The British 3rd Infantry Division and French Marines were assigned to Sword Beach, the easternmost beach, with orders to secure it while linking with Gold in the west and the 6th British Airborne Division in the east. Sword was divided into four sectors: "Oboe," "Peter," "Queen," and "Roger." Paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines to secure the eastern flank, captured bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne, and destroyed bridges over the River Dives to prevent Nazi reinforcement. By the end of the day, the 3rd Infantry Division had landed some 28,845 men and sustained 630 casualties. The beach was secured and the advance moved inland, but Caen was not taken. Allied units included the 3rd Infantry Division, 27th Independent Armoured Brigade, 1st Special Service Brigade with Free French Commandos, No. 41 Royal Marine Commando, and 79th Armoured Division, facing the Axis 716th Infantry Division and 21st Panzer Division. Robert Coupe of the 5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, landed there at age 18 and later recalled that only eighteen of the one hundred who set off with him reached Caen against German resistance from the 1st and 12th Panzer Divisions. Philippe Kieffer, leading Free French Commandos onto the beach, was wounded but continued fighting for two days before resting and allowing other units to come in. Ivor Andersen, age 20, of 591 Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers, had been dropped overnight on June 5, 1944, to help deter German reinforcement and protect the glider landing area until reinforcements arrived. Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, commanded the 1st Special Services Brigade, one of the first units ashore, and his piper Bill Millin played on the beach during the invasion. The assault formed part of a larger attack that combined weeks of aerial bombardment, further air attacks in the early hours of June 6, naval gunfire beginning around 0500 hours, amphibious landings, and airborne landings by some 24,000 men across Normandy.