberies.

Fire safety
Marble Hill is served by a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire station, Engine Co. 81/Ladder Co. 46, at 3025 Bailey Avenue.

The Marble Hill Hose Company was organized in 1895 because, at the time, there was no fire station in the neighborhood. FDNY horses were unable to climb the neighborhood's steep hills, so the FDNY loaned the company a hose cart; a fire engine was not required because the water pressure in the hydrants were sufficient to propel a stream of water. It was the only independent fire company in Manhattan after the FDNY became a paid fire department in 1865. The Marble Hill Hose Company remained in service for ten years.

Schools
John F. Kennedy High School was built in the former riverbed on the western side of Marble Hill, and was opened in September 1972. Beginning in fall 2002, smaller high schools were established within the campus. Due to poor academic performance in the 2000s, as well as a series of violent crimes at the school (including the murder of a student), the New York City Department of Education made a decision in fall 2010 to close the school, phasing out one grade per year until 2014. It closed down in 2014, and six smaller, specialty high schools now occupy its campus: four public, two charter. Four of these schools were founded in 2002, while the other two were established in 2011 after the decision was made to close John F. Kennedy High School. The nearest public elementary school is PS 7 Milton Fein School in Kingsbridge, serving grades K–5.

Nearby private schools include Horace Mann School, Riverdale Country School, and Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Nearby parochial schools are Good Shepherd, in Inwood. The nearest parochial school, St. John's, in Kingsbridge was closed in 2020. The Marble Hill Nursery School, in the Marble Hill Houses, is privately operated with some funding with the city.

Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates the Kingsbridge branch at 291 West 231st Street, which replaced a building from 1959 located across West 231st Street.

Transportation

In 1905–1906, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad built the Marble Hill station as a replacement for the former Kingsbridge Station used by an affiliate known as the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad. The station was relocated from the east side of Broadway to the west side in the late-1970s and is now served by the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, which provides commuter railroad service to Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan, locations in the Bronx, and points north. The station is at the bottom of a substantial cliff. For the purpose of purchasing Combo Tickets, Metro-North considers Marble Hill to be in the Bronx.

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) extended their Broadway–Seventh Avenue line, now part of the New York City Subway, from 145th Street to 242nd Street in 1906. As part of the construction, the IRT built a station at 225th Street. That station is currently served by the.

The main street through Marble Hill is Broadway, part of U.S. Route 9.

Politics
The United States Census Bureau defines Marble Hill as Census Tract 309 of New York County. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 8,463 on a land area of 0.3065 km2. Because Marble Hill is legally part of Manhattan, residents who serve on jury duty go to the courthouses at Foley Square in lower Manhattan.

Political representation
Politically, Marble Hill is in New York's 13th congressional district. It is in the New York State Senate's 31st district, the New York State Assembly's 72nd district,   and the New York City Council's 10th district. Bronx Community Board 8 is the local community board for Marble Hill.

History of political dispute
On March 11, 1939, as a publicity stunt, Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons planted the Bronx County flag on the rocky promontory at 225th Street and Jacobus Place. Lyons proclaimed Marble Hill as a part of the Bronx and demanded the subservience of its residents to that borough, saying it was "The Bronx Sudetenland," referring to Hitler's 1938 annexation of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. The incident was met with boos and nose-thumbing by 50 residents of Marble Hill, who referred to the effort as similar to an "Anschluss". Since then, more lighthearted "annexations" have occurred.

Residents of the neighborhood wished to remain residents of Manhattan, and petitions and signatures were gathered to be sent to Governor Herbert H. Lehman to ensure that Marble Hill remain part of Manhattan. In 1984, in response to one Marble Hill resident's refusal to serve on jury duty for a murder case in Manhattan that year due to the resident claiming that she was not a resident of New York County and Manhattan, New York Supreme Court justice Peter J. McQuillan ruled that Marble Hill was simultaneously part of the Borough of Manhattan (not the Borough of the Bronx) and part of Bronx County (not New York County) and the matter was definitively settled later that year when the New York Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation declaring the neighborhood part of both New York County and the Borough of Manhattan and made this clarification retroactive to 1938, as reflected on the official maps of the city.

The confusion has been so great that when New York City Councilman Guillermo Linares was elected as Marble Hill's representative in 1991, he originally thought the neighborhood was part of the Bronx.

Services
Marble Hill residents remain part of a political district that includes the northernmost areas of Manhattan (Washington Heights and Inwood), but city services – for example, the fire and police departments – come from and are in the Bronx for reasons of convenience and safety, since the only road connection to the rest of Manhattan is a lift bridge, the Broadway Bridge. However, medical services are provided from Manhattan Island, and medical vehicles come from Columbia University's Allen Pavilion, also known as the Allen Hospital, a satellite facility of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

Marble Hill, along with Spuyten Duyvil and Kingsbridge in the Bronx, is located within ZIP Code 10463. The "104" prefix is used for Bronx localities, while "100" through "102" are reserved for Manhattan addresses – although mail can be addressed to either "New York, New York" using the USPS designator for Manhattan, or to "Bronx, New York" as long as the ZIP Code is accurate. The United States Postal Service operates the Kingsbridge Station post office at 5517 Broadway.

In 1984, area code 718 was created out of area code 212 for the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island; the Bronx and Marble Hill were added to the 718 area code in 1992. Marble Hill residents unsuccessfully fought to retain the 212 area code, which was considered more prestigious than the 718 area code. Since then, Marble Hill has been in area code 718 (now also served by three overlay codes: 347 and 929 for the outer boroughs, and 917 for the entire city), but residents are listed in both Bronx and Manhattan telephone books.

Notable people
Notable current and former residents of Marble Hill include:
 * Ted Corbitt (1919–2007), pioneering long-distance runner
 * Guillermo Linares (born 1951), politician who represented the 72nd Assembly District in the New York State Assembly
 * Justin Pierce (1975–2000), actor and skateboarder

title: Marble Hill, Manhattan


text:
Margaret Buffie

Margaret Buffie is a Canadian young adult fiction writer.

Buffie was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She attended Sparling Elementary School, Sargeant Park Junior High, and Daniel McIntyre High School. Buffie has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba.

She worked as a visual artist before beginning a writing career in 1985. Her first manuscript, a novel entitled Who is Frances Rain? (1987), was published by Kids Can Press in Toronto. This story about a girl who has antique glasses which allow her to see ghosts is considered a "Canadian classic." Her latest novel, Winter Shadows, was published on October 12, 2010, by Tundra Books, a division of Penguin Random House.

Buffie is a recipient of the Vicky Metcalf Award Body of Work Award (For Writing Inspirational to Canadian Youth). She is also a recipient of the Young Adult Canadian Book Award; is a two-time winner of the McNally Robinson Book for Young People award and shortlisted for the Governor Generals Award, as well as being shortlisted for many other awards and honours.

She is married to James Macfarlane and they have one daughter, Christine.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Margaret Buffie


text:
User:Cgs/Contributions/Images

[[media:Zion_canyon_big.jpeg|larger version]] [[media:Bryce_canyon_big.jpeg|larger version]] [[media:The_icebergs_big.jpeg|larger version]] [[media:Twilight_in_the_Wilderness_by_Frederic_Edwin_Church_(3).jpg|larger version]] Also, a [[media:naziswastika.png|Nazi swastika]] image.

title: User:Cgs/Contributions/Images


text:
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title: User talk:216.2.193.1


text:
New World porcupine

The New World porcupines, family Erethizontidae, are large arboreal rodents, distinguished by their spiny coverings from which they take their name. They inhabit forests and wooded regions across North America, and into northern South America. Although both the New World and Old World porcupine families belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not closely related.

Characteristics
New World porcupines are stout animals, with blunt, rounded heads, fleshy, mobile snouts, and coats of thick, cylindrical or flattened spines. The "quills" are mixed with long, soft hairs. They vary in size from the relatively small prehensile-tailed porcupines, which are around 30 cm long, and weigh about 900 g, to the much larger North American porcupine, which has a body length of 86 cm, and weighs up to 18 kg.

They are distinguished from the Old World porcupines in that they have rooted molars, complete collar bones, entire upper lips, tuberculated soles, no trace of first front toes, and four teats.

They are less strictly nocturnal than Old World species in their habits, and some types live entirely in trees, while others have dens on the ground. Their long and powerful prehensile tails help them balance when they are in the tree tops. Their diets consist mainly of bark, leaves, and conifer needles, but can also include roots, stems, berries, fruits, seeds, nuts, grasses, and flowers. Some species also eat insects and small reptiles. Their teeth are similar to those of Old World porcupines, with the dental formula.

Solitary offspring (or, rarely, twins) are born after a gestation period of up to 210 days, depending on the species. The young are born fully developed, with open eyes, and are able to climb trees within a few days of birth.

Genera and species
They include three genera, of which the first is represented by the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), a stout, heavily built animal, with long hairs almost or quite hiding its spines, four front and five hind toes, and a short, stumpy tail. It is a native of the greater part of Canada and the United States, where any remnant of the original forest is left.

The tree porcupines (Coendou) contain 17 species. They are found throughout tropical South America, with two extending into Mexico. They are of a lighter build than the ground porcupines, with short, close, many-coloured spines, often mixed with hairs, and prehensile tails. The hind feet have only four toes, owing to the suppression of the first, in place of which they have a fleshy pad on the inner side of the foot; between this pad and the toes, branches and other objects can be firmly grasped as with a hand. These three genera are often united into a single genus Coendou.

Genus Chaetomys, distinguished by the shape of its skull and the greater complexity of its teeth, contains the bristle-spined rat (C. subspinosus), a native of the hottest parts of Brazil. This animal is often considered a member of Echimyidae on the basis of its premolars. However, a molecular phylogeny based on the mitochondrial gene coding for cytochrome b combined to karyological evidence actually suggests the bristle-spined rat is more closely related to the Erethizontidae than to the Echimyidae, and is the sister group of all other Erethizontidae.

Classification

 * Extant genera and species
 * Family Erethizontidae
 * Subfamily Chaetomyinae
 * Genus Chaetomys
 * Bristle-spined rat C. subspinosus
 * Subfamily Erethizontinae
 * Genus Coendou – prehensile-tailed porcupines
 * Baturite porcupine - C. baturitensis - discovered in 2013
 * Bicolored-spined porcupine - C. bicolor
 * Streaked dwarf porcupine - C. ichillus
 * Bahia porcupine - C. insidiosus
 * Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine - C. melanurus
 * Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine - C. mexicanus
 * Black dwarf porcupine - C. nycthemera
 * Brazilian porcupine - C. prehensilis
 * Frosted hairy dwarf porcupine - C. pruinosus
 * Andean porcupine - C. quichua
 * Rothschild's porcupine - C. rothschildi
 * Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine - C. roosmalenorum
 * Stump-tailed porcupine - C. rufescens
 * Santa Marta porcupine - C. sanctamartae
 * Coandumirim - C. speratus - discovered in 2013
 * Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine - C. spinosus
 * Brown hairy dwarf porcupine - C. vestitus
 * Genus Erethizon
 * North American porcupine - E. dorsatum

 * Fossil genera
 * †Branisamyopsis Candela 2003
 * †Cholamys Pérez et al. 2018
 * †Eopululo Frailey & Campbell Jr 2004
 * †Hypsosteiromys Patterson 1958
 * †Microsteiromys Walton 1990
 * †Neosteiromys Rovereto 1914
 * †Palaeosteiromys Boivin et al. 2017
 * †Paradoxomys Ameghino 1885
 * †Parasteiromys Ameghino 1904
 * †Protosteiromys Wood & Patterson 1959

title: New World porcupine


text:
Bonnie Burnard

Bonnie Burnard (January 15, 1945 – March 4, 2017) was a Canadian short story writer and novelist, best known for her 1999 novel, A Good House, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Born in Petrolia, Ontario, she grew up in Forest, Ontario, and moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, in the late 1970s. In the early 1990s she returned to Southwestern Ontario, and was a resident of London, Ontario, where she died on March 4, 2017.

Personal life
Born Bonita Amelia Huctwith on January 15, 1945, in Petrolia, Ontario, she grew up with her four brothers in Forest, Ontario. She was the youngest in her family. Her mother's family bred Clydesdale horses which they showcased at the annual Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. Her father, Charles, was raised by his relatives after his parents died when he was a child. The couple sold eggs at the Toronto market and later shipped tens of thousands of cases from Ottawa to England. After World War II, the couple continued to sell eggs to Toronto and Montreal. In 1967, Burnard completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Western Ontario.

Burnard married Ronald Burnard, an executive at London Life Insurance in 1973 and spent more than a decade in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she raised her three children; Alexandra (known as D'Arcy) (b. Sept. 1975), Melanie (b. Feb. 1978), and David (b. Mar. 1979). She worked as a literary officer at the Saskatchewan Arts Board from 1988 to 1990. She moved back to Southwestern Ontario in 1992, living briefly in Strathroy-Caradoc and later moving to London, Ontario; her marriage had ended a few years earlier. She served as a Writer in Residence at the University of Western Ontario and was a guest lecturer at writing and literary conferences across Canada and around the world (e.g., England, Germany, Sweden, and South Africa).

She taught at the Humber School for Writers, the University of British Columbia's summer creative writing program Booming Ground, and at the University of Windsor as an adjunct professor in the writing department. Burnard worked briefly for a lawyer, the Writers' Trust of Canada, served on the Public Lending Right Commission, as a board member at Coteau Books and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild.

Burnard died on March 4, 2017, at the age of 72. She is survived by three children and four grandchildren.

Literary work
While attending classes at the University of Regina, Burnard attended one of the reading sessions by another Canadian novelist, Marian Engel, which inspired her to write. Engel had visited Regina to read from her the Governor-General's Literary Award-winning novel, Bear. Canadian poet and novelist Ken Mitchell suggested she attend the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. Her first published work was a short story published simultaneously in Saskatchewan Gold and the NeWest Review. In 1983, Oberon Press published her short stories in ''Coming Attractions. Stories By Sharon Butala, Bonnie Burnard & Sharon Sparling''. She edited the 1986 book The Old Dance: Love Stories of One Kind or Another published by Thunder Creek Publishing Co-operative. In 1988, her first individually authored short story collection Women of Influence was published. The collection was later translated into French as Femmes d'Influence by S. Brault in 1995. Her second short story collection Casino & Other Stories was published in 1994 and won several awards. In 1995, she edited another book Stag Line: Stories by Men.

Her short stories were included in many anthologies, among these: Best Canadian Stories (1984, 1989, 1992), Saskatchewan Gold (1982), Double Bond (1984), More Saskatchewan Gold (1984), Sky High (1988), Last Map (1989), Soho Square 111: Bloomsbury (1990), Canadian Short Stories (1991), Worlds Unrealized (1991), Beyond Borders (1992), Kitchen Talk (1992), Lodestone (1993), The Second Gates of Paradise: Anthology of Erotic Short Fiction (1994), Writing from Canada (1994), Spin on 2 (1995), The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories (1995), Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literature (1996), Desde El Invierno (1996), The Best of NeWest (1996), Mothers and Daughters (1997), Penguin Anthology of Stories by Canadian Women (1997), Sunrise to Sunset (1997), Desire (1999) Oxford Stories by Canadian Women (1999), Turn of the Story (1999) Dropped Threads (2001), Donde Es Aqui? (2002), Notes from Home (2002), and Short Fiction by Oxford University (2003).

Burnard's first novel A Good House was published in 1999. The novel received wide acclaim and was an international success. It was a #1 bestseller in Canada. Four editions of the novel were published in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and in twelve other countries from 1999 to 2002. Her second novel Suddenly was published after ten years in 2009.

Awards
Burnard won several awards for her literary work. Her first individual short story collection Women of Influence received the Commonwealth Best First Book Award in 1989. Her second short story collection Casino & Other Stories won "Book of the Year" at the Saskatchewan Book Awards and was shortlisted for "Regina Book Award", both in 1994. Also that same year, this collection received the Periodical Publishers Award and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. In 1995, Burnard was awarded the Marian Engel Award given to the body of work by a female Canadian writer. In 1999, she won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, A Good House. In 2000, A Good House fetched her the Canadian Booksellers Association People's Choice Award.

Burnard has also received the W. O. Mitchell Bursury at fort San in 1983, the City of Regina Writing Award in 1984, the CBC Literary Competition Award in 1992, and various Saskatchewan Writers Guild awards.

title: Bonnie Burnard


text:
Operation Tonga

Operation Tonga was the codename given to the airborne operation undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division between 5 June and 7 June 1944 as a part of Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings during the Second World War.

The paratroopers and glider-borne airborne troops of the division, commanded by Major-General Richard Nelson Gale, landed on the eastern flank of the invasion area, near to the city of Caen, tasked with a number of objectives. The division was to capture two strategically important bridges over the Caen Canal and Orne River which were to be used by Allied ground forces to advance once the seaborne landings had taken place, destroy several other bridges to deny their use to the Germans and secure several important villages. The division was also assigned the task of assaulting and destroying the Merville Gun Battery, an artillery battery that Allied intelligence believed housed a number of heavy artillery pieces, which could bombard the nearest invasion beach (codenamed Sword) and possibly inflict heavy casualties on the Allied troops landing on it. Having achieved these objectives, the division was then to create and secure a bridgehead focused around the captured bridges until they linked up with advancing Allied ground forces.

The division suffered from a combination of bad weather and poor pilot navigation, which caused many of the airborne troops to be dropped inaccurately throughout the divisional operational area causing a number of casualties and making conducting operations much more difficult. In particular, the 9th Parachute Battalion, which was assigned the task of destroying the Merville artillery battery, was only able to gather up a fraction of its strength before it had to attack the battery, with the result that the depleted force suffered heavy casualties. However, the battery was successfully assaulted and the guns inside it disabled. The division's other objectives were also achieved despite the problems encountered.

A small force of glider-borne troops, from the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, secured two bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne in a coup de main operation. The other bridges were destroyed by the division, and a number of villages were occupied. A bridgehead was formed by the division, and it successfully repulsed a number of German counter-attacks until Allied ground forces from the invasion beaches reached its positions. The actions of the division severely limited the ability of the German defenders to communicate and organise themselves, ensuring that the seaborne troops could not be attacked during the vital first few hours after landing when they were most vulnerable.

Background

Operation Tonga originated in the planning of Operation Overlord, the Allied plan for the eventual invasion and liberation of German-occupied France. Invasion planning begun in May 1943, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met during the Washington Conference. The two Allied leaders decided that all available Allied forces should be concentrated in the United Kingdom, and that planning for the invasion of North-Western Europe should begin. A provisional target date of May 1944 was set with the code-name 'Overlord' decided upon. A joint Anglo-American planning staff was created under lieutenant-general Frederick E. Morgan, who was given the title of Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC).

Early drafts of Overlord called for the commitment of airborne forces to support the ground forces and protect their landing areas. Operation Skyscraper, for example, called for the deployment of two airborne divisions to support the beach landings that would be made by five infantry divisions. One airborne division would land near Caen, and another on the east coast of the Cotentin Peninsula. "Plan C", an ambitious proposal put forward by General George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, would have involved a large airborne drop on the River Seine, aiming to cut the German forces in half during D-Day itself. Morgan and his staff finally decided that the invasion should take place along a thirty-mile front from the River Orne westwards. The final plan would utilise three divisions in the first assault, with airborne forces being dropped onto the town of Caen early on the first day to seize the first breakout route.

Following the appointment of General Sir Bernard Montgomery to the command of the 21st Army Group and overall command of all ground forces to land in Normandy, the plan underwent a number of further revisions. On 21 January 1944, a revised Overlord plan was presented to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had been chosen as the Supreme Allied Commander for the invasion. Montgomery's revised plan widened the landing area to include all of the coastline between the River Orne and the eastern coast of the Cotentin Peninsula; five divisions would land on the beaches, and supported by three airborne divisions to land on either side of the landing areas to secure their flanks and protect the landing troops from counterattack. The British airborne forces were assigned to the eastern flank, and the American airborne forces the west.

British preparation
The 6th Airborne Division, which was under the command of Major-General Richard Gale, was chosen to conduct the airborne operations on the eastern flank of the invasion area. The division was new, having been activated in April 1943, and Operation Overlord would be its first experience of combat. The division was the first to be established for the sole purpose of undertaking division-level airborne operations rather than contributing to a range of smaller operations, and there was considerable debate over what the unit should do.

As late as January 1944, Gale noted that he had "no indication as yet of a definite airborne task" for his unit and continued to keep all options open, reflecting the ongoing discussions at the strategic level over the wider plan for D-Day. On 17 February 1944, Major-General Frederick Arthur Montague Browning (commander of all British airborne forces) arrived at the 6th Airborne Division's headquarters to brief Gale on what the division was expected to achieve during the invasion; their role codenamed Operation Tonga.

The original plan for Tonga did not involve the entire division, instead only called for a single parachute brigade and an anti-tank battery to be attached to the British 3rd Infantry Division. This force would be tasked with seizing bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne near the towns of Bénouville and Ranville. Gale objected to this small-scale operation, arguing that a single brigade would not be able to achieve these objectives with such limited manpower, and asked for the entire division to be deployed. After consultation with his superiors, Browning agreed to the request and ordered Gale to begin planning for the operation.

The division was allotted three specific tasks to achieve as a part of Tonga, apart from protecting the eastern flank of the Allied seaborne landings and taking control of the areas of strategic importance to the east of Caen. First, it was to capture intact the two bridges over the Caen Canal and the Orne River at Bénouville and Ranville. The bridges then would be defended against counterattacks. Gale knew that the capture of the bridges would be critical for the resupply and reinforcement of his division, but he did not know that the bridges were incapable of supporting tanks. Second, the division was to destroy the heavily fortified Merville coastal artillery battery located at Franceville Plage, to ensure that it could not shell the British forces landing in the area codenamed Sword. The third mission was to destroy several bridges which spanned the River Dives, located near the towns of Varaville, Robehomme, Bures and Troarn. The division would then hold the territory that it had seized, until it could be relieved by advancing British ground forces.

Detailed planning for Tonga began in February, starting with the number of transport aircraft assigned to the operation being expanded rapidly to accommodate the entire division. Two Royal Air Force (RAF) air groups were provided for the operation to ensure that the division could be deployed in just two airlifts. The pilots and crew of these transport aircraft then began formation flying training and specialised aircrew training to ensure that they were as familiar with what the operation required of them. The 6th Airborne Division carried out several large-scale airborne exercises, using them to find the most efficient way to deploy a brigade group on one or multiple landing-zones.

On 6 February, the 3rd Parachute Brigade undertook an exercise in which the entire brigade was dropped by 98 transport aircraft. At the end of March, 284 aircraft were used in Exercise 'Bizz II' in which the entire division was deployed by parachute or glider. Between 21 April and 26 April, Exercise 'Mush' utilised approximately 700 aircraft to deploy the British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade against the 6th Airborne Division, who moved by road, in a simulation of a full-scale airborne operation.

As the date of the operation approached, training became more intensive. Glider units spent hours aloft every day circling over airfields as they practiced the manoeuvers required to land the airborne forces next to the bridges over the Orne River, the Caen canal, the Dives, and the Merville battery. Once the pilots had practiced this sufficiently during the day, they were then switched to night operations. In the landing grounds used by the division for their operations, dozens of poles similar to those in Normandy were erected, with engineering units then timed on how fast they could demolish the obstacles.

The battalion assigned to neutralising Merville spent two weeks at a special camp, where they built a replica of the battery and carried out several rehearsal exercises in and around it. The force assigned to the coup-de-main operation, to capture the bridges over the Orne River and Caen canal, were transferred to Exeter. There, they conducted intensive exercises around the River Exe and the nearby canal that stood in place for their real objective.

The pilots of the gliders and transport aircraft were also constantly briefed with thousands of maps and photographs of the landing zones and the surrounding areas, as well as dozens of scale models of the zones and the primary objectives, such as the bridges and the Merville battery. A coloured film was produced from aerial reconnaissance photographs which, when played at the correct speed and height over the scale models, realistically simulated the paths the glider pilots would take towards their landing-zones.

German preparation
The 6th Airborne Division would be opposed by German Army (Heer) formations stationed in the area around Caen and the River Orne. By June 1944, this consisted of the 711th and 716th Infantry Divisions; both of which were static formations whose manpower consisted of medically downgraded troops and conscripts recruited from the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe. Both divisions also had a miscellaneous collection of anti-tank guns and artillery pieces, as well as a small number of German and French tanks and self-propelled guns.

Neither division was rated as being highly efficient, with Allied intelligence rating them at a forty per-cent efficiency compared to a first-class line infantry division in a static role, and fifteen per cent in a counter-attack role. Allied intelligence also indicated that two companies of armour were in the area, as were a number of ad hoc infantry formations formed from training establishments. Based near Caen, in support of the static divisions, was the 21st Panzer Division. The 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment was billeted at Vimont, just east of Caen, and the 2nd Battalion, 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment was based at Cairon to the west of the Caen canal and the River Orne bridges.

Although a new formation equipped with an assortment of older tanks and other armoured vehicles, the core of the division were Afrika Korps veterans. Further afield was the Panzer Lehr Division, based at Chartres, which was less than a day's march from the area. Also considered a threat to the airborne forces was the Waffen SS 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, based at Lisieux and believed capable of arriving in the vicinity of the airborne landings within twelve hours. The division possessed a large number of tanks and self-propelled guns, including the Panther.

Under the orders of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, German forces had constructed a large number of static defensive positions and obstacles. Rommel had been appointed Inspector General of Coastal Defences and commander of Army Group B, in November 1943, by order of Adolf Hitler. On his arrival he had assessed the existing defences in the region and immediately began the process of improving them, particularly those situated inland as he believed no more than thirty per cent of the German defences were adequate. These anti-airborne measures consisted of planting a large number of mines to create minefields, as well as the erection of so-called Rommel's asparagus; a system of wire-braced poles up to two metres in height, a great many of which were laced with mines or other booby-traps aimed at destroying gliders and killing or wounding airborne troops.

Rommel noted in his diary, following an inspection of one area, that a division had placed over 300,000 stakes in the ground to deter airborne landings, and a corps had erected over 900,000. The Merville artillery battery was a particularly heavily fortified position. From the beach, it was protected by two strongpoints that included approximately thirty bunkers as well as an observation post, and the battery itself consisted of a bunker containing the battery's command post, two blockhouses, a light flak emplacement and four casemates able to contain artillery pieces up to dimensions of 150 mm. The entire battery covered an area roughly four hundred metres in diameter and was surrounded by an inner perimeter of barbed wire, a minefield, and an outer perimeter of barbed wire as well as an anti-tank ditch.

Fly-in
Operation Tonga began at 22:56 on the night of 5 June, when six Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton towing six Horsa gliders carrying the coup-de-main force; this consisted of D Company, 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (part of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, but attached to the 5th Parachute Brigade for the initial invasion) reinforced with two extra platoons from B Company and a party of Royal Engineer sappers under the overall command of Major John Howard, who were tasked with capturing the bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne.

A few minutes later, between 23:00 and 23:20, six Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle transports took off carrying pathfinders of the 22nd Independent Parachute Company, who were to mark the three drop-zones to be used by the airborne troops of the division. Another sixteen Albemarles followed the transports carrying the pathfinders, these transported elements of the 9th Parachute Battalion, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, and 3rd Parachute Brigade Headquarters.

Thirty minutes later, the remainder of the transports carrying the division began to take off. This wave was divided into three groups. The first consisted of 239 Douglas Dakota and Short Stirling transports as well as seventeen Horsa gliders, carrying the bulk of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades and their heavy equipment. These forces were due to land in their respective drop-zones at 00:50. The second group was destined to land at 03:20, and consisted of sixty-five Horsa and four Hamilcar gliders transporting the divisional headquarters and an anti-tank battery. The final group was formed of three Horsa gliders carrying sappers and men from the 9th Parachute Battalion, who were to land atop Merville Battery at 04:30.

Capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges
The first unit of the 6th Airborne Division to land in Normandy, was Howard's coup-de-main force. The coup-de-main force landed in six gliders, over a five-minute period (00:15–00:20); three landing near the Caen canal bridge and two near the Orne River bridge and the third destined for the Orne River bridge some seven miles away due to a navigational error. Once on the ground, the troops emerged and assaulted the German positions. At the Caen canal bridge, troops assaulted German trench positions, attacked sentries, and threw grenades into a concrete bunker believed to hold the triggering equipment for the bridge demolition charges.

At the Orne River bridge, a machine-gun nest was suppressed with mortar fire but no other defenders were found, and the two platoons captured the bridge before radioing Howard and informing him of their success. Both bridges had been secured within fifteen minutes, at the cost of only a small number of casualties. It was also discovered that the bridges had not been rigged with explosives as believed.

While the force waited for the rest of the division to land, and for the 7th Parachute Battalion to arrive to reinforce their position, they had to repel several spontaneous attempts by the Germans to re-take the bridges. At 01:30, two German tanks attempted to drive onto the bridge, but were repelled with the loss of one tank to a PIAT anti-tank weapon.

Pathfinders
The coup-de-main force had been followed closely by the pathfinders of the 22nd Independent Parachute Company, tasked with marking out the drop-zones and landing-zones to be used by the rest of the division. However, due to a combination of heavy cloud cover and poor navigation, only one pathfinder team was dropped correctly. The aircraft carrying the remainder had to make between two and three runs over their respective drop-zones before their teams jumped. Pathfinders assigned to DZ N were dropped wide, and did not manage to get to the drop-zone for thirty minutes.

One of the teams assigned to DZ K accidentally dropped onto DZ N without realising their error, and set up radio beacons and markers that caused a number of airborne troops to drop in the wrong area. The Pathfinders 'stick' on DZ K commanded by Lt Bob Midwood were successful. A pathfinder team belonging to 9th Parachute Battalion, assigned to mark out the drop-zone area for the unit tasked with destroying the Merville artillery battery, was all but wiped out when an air-raid by RAF Avro Lancaster heavy bombers missed the artillery battery itself and bombed the area the team was in.

5th Parachute Brigade
Due to the above factors, Brigadier Nigel Poett's 5th Parachute Brigade was scattered and dropped incorrectly. The constituent units of 7th Parachute Battalion were so badly scattered that, by 03:00, the battalion's commander could only command around 40 per cent of the battalion, although more men arrived throughout the night and day. Relatively few supply containers had been found by the airborne troops, meaning that they possessed few heavy weapons or radio sets. However, the 7th Battalion managed to rendezvous with 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and establish a defence against German counter-attacks. The first organised German responses to the capture of the bridges came between 05:00 and 07:00, and consisted of isolated and often uncoordinated attacks by tanks, armoured cars, and infantry that grew in intensity throughout the day. At 10:00, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attempted to destroy the Caen bridge. A lone aircraft dropped a 1000 lb bomb, which failed to detonate. Furthermore, two German coastal craft attempted to attack the bridge and were repelled.

As the day progressed, the 2nd Battalion, 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment counterattacked in the Bénouville area in an attempt to get through to the bridges. The coup-de-main force and the 7th Parachute Battalion held their position, knocking out 13 of the 17 tanks trying to get through. The British troops moved forward into Bénouville and cleared the Germans in house to house fighting. By midday, most of the missing men from the 7th Parachute Battalion had arrived at the bridges. Despite the ferocity of the attacks, the battalion and the coup-de-main force were able to hold the bridges until 19:00, when the leading elements of the British 3rd Infantry Division arrived and began to relieve the airborne troops, a process that was completed around 01:00 7 June.

The brigade's other two battalions, the 12th and 13th, were also badly scattered when they were dropped at 00:50. When both units moved away from their rendezvous points neither had more than sixty per cent of their strength, although individual airborne troops and small groups would join the battalions throughout the day. Both of the battalions had been tasked with securing the area around DZ N and the two bridges captured by the coup-de-main force, a task which was made much more difficult by being scattered throughout the area. The 12th Parachute Battalion's mission was to secure the village of Le Bas de Ranville, which it did so by 04:00. The 13th Parachute Battalion was to capture the town of Ranville, which it achieved around the same time albeit against heavier resistance than that encountered by the other battalion.

One company from 13th Parachute Battalion was detailed to remain at the battalion drop-zone in order to provide protection for a company of sappers. The latter were to demolish the poles and explosives that were present in the area, so that the 6th Airborne Division headquarters could land safely. The two battalions held their respective areas until relieved by ground forces advancing from the beaches. The 12th Parachute Battalion was bombarded with heavy mortar and artillery fire, and repelled two German counter-attacks by the 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment; the first was defeated after destroying a tank and taking a number of prisoners, and the second was repulsed with the help of an air-landed anti-tank battery which had recently arrived.

3rd Parachute Brigade
The 3rd Parachute Brigade (Brigadier James Hill) began to land at the same time as the main elements of 5th Parachute Brigade, and suffered from the same problems. All of its constituent units were scattered throughout the area due to poor navigation, heavy cloud cover, and several of the drop-zones either not being marked correctly or marked correctly but incorrectly positioned due to pathfinder error.

The 8th Parachute Battalion, tasked with destroying two bridges near Bures and a third by Troarn, was widely scattered with a number of its paratroopers landing in the operational area of 5th Parachute Brigade. When the commanding officer, Alastair Pearson, arrived at the battalion rendezvous point at 01:20, he found only thirty paratroopers and a small group of sappers with a Jeep and trailer. By 03:30, this number had increased to just over 140 paratroopers yet there were still no sign of the sappers who would be required to demolish the bridges.

Pearson therefore decided to send a small force to demolish the bridges at Bures, and lead the rest of the battalion to a crossroad north of Troarn where it would await more reinforcements before it attacked. The force sent to Bures discovered that the two bridges had already been demolished by a group of sappers, who had reached the bridges a few hours earlier, and so rejoined the battalion near Troarn that had now increased in numbers after another fifty men had arrived. A reconnaissance party, and a party of sappers, was sent into Troarn to ascertain the status of the bridge. These troops came under fire, from a German-occupied house near the bridge.

After a brief fire-fight, the paratroopers captured a number of Germans from the 21st Panzer Division. The airborne troops then made their way to the bridge, which they discovered had been partially demolished already. Once the sappers had widened the length of the bridge demolished, using their explosives, the reconnaissance force withdrew back to the rest of the battalion at the crossroad. Having achieved its objective, the battalion then moved north and took up positions near Le Mesnail to widen the airborne bridgehead formed by the division.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was allotted, as its primary task, the demolition of two bridges: one at Varaville and another at Robehomme. Much like the rest of the units in the division, the battalion was scattered throughout the operational area. One group of paratroopers landed 10 mi away from their drop-zone, and another landed only a short distance from the invasion beaches. A number were dropped in flooded areas around Varaville, and several drowned when they were dragged under the surface of the water due to the weight of their equipment.

A group of paratroopers moved towards the Robehomme bridge, encountering and gathering together several other groups of airborne troops and sappers en route, before reaching the bridge where they discovered it was still intact. By 03:00, the sappers tasked with the demolition of the bridge had failed to arrive, and so the paratroopers gathered together the small amount of explosives they possessed and set them off, weakening the bridge. The sappers finally arrived at 06:00, and completed the demolition of the bridge whilst the paratroopers protected them.

Meanwhile, another company of the battalion had been attempting to complete the tasks it had been ordered to fulfill; it was to clear the enemy garrison from Varaville and destroy a gun emplacement, demolish a bridge over the River Divette, and also destroy a radio transmitter near Varaville. However, the company was severely understrength, with only a fraction of its 100 men available.

A small group, led by the company commander, assaulted the fortifications outside Varaville that were manned by approximately ninety-six Germans supported by several machine-gun nests and an artillery piece. The artillery piece inflicted a number of casualties on the small Canadian force, killing the company commander, and a stalemate ensued until 10:00 when the enemy garrison surrendered after being subjected to mortar bombardment. The paratroopers were then relieved by British Commandos from the 1st Special Service Brigade.

Battle of Merville Gun Battery
The 3rd Parachute Brigade's 9th Parachute Battalion was assigned a number of objectives: the destruction of the Merville artillery battery, the capture of the village of Le Plein, block the roads leading to that village, and capture a German Navy (Kriegsmarine) headquarters at Sallenelles near the River Orne. However, the battalion was scattered throughout the area with a number of paratroopers landing a considerable distance from the designated DZ. Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway, the commander of the battalion, landed with the rest of his stick 400 yd away from the drop-zone in a farmhouse being used as a command post by a German battalion. After a brief fire-fight and helping other scattered paratroopers, Otway arrived at the drop-zone at 01:30.

By 02:35, only 110 paratroopers had assembled with only a single machine-gun and a small number of Bangalore torpedoes recovered. This was a significant set-back for the battalion, as the plan to assault the artillery battery relied on having the entire battalion present with a number of sappers, as well as a large quantity of heavy equipment. Under strict orders that the battery was to be destroyed no later than 05:30, Otway felt that he could no longer wait for any more men to arrive and set off for the battery with 150 paratroopers (following the arrival of another small group of stragglers at 02:45).

The battalion arrived at the battery at 04:00. They linked up with the survivors of the pathfinder group, who had been earlier hit by an RAF raid against the battery, and began readying for an assault whilst the pathfinders marked out areas for the bangalore torpedoes to be placed. The battalion was divided into four assault groups, one for each of the casemates of the battery, and was ready by 04:30, when the gliders carrying the sappers arrived over the battery.

Of the three gliders assigned to the operation, only two arrived in Normandy; one having to abort and land in England. The remaining two were hit by anti-aircraft fire on their run-in. One landed around 2 mi away, the other at the edge of the battery's minefield. The troops from this glider became involved in a fire fight with German troops heading to reinforce the battery garrison. Otway launched the assault as soon as the first glider overshot the battery, ordering the explosives to be detonated to form two paths through the outer perimeter, through which the paratroopers attacked. The defenders were alerted by the explosions and opened fire, inflicting heavy casualties.

Only four men assigned to assault Casemate Four survived long enough to reach it, which they disabled by firing into apertures and throwing grenades into air vents. The other casemates were cleared with fragmentation and white phosphorus grenades as the German crews had neglected to lock the doors leading into the battery. A number of prisoners were taken by the paratroopers, and explosives were then readied to disable the artillery pieces inside the battery. It was discovered that the pieces were not modern 150 mm calibre weapons, but were instead Czechoslovakian First World War-era 100 mm field howitzers.

The paratroopers did the best with the explosives they had, using Gammon bombs to disable one gun and jamming shells into the muzzles of the others. However, the job was less than thorough as at least one gun went back into action when the Germans later re-occupied the battery. Having completed the assault, the paratroopers gathered the German prisoners and their wounded and withdrew, having no wish to remain by the battery. The battalion possessed no radio and if no signal were received by the light cruiser HMS Arethusa, by 05:30, it would begin shelling the battery as a contingency.

The paratroopers had achieved their primary objective, but at a heavy cost, with fifty dead and twenty-five wounded; a casualty rate of exactly fifty per cent. The battalion then attacked Le Plein, securing the village by expelling the platoon-sized German garrison. The survivors retired to a planned rendezvous point at 05:30, the battalion too understrength to achieve its other objectives.

Divisional HQ, Operation Mallard, and days end
At 03:35, the 6th Airborne Division headquarters landed by glider in the landing-zone cleared by sappers. Only a few gliders missed the landing-zone, due to the poor weather and errors in navigation. Once the headquarters staff and accompanying airborne troops had been gathered together, the headquarters was moved to the Le Bas de Ranville area and set up there. Contact was established with the headquarters of 5th Parachute Brigade at 05:00, and with the headquarters of 3rd Parachute Brigade at 12:35, and the division linked up with 1st Special Service Brigade as it advanced from the invasion beaches at 13:53.

At 21:00, Operation Mallard began. Mallard was the final wave of the 6th Airborne Division's landings and consisted of 220 Horsa and Hamilcar gliders, carrying the 6th Airlanding Brigade and other units. The gliders arrived at their landing-zone, coming under heavy small-arms and mortar fire from nearby German positions as they landed. Casualties were light and within ninety minutes the glider-borne troops had gathered at their rendezvous points. By 00:00 7 June, the entire 6th Airborne Division had been fully deployed on the eastern flank of the invasion beaches (with the exception of 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment – part of 6th Airlanding Brigade – that was due to arrive by sea on 7 June).

The division ended the day with the 3rd Parachute Brigade holding a 4 mi front, with 9th Parachute Battalion at Le Plein, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion at Les Mesneil, and the 8th Parachute Battalion in the southern part of the Bois de Bavent. The 5th Parachute Brigade had the 12th Parachute Battalion occupying Le Bas de Ranville, and the 13th Parachute Battalion holding Ranville while the 7th Parachute Battalion had been moved into reserve. The 6th Airlanding Brigade was poised to commit its two battalions to extend the bridgehead. The 1st Special Service Brigade, which had temporarily came under the command of the division, was holding villages to the north and north-east of DZ N.

Analysis
Operation Tonga was a success, with all of the tasks allotted to 6th Airborne Division being achieved within the time limits imposed on the individual units of the division. These tasks had been achieved despite the problems caused by a large number of the airborne troops being scattered throughout the operational area assigned, due to a combination of bad weather and poor navigation on the part of the pilots of the transport aircraft carrying them. Glider-borne airborne troops also suffered from navigational errors, with ten of the eighty-five gliders assigned to the division landing more than 2 mi from their landing-zones. However, an unintended but beneficial result of these scattered drops was that the Germans were greatly confused as to area and extent of the airborne landings.

Casualties
The 6th Airborne Division suffered a total of 800 casualties between 5 June and 7 June, out of the 8,500 men deployed. German losses are estimated to be estimated 400 dead and a further 400 captured. In addition, fourteen tanks were lost during counterattacks around the Orne River and Caen canal bridges. Other losses include one gunboat on the Caen canal.

Subsequent role
Between 7 June and 10 June, the 6th Airborne Division repulsed a number of German attacks. The division retained control of the area between the Rivers Orne and Dives until 14 June, when the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division took over the southern part of the Orne bridgehead.

On 10 June, the decision was taken to expand the bridgehead to the east of the River Orne, with 6th Airborne Division tasked with achieving this. However, the division was deemed not to be strong enough to achieve its objective; the 3rd Parachute Brigade was reinforced with the 5th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment). On 11 June, the 5th Black Watch launched an attack on the town of Bréville, but was met with extremely heavy resistance and was repulsed after suffering a number of casualties. The next day, the 3rd Parachute Brigade's entire front was subjected to fierce artillery bombardment and assaults by German tanks and infantry, with the Germans particularly focusing on the positions held by 9th Parachute Battalion.

Both the 9th Parachute Battalion and the remnants of the Black Watch defended Chateau Saint Come, but were gradually forced to retreat. However, after Lieutenant-Colonel Otway stated that his battalion would be unable to defend its position for much longer, Brigadier Hill gathered together a number of paratroopers from 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and led a counter-attack that forced the Germans to withdraw.

In the weeks that followed, the 6th Airborne Division was reinforced with the Dutch Princess Irene Brigade and the 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade. On 7 August, following a period of static warfare, the division began preparations for offensive operations. On the night of 16/17 August, the division began to advance against stiff German opposition. This advance continued until 26 August, when the division reached its objective – the mouth of the River Seine. In nine days of fighting, it had advanced 45 mi despite, as Gale put it, the infantry units being "quite inadequately equipped for a rapid pursuit". The advanced resulted in the liberation of 400 sqmi of German-occupied France, and the capture of over 1,000 German soldiers.

Between 6 June and 26 August, casualties amounted to 4,457 men of which 821 were killed, 2,709 wounded, and 927 were reported missing. The division was finally withdrawn from the frontline on 27 August, and embarked for England at the beginning of September.

title: Operation Tonga


text:
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The Bridge (novel)

The Bridge is a novel by Scottish author Iain Banks. It was published in 1986. The book switches between three protagonists, John Orr, Alex, and the Barbarian. It is an unconventional love story.

Plot summary
"The road cleared the cutting through the hills. He could see South Queensferry, the marina at Port Edgar, the VAT 69 sign of the distillery there, the lights of Hewlett-Packard’s factory; and the rail bridge, dark in the evening’s last sky-reflected light. Behind it, more lights; the Hound Point oil terminal they’d had a sub-contract on, and, further away, the lights of Leith. The old rail bridge’s hollow metal bones looked the colour of dried blood. You fucking beauty, he thought . . . What a gorgeous great device you are. So delicate from this distance, so massive and strong close-up. Elegance and grace; perfect form. A quality bridge; granite piers, the best ship-plate steel, and a never-ending paint job..."

The three main characters represent different elements of the protagonist. Alex (full name hinted to be Alexander Lennox, but never explicitly named), John Orr and The Barbarian are one.

Alex is a real person, born in Glasgow, who studied geology and engineering at the University of Edinburgh, fell in love with Andrea Cramond while there, and has continued their (open) relationship ever since. He is embittered by his betrayal of his working-class roots (he has become a manager and partner in his engineering firm), the Cold War, successive Thatcher governments, and the failure of his relationship under the pressure of Andrea's French lover's terminal illness. While returning from a sentimental reunion with an old friend in Fife, during which alcohol and cannabis are consumed, he becomes distracted by the power and beauty of the Forth Railway Bridge while driving on the neighbouring Forth Road Bridge and crashes his car. While in a coma in hospital, he relives his life up to the crash.

"He glanced back at the roadway of the bridge as it rose slowly to its gentle, suspended summit. The surface was a little damp, but nothing to worry about. No problems. He wasn’t going all that fast anyway, staying in the nearside lane, looking over at the rail bridge downstream. A light winked at the far end of the island under the rail bridge’s middle-section. One day, though, even you’ll be gone. Nothing lasts. Maybe that’s what I want to tell her. Maybe I want to say, No, of course I don’t mind; you must go. I can’t grudge the man that; you’d have done the same for me and I would for you. Just a pity, that’s all. Go; we’ll all survive. Maybe some good- He was aware of the truck in front pulling out suddenly. He looked round to see a car in front of him. It was stopped, abandoned in the nearside lane. He sucked his breath in, stamped on the brakes, tried to swerve; but it was too late."

John Orr is an amnesiac living on the Bridge, a fictional version of the rail bridge, of indeterminate length but at least hundreds of miles long and packed with people. The crash which precipitated his arrival on the bridge was semi-deliberate; as such, he is reluctant to return to the real world. That part of himself who wishes to wake is represented by Dr Joyce, Orr's psychoanalyst. Given Orr/Alex's desire to remain within the world of the Bridge, a world where he is well treated and lives a fairly pampered life, his attempts to stonewall and block the doctor's attempts to cure him are understandable. Eventually, he stows away on a train and leaves the Bridge. He finds that, in stark contrast to the very orderly, indeed totalitarian, life on The Bridge, the countryside beyond exists in militaristic chaos and warfare.

The Barbarian is an id-ish warrior with a superego-esque familiar in tow (phallic symbolism is referenced by the familiar within a few pages of their first appearance) whose hack-and slash antics through various parodies of Greek legends and fairy tales are phonetically rendered in Scots dialect (seven years before Irvine Welsh used the technique in Trainspotting). The Barbarian (along with his loquacious familiar) are a deep expression of Alex's character; when Orr's dreams are not themed around threat and opposition he dreams he is the Barbarian.

The Barbarian appears to be an expression of Alex's deepest feelings. A woman is his enemy in their first appearance (Metamorphosis, Four), showing how Andrea Cramond has made her influence felt in Alex's very core, and how his love for her has been eroded and has transmuted into anger and contempt through the rift that has opened in their relationship.

In their second appearance (Metamorphosis, Four), a female character is mentioned in passing, with a certain level of affection.

The third appearance of the Barbarian and familiar (Metamorphosis, Pliocene) sees them old, decrepit, bed-bound and heading inevitably towards death. In each successive chapter the Barbarian's Scottish accent becomes less and less pronounced, another indication of how far Alex has gone from his Glaswegian roots. The Barbarian talks of his grief over his dead wife and his memories of their life together. While comparisons have been drawn between Sigmund Freud's structural theory of personality, this is the only point where the Barbarian, Familiar and another individual get together in a three-way arrangement. If the Barbarian's wife represents Andrea Cramond, it is another example of how deeply she has penetrated his being. In a move mirroring Alex's suicide drive and anticipating the end of the book, he is placed in a situation likely to kill him, but triumphs and emerges (literally) rejuvenated and reinvigorated. His Glasgow accent also returns.

The Bridge is an unconventional love story; the characters eschew fidelity and barely see each other for years at a time, but they keep returning to each other. There is no marriage, no ring, no happy ever after, just the knowledge that their lives are so deeply entwined it would be difficult or impossible for them to break away from each other.

"You don't belong to her and she doesn't belong to you, but you're both part of each other; if she got up and left now and walked away and you never saw each other again for the rest of your lives, and you lived an ordinary waking life for another fifty years, even so on your deathbed you would know she was part of you."

The fate of Alex and Andrea is revealed in a passage in a later book, Complicity.

Literary significance & criticism
Banks said that of his novels, this was his personal favourite. "Definitely the intellectual of the family, it's the one that went away to University and got a first. I think The Bridge is the best of my books."

Kafkaesque and multi-layered, it shares elements in common with his Culture books, even including mention of a knife missile late in the book. However, Banks stated "That one knife missile mention has been enough for purists to claim that, technically, The Bridge is a Culture novel. Tenuous, I'd say." Banks said that after this book, he felt his SF and non-SF work diverged.

Allusions and symbolism
Some characters are allusions to persons involved in the construction of Forth Railway Bridge: Chief Engineer Arrol refers to the proprietor of the construction company, Sir William Arrol, whilst Engineers Baker and Fowler represent the two principal designers of the bridge, Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Fowler.

title: The Bridge (novel)