Canadians took part in many hard struggles to help
the Allies to victory during the Second World War.
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy was one of the
best-known chapters of the entire conflict and our
service members would play an important role in this
pivotal campaign.
SETTING THE SCENE
Germany invaded much of Western Europe in the
spring of 1940, during the opening months of the
Second World War. A narrow stretch of sea, the
English Channel, was all that separated the surging
enemy forces from Great Britain, but the island nation
held firm. 'The conquered countries on the continent
would suffer greatly under a harsh occupation in the
years that Followed. An Allied raid on the French
coast at Dieppe in August 1942 would result in heavy
losses, especially for Canadian troops, but the Allies
would slowly turn the tide against the powerful
enemy war machine in North Africa, Italy, on the
Eastern Front, in the skies over Europe and on the
Atlantic Ocean. 'To win the war, however, Germany
would have to be defeated on the ground in Western
Europe and 1944 would be the year the Allies would
finally return and powerfully strike back.
The target for the Allied landing forces would be
the beaches of Normandy in France. Planning
and preparation for this immense undertaking,
codenamed Operation Overlord, began more than
a year earlier. Land, sea and air Forces trained
extensively and the necessary troops, ships, tanks,
supplies and other equipment were steadily amassed.
Misinformation was deliberately leaked to the
Germans to confuse them over where the landings
would actually take place. Huge portable docking
facilities, called “Mulberry harbours,” were prepared
for use by Allied transport ships to unload their
cargoes in France. Long flexible pipes, nicknamed
“PLU'TO" {pipe lines under the ocean), were designed
to Carry Fuel under the English Channel. The Allies
were ready but had to wait until the weather, tides
and phase of the moon were right in order to be able
to attack.
"FORTRESS EUROPE"
Successfully establishing a beachhead in occupied
France would be a huge challenge for the Allied
forces. The: Germans had turned the coast of Europe
from the Spanish border to Scandinavia into a
daunting series of defensive positions. Dubbed
"Fortress Europe” by Adolf Hitler, its shores were
studded with land mines, barbed wire, concrete
bunkers, artillery batteries, machine-gun nests, anti-
tank walls, and thousands of watchful enemy troops.
An Allied defeat on the beaches of Normandy would
have been disastrous as there was no way to safely
evacuate troops in large numbers, so huge casualties
would be inevitable. If the landings were successful,
however, our forces would finally gain that all-
important foothold in Western Europe and could
begin the liberation campaign after years of harsh
German occupation.
ON LAND, BY SEA AND IN THE AIR
Allied warplanes helped pave the way for the
Normandy landings. They undertook countless
missions attacking coastal defences and lines of
transport in occupied Europe in the months leading
up to Operation Overlord. Despite questionable
weather conditions, the Allied high command made
the decision to attack on June 6th, 1944—a date that
has become known in history as "D-Day.“ A massive
Allied force would Cross the English Channel,
heading for an 80-kilometre stretch of the Normandy
coast. There were five landing zones assigned to the
forces of different nations: Juno Beach [Canada];
Gold Beach {United Kingdom); Sword Beach [United
Kingdom and France); and Utah Beach and Omaha
Beach (United States).
Some 7,000 naval vessels of all types, including 284
major combat ships, took part in Operation Neptune
{as the sea-borne assault phase of the D-Day offensive
was codenamed. Destroyers and supporting craft of
the Royal Canadian Navy shelled German positions
onshore and cleared sea mines in the approaches to
the French beaches. Many Royal Canadian Air Force
planes were among the some 4,000 Allied bombers
and 3.700 fighters / fighter bombers that relentlessly
struck at shoreline defences, inland targets and enemy
squadrons that day.
More than 450 members of the 1st Canadian
Parachute Battalion jumped inland before dawn on
June 6th and were the first of our soldiers to engage
the enemy 011 D-Day. A Few hours later. some
14,000 Canadian troops from the 3rd Canadian
Infantry Division and the 2nd Canadian Armoured
Brigade — composed of military units from coast
to coast—would begin to come ashore at Juno
Beach. Their mission was to brave heavy fire to
establish a foothold along an eight kilometre stretch
of coastline fronting the villages of Saint Aubin
sur-Mer, Bernieres-sur-Mer, Courseulles-sur-Mer,
and Graye—sur—Mer. Our soldiers would then push
inland towards the city Caen, an important
communications and transport centre.
A HARD-WON VICTORY
Many Canadian soldiers were young and new to
battle, but our infantry and armoured troops would
be thrown into action against some of the best of
the German Forces in Normandy. The Canadians
successfully captured their shoreline positions at
Juno Beach and penetrated the farthest inland of any
of the some 155,000 Allied troops who had landed
on June 6th,1944, but D-Day was only the beginning
of the struggle to liberate France. Clashes in the days
that followed badly bloodied our soldiers and they
repeatedly found themselves pitted against the elite
l2th SS Panzer Division, manned by fanatical troops
under the command of ruthless and experienced
German officers. The first month of fighting was an
exercise in grim endurance for the Canadians as the
combat intensified and capturing Caen remained
elusive.
The Canadians would bend but not break; however,
the memory of the bitter fighting they encountered
in villages like Authie, Huron and Carpiquet would
haunt our Veterans foryears to comme. Our4 navy
and air force continued to support the campaign
as they kept the sea lanes clear of enemy shipping
and swept German warplanes from the skies over
Normandy, while also pounding countless ground
targets. Caen finally fell to British and Canadian
troops on July 9th-10th, but the fighting would continue
through the choking dust and intense summertime
heat in the countryside south of the city. Canadian
troops battled forward despite desperate struggles at
places like Verrieres Ridge, which our soldiers helped
capture only after multiple bloody attempts had
cost many hundreds of lives. with even more being
wounded.
With an American breakout against weakening
German troops in western Normandy coming in
early August, the stiff enemy defenses in France
finally began to collapse. As the German forces
began to stream eastward away from the surging
Allied lines, Canadian troops would be called on
to help close the so-called “Falaise Gap" in mid-
August to trap the retreating enemy units. It would
take repeated efforts on a chaotic battlefield, but the
pocket would finally be completely cut off‘ by August
21,st resulting in the taking of tens of thousands of
desperate German prisoners. On August 25th, I944,
Paris was liberated by the Allies, ofiicially bringing
the Normandy campaign to a close.
SACRIFICE
Victory in the Battle of Normandy came at a terrible
cost. The Canadians sufered the highest casualties
of any divisions in the British Army Group during
the campaign. Some 359 Canadian soldiers were
killed on D-Day alone. and a total of more than
5,000 of our men would die during the two-and-a-
half-months of fighting in Normandy. Most of these
fallen heroes lie buried in France in the beautiful
Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery and the
Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery.
Over 13,000 more of our soldiers were were wounded in
Normandy, with many suffering injuries to body and
mind that they would carry for the rest of their lives.
LEGACY
Normandy was the beginning of 11 months of hard
fighting in Northwest Europe. Canadians would also
go on to play an important role in bitter struggles
at places like the Scheldt, the Rhineland and the
Netherlands during the Allied offensives that would
eventually help defeat the Germans and see Victory
in Europe (\/E) Day declared on May 8th, I945.
Canada's impressive efforts in the Second World War
remain a point of great national pride, even many
decades later. The brave Canadians who came ashore
on D-Day and saw action in the Battle of Normandy
were among the more than one million men and
women from our country who served in the cause of
peace and freedom during the conflict. Sadly, over
45,000 of them would lose their lives.
CANADA REMEMBERS PROGRAM
The Canada Remembers Program of Veterans Affairs
Canada encourages all Canadians to learn about
the sacrifices and achievements made by those who
have served—and continue to serve— during times
of war and peace. As well it invites Canadians to
become involved in remembrance activities that will
help preserve their legacy for future generations
