on 6 june 1944, the 7th parachute battalion landed in normandy. many men of the battalion were scattered or landed on the wrong drop zone. so badly scattered were they that, by 03:00, lieutenant colonel pine-coffin in command had only around forty percent of the battalion at the forming up point, although men continued to appear throughout the day. relatively few of their supply containers had been found, meaning that they possessed few heavy weapons or radio sets. however, the battalion managed to rendezvous with the coup-de-main forces of the 2nd battalion, ox and bucks light infantry at the caen and orne bridges. they then set up a defensive perimeter against german counter-attacks. the first german assault on the bridges came between 05:00 and 07:00 and consisted of isolated and often uncoordinated attacks by tanks, armoured cars and infantry, which grew in intensity throughout the day. the luftwaffe attempted to destroy the caen bridge with a bomb, which failed to detonate, and two german navy coastal craft, which attempted to attack the bridge, were also repelled. despite the ferocity of the attacks, the battalion and the coup-de-main forces were able to hold the bridges until 19:00, when leading elements of the 3rd british infantry division arrived and began to relieve the battalion. by midnight, the battalion was being held in reserve behind the 12th parachute battalion occupying le bas de ranville and the 13th parachute battalion holding ranville.