Corrected entry: When the multiple gliders land next to the bridge to be "held until relieved", they land within yards of the German bridge / guards. Regardless of how quiet the gliders are in the air, the landings would have been noticeably loud as the film depicts. However the German guards at the bridge and especially the ones behind the sandbags do not move weaponry into place, or look toward the event until shots are fired. Having the soldiers getting off planes that just crash landed behaving in silent whisper mode does not match the reality of landing multiple planes in such close proximity. (00:54:30)
kyoshi
18th Aug 2013
Correction: Historical fact can't be a plot hole! Operation Deadstick, the airborne mission to capture Pegasus Bridge took place on June 6th 1944, one of the very first actions on D-Day. Six Airspeed Horsa gliders carrying troops from 'D' Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, part of the 6th Airborne Division, landed just forty metres from the bridge. Bizarrely, the Germans knew the vital importance of the bridge but had left just two sentries on guard overnight. They did not hear the gliders landing and their first indication that something was amiss was the first gunshot fired on D-Day - which was fired at them.