CANADA AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Canada’s entry into the Second World War was met with resignation by its people. Like so
many countries, the memory of the First World War, during which 60,000 Canadians had
died and over 172,000 been wounded, still loomed large. The introduction of conscription
by the Anglophone (English-speaking) majority in 1917 was still a source of resentment for
French Canadians – about a third of Canada’s population of 11.5 million. In addition, the
First World War had left Canada saddled with huge debts. The economic situation grew
even more severe with the Depression of the 1930s. When the Second World War broke out,
over 400,000 Canadians were unemployed.
Canada was not directly threatened by Germany and did not have to join the war. In the
1931 Statute of Westminster, Britain had granted Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand,
Australia, South Africa and the Irish Free State what amounted to independence. Canada
was therefore able to pursue both an independent foreign and domestic policy. However,
it would not have been in Canada’s interests to see all of Europe, Britain included,
dominated by the Nazis.
About half of Canada’s population was of British origin and saw it as a duty to come to the
aid of Britain when war broke out in Europe in September 1939. On 9 September, the
Canadian parliament approved a declaration of war against Germany, and the decision
was formally announced on 10 September 1939. This was a swift response, but it was not as
fast as Australia and New Zealand’s declaration. The French-speaking population was far
less committed to going to war, at least until the fall of France in June 1940.
Part of the reason for the slight delay in declaring war was that Canada’s Prime Minister,
William Mackenzie King, was determined that Canada should be seen as a country in its
own right, not just another part of the British Commonwealth which would immediately
come running whenever Britain needed it. He also saw Canada as a bridge between
Britain and the USA - he later became very annoyed with Churchill for dealing directly with
US President Roosevelt rather than going through him. In turn, mindful of the widespread
lack of support in Quebec (which lessened after the June 1940 Fall of France) for any
European war, Mackenzie King kept his distance from Britain, which continued to treat
Canada as a colony. King was a detached man and not hugely popular like Churchill in
Britain, but he skilfully handled the tensions between the Francophone (French-speaking)
population concentrated in Quebec (some of whom were German and Ukrainian in origin)
and the Anglophones. Conscription (compulsory military service) became the major point
of division between these two groups. It was introduced in 1940, but with the agreement
that conscripts would serve in home defence and not overseas. But in late 1944,
reinforcements were desperately needed and conscripts were sent to the front in
Normandy and Italy, causing great anger among Francophone Canadians.
The war drew Canada closer to its neighbour, the United States. King and US President
Roosevelt drew up economic agreements and plans to defend the coastline of the two
countries should Germany or Japan threaten, as well as co-ordinating military operations in
the Atlantic. After the Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor in
December 1941, Canadian citzens of Japanese origin were forcibly removed from within a
hundred miles of the Pacific coast to ‘safeguard the defences’ of the country. Forced out
of their homes, they were stripped of their property and dispersed in camps across
Canada, often in poor conditions. An official government apology for their treatment was
eventually issued.
Canada’s wartime production and economy
Canada’s contribution to the Allied cause was immense. It supplied crops and meat, iron
and steel and built huge numbers of aircraft, ships and vehicles. Canada’s war production
grew to be the fourth largest of the Allies. Most of this went to feed and equip Britain and
other nations fighting in the Allied cause. That work was available for everyone meant that
standards of living increased and Canadians ate well, despite the rationing of products
such as tea, meat and butter.
Canada’s navy grew to be the third largest in the Allied camp, and her air force the fourth
largest. The first contingents of Canadian troops arrived in Britain in December 1939. For
many of them, they were seeing for the first time the country from which their grandparents
or great-grandparents had emigrated. Over half a million of them would be billeted in the
UK from December 1939 to June 1944. Canadian troops fought German forces in Italy, in
the North-West Europe campaign, and against the Japanese at Hong Kong. Canada also
provided training bases for British forces. Churchill visited Canada three times during the
war, each time receiving a rapturous welcome.
Canada’s key military engagements
Two military actions undertaken by Canadian forces have entered the national
consciousness – Dieppe and Juno Beach. In August 1942, 5,000 Canadian troops (with
1,000 British soldiers and 50 US Rangers) took part in a raid on the port of Dieppe, in
German-occupied France. The Canadians were chosen to form the bulk of the force
because they were desperate to see action. The raid was poorly planned and should
never have been allowed to go ahead. Intelligence about German defences was flawed,
there was no preliminary air bombardment and the element of surprise was lost when the
raiding force, comprising warships and landing craft with troops on board, encountered a
small German convoy. When the force reached the target, along a 16km (10 mile) front,
some troops were landed at the wrong point. Of the 5,000 Canadians who took part, one
in five was killed and many more wounded and captured.
The lessons learned at Dieppe were used in planning the D-Day landings (6 June 1944),
which took place with heavy support from the air and sea. US, British and Canadian forces
landed on five beaches along an 80km (50 mile) front. Canadians took the beach
codenamed Juno, an eight-kilometre long stretch. The main force that attacked Juno
Beach was from the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division. They were to move inland and form a
link between the British beaches, codenamed Gold and Sword. The Canadians had
wanted to land at low tide to expose any obstacles such as mines placed by the Germans.
They were three hours too late and mines took a heavy toll on the landing craft, destroying
or damaging many of them. When the Canadians reached the beaches of Juno they
came under intense fire. The Canadian force nonetheless managed to reach several of its
objectives and by the end of the day the Canadians had penetrated deeper into France
than any other division. Of the 21,400 men landed on Juno beach, 574 were killed.
Later in the war Canadian forces from the 1st Canadian Army were also involved in the
liberation of the Netherlands, culminating with the surrender of all German forces in the
Netherlands on 5 May 1945. The run-up to the liberation, which claimed the lives of over
7,600 Canadian servicemen, and the liberation itself are still very important for the
Canadians who took part and the Dutch families whose freedom was regained after.
During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands the Canadian city of Ottawa sheltered
Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, who gave birth to her third daughter in Canada.
Ties between the two countries have remained strong ever since and many Canadian
veterans returned to the Netherlands in early May 2005.
The war on the Canadian home front
On the home front the war effort and the number of jobs it provided meant that civilians
had very high standards of living. With wages high, they ate extremely well. This was in spite
of the rationing of foods like meat, eggs, butter and coffee. Canada was also seen both as
a place to send people believed potentially dangerous and as a place of refuge. In
summer 1940, civilian internees were transported from Britain to Canada. These were
largely people of German origin (including Jews) who were believed to pose a possible
threat if Britain were to be invaded. Canada also saw an influx of 8,000 child evacuees
from British cities arriving. Their parents had decided that even rural Britain was not safe (a
German invasion seemed highly likely in the early stages of the war) and Canada,
thousands of miles away was the answer. Most parents paid for the voyages, although
2,000 were sent under a government-assisted program. It was cancelled in September 1940
after one ship, the City of Benares, was sunk by a German submarine with the loss of almost
100 children. (See the Their Past Your Future Touring Exhibition for the story of one of these
children, Beryl Myatt, who was one of the children that died in the disaster.)
Canadians reached the end of the Second World War with their economy, international
status and sense of nationhood enhanced, and knowing that they had made a
considerable contribution to the Allied victory. After the war, 20,000 Canadian servicemen
remained in the UK, but most returned home to Canada. More than 1 million Canadian
men and women enlisted for military service during the Second World War, and of these
over 45,000 lost their lives.
DIEPPE RAID
On 19 August 1942, Allied forces launched the largest combined amphibious assault of the
war to date. Their objective was the heavily defended French port of Dieppe, which was
occupied by the Germans. The raid was mounted for two main reasons. Firstly, it was
believed that such a raid would go some way to appeasing the Soviet dictator Stalin, who
was demanding a Second Front – an invasion of German-occupied France – to relieve
pressure on the bloody struggle with German forces. Secondly, British commanders
wanted to practice beach landings against enemy forces before such an all-out invasion.
Dieppe would be the testing ground for the D-Day landings in Normandy, which would
take place in 1944. The raid would enable troops to gain combat experience and to probe
the German defences around a port.
The Allied planning team came under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Louis
Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations and a favourite of the British Prime Minister,
Winston Churchill. More than one of Churchill’s advisers felt that Mountbatten was too
inexperienced for the job. Mountbatten and his staff decided on a frontal assault lasting
just a few hours. The attack and withdrawal would be linked to the tide.
There were a number of reasons why the Dieppe Raid should have been cancelled. Allied
intelligence was poor, especially where the strengths and weaknesses of the German
defences were concerned. The German artillery concealed in the cliffs was not spotted
and the suitability of the beach for tanks was not accurately assessed. Also, early plans to
attack Dieppe from the sea and air to weaken German defences were changed because
battleships were not considered suitable for the narrow waters of the English Channel and
only eight, much more lightly-armed destroyers were made available. This considerably
reduced naval firepower. To make matters worse, the Air Ministry refused to allow its heavy
bombers to be used. Instead, large numbers of fighters would be sent in the hope of
enticing the German Luftwaffe (air force) into battle. Security was weak too. From
information supplied by double agents, the increase in radio traffic and the build-up of
ships on the south coast of England the Germans were forewarned about an assault. The
Allies had totally miscalculated the risks involved.
The raiding force of just over 5,000 men was largely made up of Canadian troops. This was
because the Canadians had pleaded to see action. They would be transported to Dieppe
in landing craft. The raid began before dawn along a ten-mile front. However, the
advantage of surprise was lost when some of the landing craft were engaged by a
German convoy before they could get the troops onto the beaches and the exchange of
fire warned the German defenders of a raid. A smoke screen was laid down to protect the
troops as they landed, but this obscured the view of the commanders out at sea and the
pilots providing air cover. Delays to the landings meant that the cover of darkness was
gone and some troops were landed in the wrong position. Many of the tanks lost their
tracks on the shingle beach, leaving them exposed to German anti-tank guns; those that
made it off the beach were stopped by concrete roadblocks. The fire from destroyers was
too light to be effective and soldiers were caught in lethal cross fire from German guns
hidden in the rock face.
With so many of the officers killed on the beaches there was little information reaching the
commanders on the ships and, unaware of the disaster occurring, support and reserve
troops were ordered in. The situation was chaotic. Under heavy fire, the withdrawal from
Dieppe began at 11am. It took 3 hours. The raid was a disaster: 3,367 Canadians and 275
British commandos were killed, wounded or taken prisoner and the Royal Navy had 550
sailors killed or wounded. They lost one destroyer and 33 landing craft, and the RAF lost 106
aircraft. The Germans suffered 591casualties and lost 48 aircraft.
Controversy about the necessity for, and benefits from the raid continue to this day.
However, the plans developed for the 1944 D-Day landings showed that Allied
commanders had learned from the disaster at Dieppe. The plan for the Normandy landings
would be much more flexible. The necessity for an aerial bombardment to precede the
beach landings was recognised. Troops would be protected at their most vulnerable
position - as they left their landing craft and advanced up the beach. Heavier supporting
firepower and specialised equipment and vehicles would be used. Unlike Dieppe, the
Normandy landings, which were on a far larger scale, proved successful.
‘We couldn’t land at first because the Germans were firing, so the captain turned [the ship]
and we went in backwards, because at the back we had all the big guns and the
smokescreen, we dropped [the men] and then went back.’ Albert Quesnee, French seaman
aboard the Bayonne, quoted by Max Arthur, Forgotten Voices of the Second World War, p189
‘Someone near me on the bridge said, ‘Where’s the entrance – I can’t see the Mole’. I took
hold of him and said, ‘The harbour Mole’s over there; it’s the one with the bloody great gun
on it– the one that’s firing straight at us!’ A Marine on HMS Locus, quoted by R. Neillands, The
Dieppe Raid, p235
NO 3 COMMANDO
ROYAL HAMILTON LIGHT INFANTRY
ESSEX SCOTTISH
FUSILIERS MONT-ROYAL
ROYAL MARINE ‘A’ COMMANDO
14TH CANADIAN ARMY TANK REGIMENT
(CALGARY TANKS)
SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN
REGIMENT
CAMERON HIGHLANDERS
OF CANADA
ROYAL REGIMENT
OF CANADA
YELLOW II
BEACH
NO 4 COMMANDO
PETIT
BERNEVAL
GOEBBELS
BLUE
BEACH
ORANGE II
BEACH
YELLOW I
BEACH
ORANGE I
BEACH
GREEN
BEACH
RADA
R
VARENGEVILLE
SUR MER POURVILLE
SUR MER
WHITE
BEACH
BERNEVAL
LE GRAND
PUYS
RED
BEACH
BISMARK
DIEPPE
ROMMEL
MAP NOT TO SCALE
HINDENBURG
Planned
attack
HESS
QUIBERVILLE
Rivers
Castle
Towns
Roads
AIRFIELD
OUVILLE
LA RIVIERE
OFFRANVILLE
Battery
ARQUES
LA BATAILLE
Radar
Airfield
NB The arrows indicate the Allied planned route of attack.
Red Beach - The Plan
1. Red and White beaches are actually two halves of the same 5,500 yard long beach.
These were the only beaches suitable for landing armoured vehicles. The 300-yard wide
strips of shingle were accessible by tanks and the like but these stretches were open
and exposed.
2. The Essex Scottish Regiment was to land at 0520 hours and capture Dieppe ‘with the
minimum delay’ so that obstacles, pathways off the beach and surrounding roads in
the town could be cleared.
3. One company of Essex Scottish was to capture and secure the port basin and destroy
the 3 light Anti-Aircraft guns hidden in the cliffs. They were then to meet up with men
from Blue Beach.
4. Another company would select and establish an emergency airfield.
5. The Engineers, who’d accompanied the Essex Scottish ashore, would demolish the
docks.
What happened?

The Royal Navy bombarded the sea front and the RAF laid a smokescreen as planned.
The Essex Scottish men landed on time and in the right place but found themselves
unexpectedly further away from the Royal Hamilton Light Infantrymen on White Beach
than they had planned to be. They lacked the strength they had expected.

The Essex Scottish were unable to blast holes in the sea wall because the Bangalore
Torpedoes necessary for the task had not been issued to them prior to departure from
Southampton. Besides, the men were pinned to the beach by enemy Spandau gunfire.
Snipers were shooting at and killing as many officers and NCOs (Non Commissioned
Officers i.e. experienced Sergeants and Corporals, etc) as they could. Attempts by the
second and third waves of Canadians to get off the beach were equally unsuccessful.
‘Opinion is that by 0545 hours, somewhere between 30% and 40% of the Essex Scottish
personnel were either killed or wounded.’ Lt Col MacRae, cited by Tim Saunders, Dieppe:
Operation Jubilee, p173

Tanks finally arrived 15 minutes late so were of little use to the infantry who’d already
landed. Their engines were too wet and so they found it difficult to start up. Once
warmed up, 15 of the 27 tanks did crawl off the beach and began destroying enemy
defensive positions e.g. a French tank turret that had been concreted into the sea wall.
Unfortunately for the operation, this was too little too late.

2 Canadians made it across the Esplanade [sea front promenade] into buildings
overlooking the beach. At 0610 hours, they broadcast a radio message: ‘Essex Scottish
across the beaches and in houses.’ This was to prove disastrous. Major-General Roberts,
in overall command of the Raid but far away from the heat of the action, took this to
mean that the raid on Red Beach had been successful. He decided to send in Les
Fusiliers Mont-Royal.

In the chaos of the smoke and gunfire, confusion reigned on the beach. 66 Royal
Marine commandos sent in to reinforce the men on the beach were either killed or
captured. The landing craft sent in to collect the Essex Scottish couldn’t tell what was
going on. All the commanders of Operation Jubilee aboard HMS Calpe could hear on
the radio was the sound of heavy gunfire. Eventually they received the following
message: ‘We are surrendering to the enemy, a mass surrender on Red Beach.’ In all
392 officers and men were taken as Prisoners of War (POWs).

An officer of the Canadian Infantry Brigade had disobeyed his orders by taking plans
and maps of the whole Operation ashore. He should have destroyed all top secret
information beforehand. His failure to do this meant that the Germans had exact details
as to the Allies’ strength and their objectives.
IWM Negative Number: HU 1905
Burnt out tanks and landing craft lie
strewn across the beach at Dieppe after
the Allied withdrawal. Of the 24 landing
craft which took part, 10 managed to
land a total of 24 tanks, all of which were
lost.
IWM Negative Number: HU 16315
A wrecked Churchill tank bogged down
in the Dieppe sand.
White Beach - The Plan
1. Red and White beaches are actually two halves of the same 5,500 yard long beach.
These were the only beaches suitable for landing armoured vehicles. The 300-yard wide
strips of shingle were accessible by tanks and the like but these stretches were open
and exposed.
2. White beach was well-covered by pill-boxes along the sea wall, and there were two 7
foot thick barbed wire fences 15 feet apart reinforcing them. In addition, the Germans
were well positioned in Dieppe’s old Castle, which overlooked the front from above,
and in the Casino on the front itself. They could be helped by men from Green beach
nearby if German reinforcements came from the town.
3. The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI), backed by tanks from the Calgary Tank
Regiment, was to land and establish a bridgehead after which Canadian Engineers
would come ashore.
4. Tanks and infantry would land at 0520 hours, clear the roadways from the beach and
secure the area.
5. The tanks and engineers would destroy the pill-boxes along the sea front whilst one
company of RHLI men was to meet up with men from the South Saskatchewan
Regiment above Green Beach and assist in the attack on their objective, Four Winds
Farm.
6. Another company of RHLI men was to make inland and blow up 3 Anti-Aircraft Guns
before joining in the assault above Green Beach.
7. At 0650 hours, if everything went according to plan, men from ‘Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal’
Regiment would be deployed to organise a safe withdrawal from the beach.
What happened?

The troop ships and landing craft arrived at the right place and time without
encountering the enemy. However, when HMS Bleasdale began firing on the Casino at
0513 hours, the RHLI men found themselves landing further away from Red Beach and
later than had been planned. In fact, they had missed the covering air fire from the
RAF. As a result, the guns in the Casino turned their fire onto the men landing on the
beach. The Canadians found themselves pinned to the beach and piles of bodies
began to grow. One company was virtually annihilated before it had made it ashore.

Some of the support vehicles, on realising that the RHLI were in difficulty, started to lay
down covering fire. This enabled a few RHLI men to get off the beach and begin the
assault on the Casino.

Men of the RHLI engaged the Casino in fierce hand-to-hand combat, literally fighting
for each room in the building using grenades to blow holes through walls. After about
an hour, the Casino fell and between 23 and 30 German prisoners were taken. Any
advantage to be had from occupying the Casino was gradually lost as German 5
Kompanie reinforcements from the surrounding area slowly picked off the Canadians.

Tanks finally arrived 15 minutes late so were of little use to the infantry who’d already
landed. Once ashore, they began to prove their use.

The reinforcements for the rearguard action, Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, were sent ashore
in the confusion and found a beach that was far from secure. They also landed in the
wrong place. They tried to find a way towards Green Beach but were kept at bay by
German gunfire. As a result, they were unable to fulfil their mission. A few managed to
make it to the Casino but those left on the beach were at the mercy of the Germans
who, by now, were dropping grenades off the cliffs onto the exposed men below.

Local French people, excited by the arrival of the Canadians, tried to help in what they
thought was their liberation. However, all they succeeded in doing was to give
Canadian positions away. Of the 169 Sappers (Engineers) who went ashore, 152
became casualties. Only 17 would make it back to Britain, 10 of whom would be
injured. This represents a casualty rate of 90%.

The retreating Canadians cut telephone lines as they withdrew and destroyed
everything they thought might be of military use. Padre John Foote would win a VC
(Victoria Cross) for his bravery in tending to the wounded on the beach. He was offered
the chance to escape but chose to stay with the men in their hour of need. After a
while, when it became clear that no more landing craft were going to make it ashore,
the Canadians surrendered.

The RAF laid a smokescreen to conceal the retreat but, because the order to withdraw
had been given unexpectedly, both the planes and the men were unprepared and the
smoke made things worse, causing confusion. Only 3 out of a possible 200 men of the
Calgary Tank Regiment were actually rescued. The rest were either killed, wounded or
taken prisoner.

HMS Berkeley was badly hit off White beach by a German heavy bomb. HMS Albrington
was ordered to sink it to prevent it becoming a propaganda weapon for the enemy.
IWM Negative Number: A11242
IWM Negative Number: HU 1902
German soldiers examine Churchill tanks
abandoned by Allied soldiers as they
were evacuated.
HMS Berkeley settling down in the water
after being bombed during the
Combined Operations daylight raid on
Dieppe. One of the destroyer’s boats is still
alongside, empty but still attached to its
davits. Berkeley was torpedoed shortly
afterwards by British forces
OPERATION OVERLORD, NORMANDY AND THE D-DAY LANDINGS
Introduction
Sixty years ago the biggest combined naval, military and air operation ever seen took
place – on 6 June 1944. Code-named Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on the
coast of Normandy marked the start of a campaign which led to eventual Allied victory in
Europe in May 1945.
Preparations for the liberation of Western Europe had begun soon after the evacuation of
Allied troops from Dunkirk in 1940. By the end of 1941 Britain had been joined by the Soviet
Union and the United States in the ‘Grand Alliance’ against Hitler. In 1943 the Allies – led by
US President, Franklin D Roosevelt, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the Soviet
leader, Josef Stalin – met in Tehran to plan their strategy. Britain and the US agreed to
launch a cross-Channel attack in the following spring. The Soviet Union had been
demanding a ‘second front’ in the west since July 1941.
The ‘D’ in D-Day simply stands for Day. The terms D-Day and H-Hour were used by military
planners to designate the day and hour of a forthcoming operation where the exact date
and time were still to be confirmed or were secret.
Preparations
The success of the D-Day operation depended on careful preparation. Factories in Britain
worked round the clock to produce the huge quantities of weapons, ammunition and
equipment needed by the invasion forces. A wide variety of specialists contributed their
unique skills and knowledge. Detailed information was compiled about the German
defences, the terrain and the weather conditions. Inventors and engineers devised special
equipment to help the Allied forces land safely in Normandy. False information was fed to
the Germans to draw their attention away from the real invasion site.
Intelligence
Reliable intelligence about the geography and geology of the Normandy coastline and
the strength of the German defences was vital. Members of the Combined Operations
Pilotage Parties (COPP) made undercover night sorties on the beaches to survey the
landing sites. Aerial reconnaissance showed the layout of the German fortifications, and
pre-war postcards and holiday snaps of France, sent in by the public after an appeal by
the Admiralty, also provided valuable information. Using these resources, the planners were
able to produce detailed maps and models to brief the invasion force.
Ultra and Deception
German forces used Enigma encrypting machines which they believed made their wireless
communications impossible to decipher. From May 1940 British intelligence staff in a secret
establishment at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire began to de-code intercepted
German messages. Intelligence reports based on the deciphered information, codenamed Ultra, were passed to senior Allied commanders to help guide their strategy.
In 1943 a deception plan – code-named Bodyguard – was devised by the invasion
planners to confuse the German command and draw their forces away from Normandy.
Dummy tanks and vehicles and fake radio-traffic, together with false information sent via a
double-agent, were used to complete the deception even after the Normandy landings.
Ultra reports helped the Allies to monitor German troop movements and to assess whether
the deception plan was working.
One of the people involved in the Allied deception plans was a Spanish-born double-agent
called Juan Pujol Garcia, code-named Garbo by the British authorities. Based in London,
he transmitted messages to the Germans, giving false details about the British war effort
and preparations for D-Day. His messages leading up to D-Day itself and beyond helped to
convince the Germans that the invasion of Normandy was merely a decoy for a major
assault further along the coast near Calais. Believing the information from Garbo and other
sources, the Germans reinforced the area they were told would come under attack and
held their armoured divisions in reserve.
Special Equipment
The failure of the Allied raid on Dieppe in 1942 revealed the difficulty of getting armoured
vehicles ashore and breaking through German defences. Special armoured vehicles were
therefore developed to support the infantrymen landing on D-Day.
Responsibility for developing the specialised armoured vehicles needed for the invasion,
known as "Funnies", was given to Major General Sir Percy Hobart in March1943. The "Funnies"
he devised proved to be crucial to the success of the landings and the advance inland.
They had been tested against dummy enemy positions built on remote ranges in conditions
of strict secrecy, but could not be tested in combat until D-Day itself.
Mulberry Harbours
Because of the difficulty of capturing a French port, it was decided that two improvised
harbours would be needed to re-supply the invasion force. Code-named Mulberry, the two
floating harbours were towed in sections across the Channel. Mulberry ‘A’ at St Laurent
was to supply the US forces in the West, and Mulberry ‘B’ at Arromanches, the British and
Canadians in the East. Components were built in different parts of the UK and were
submerged off the south coast to conceal them until June 1944. They were towed to
Normandy after D-Day. On 19 June a severe storm damaged the US harbour and from
then until December 1944 the British harbour was used to unload all the stores, some 11,000
tons per day.
Weather Conditions
The decision about the best time to launch the invasion relied on studies of the tides,
phases of the moon and weather records. A night drop by airborne divisions to seize the
flanks of the beachhead required good weather and bright moonlight. The sea-borne
invasion needed calm seas and an early-morning tide. Air support required good visibility.
The planners were advised of the periods when these conditions were most likely to
coincide so that they could select a suitable date. Even so, the weather was difficult to
predict. If the planners had chosen a date later in June when the required conditions
again coincided, the invasion forces could have been caught up in a severe storm in the
Channel which was to cause major damage to the Mulberry harbours.
Air Operations
February 1944 onwards, Allied bombers had been attacking the French road and rail
network to isolate the invasion area and prevent the rapid movement of German
reinforcements and equipment. The Luftwaffe (German airforce) were already heavily
occupied in defending German cities against the Allied strategic bombing offensive which
had begun in 1942 and were fighting on the Eastern Front. These new attacks put them
under even more pressure. To disguise the fact that Normandy was the invasion zone,
many other targets in northern France were also attacked. At dusk on 5 June, RAF bombers
began to drop bundles of metal foil strips, code-named ‘Window’, over the Channel to
create confusion on German radar operators’ screens. On D-Day the Allied air forces flew
over 14,000 sorties in support of the landings, almost unchallenged by the Luftwaffe.
The Chain of Command – Leaders of Operation Overlord
In December 1943 a command team was formed to plan and lead the Allied air, sea and
ground forces for the forthcoming invasion:
Dwight D Eisenhower arrived in Britain in January 1944 to take up his position as Supreme
Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces, for the invasion of Normandy. After the war he
returned to the US as Chief of Staff of the Army. He retired in 1948 but was recalled as
Supreme Commander of NATO. He was President of the United States from 1952 to 1960.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder was appointed Eisenhower’s deputy in early 1944. He
gained much experience as head of the RAF Middle East Command from 1941, where he
made a major contribution to the Axis defeat in North Africa and to the success of Allied
landings in Sicily and Italy.
Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan was appointed Chief of Staff to the Supreme
Allied Commander (COSSAC) in early 1943. It was his job to produce a plan for the invasion
of Europe in 1944. He identified Normandy as the best landing site and devised the
deception strategy which fooled the Germans into thinking the invasion would be in the
Pas de Calais area.
Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay's experience and planning made history’s largest amphibious
invasion possible.
General Sir Bernard Montgomery – known as ‘Monty’ – made the leading contribution to
the final plans and execution of D-Day and to the subsequent operations during the
advance on Germany.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh Mallory was Commander-in-Chief of the Allied
Expeditionary Air Forces for the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. His task was to assist the
preparation of and provide the air support for Operation Overlord.
German Defences
To defend coastal areas against a possible Allied invasion, the Germans built huge
fortifications known as the Atlantic Wall. They included concrete pill boxes, bunkers and
gun positions. When, early in 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took command of the
German forces from the Netherlands to the River Loire, the defences were strengthened,
particularly in the sectors facing the English Channel. By mid-May 1944, some 6,500,000
mines had been laid and over 500,000 beach obstacles installed.
The German Commanders
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was wounded and decorated during the First World War. By
September 1939 he was a Major General. Despite some successes, including the capture
of Tobruk for which he was promoted to Field Marshal, Rommel was defeated by
Montgomery’s Eighth Army. In late 1943 Rommel was sent to France to command Army
Group B and to organise coastal defences against the expected Allied invasion. His plan
was to defeat the invasion on the beaches, while his superior, Field Marshal von Rundstedt,
planned to defeat the Allied forces inland with his armour. Although he had been injured
in an air attack on 17 July 1944, Rommel was implicated in the attempt to assassinate Hitler
on 20 July. He was given the choice of suicide, as an alternative to standing trial. To
protect his family Rommel took poison on 14 October 1944.
Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt had served in the First World War but retired from the
German army in 1938. He returned to active service for the invasion of Poland, and was
promoted Field Marshal in July 1940 for his success in the Battle of France. In 1941 he
commanded Army Group South during the invasion of the Soviet Union, but in December
he was relieved of his command by Hitler. In March 1942 he was reinstated and appointed
Commander-in-Chief West. He clashed with Rommel over strategy against the expected
Allied invasion and resented Hitler’s interference.
D-DAY
Airborne Landings
In the early hours of 6 June three Allied airborne divisions landed troops by parachute and
glider to seize and protect the flanks of the invasion beaches. To the west the US 82nd and
101st Airborne divisions blocked the Cherbourg – St Lo Road at Ste Mère Eglise and held the
causeways across the flooded plains off Utah beach for the US 4th Infantry Division to break
out. On the eastern flank the British 6th Airborne Division captured the bridges over the
Orne River and Caen Canal and attacked the Merville battery, which posed a threat to
the landings on Sword Beach. The actions of the British 6th Airborne Division were the very
first of D-Day.
Major John Howard was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for leading a successful
glider-born assault on D-Day. He commanded D Company, 2nd Battalion, The Oxfordshire
and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Their task on D-Day was to capture the bridges over
the Caen Canal and the River Orne at Benouville, to protect the left flank of the Normandy
bridgehead and to provide an exit for an armoured break-out past Caen. At six minutes
past midnight, they landed silently fifty yards from the canal bridge. Within ten minutes both
bridges had been captured. Reinforced by soldiers of the Parachute Regiment, Howard’s
men held the bridges until they were relieved at 1.30pm on June 6 by Lord Lovat’s
Commando Brigade.
Naval Operations
The naval element of Operation Overlord under Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay was codenamed Operation Neptune. By June 1944 nearly 7,000 warships, landing craft and other
vessels were assembled in the ports of southern England. Minesweepers cleared lanes
across the Channel. On D-Day, as well as bombarding coastal defences, two naval task
forces landed two British, one Canadian and two American divisions on the Normandy
beaches. Naval forces provided fire support for the armies, and ensured that supplies to
the beachhead were maintained. Many landing craft were sunk or damaged but by
nightfall the Allies had put over 132,000 troops ashore.
THE D-DAY LANDINGS
Utah Beach
The most westerly of the invasion beaches, Utah was the first to be assaulted. The current
swept the first wave of men from the US 4th Infantry Division over 2,000 yards south of their
target into the most lightly defended sector of the entire Normandy front. At 6.30am the
invasion force began to come under light fire. All but four of its 32 amphibious DD tanks
reached the beach. The US 101st Airborne Division had successfully secured the causeways
across the flooded low-lying land behind the beach and the tanks and infantry were able
to move inland. 23,250 men were landed on Utah on D-Day, at a cost of under 250
casualties.
Omaha Beach
Omaha, with its broad beach and fortified bluffs, was the most heavily defended of all the
invasion beaches. The massive Allied aerial and naval bombardments were largely
ineffective here and the American troops faced stiff resistance from the experienced
German 352nd Infantry Division, which was carrying out anti-invasion training in the area. In
many of the US rifle companies, casualties exceeded 50%, but by the evening of D-Day the
American soldiers were firmly ashore. To the west of Omaha, US Rangers made a daring
cliff-top assault on a German coastal battery at Pointe du Hoc, only to find that the gun
emplacements were empty.
Gold Beach
As the assault waves of the British 50th Division approached Gold Beach, high winds had
brought the tides in rapidly and submerged the beach obstacles before they could be
dealt with. Fortunately the beach was not heavily defended because the air and naval
bombardment had successfully damaged the German strong-points. Although the 50th
Division had not cut the Caen-Bayeux highway or linked up with the Americans from
Omaha beach, by the evening of D-Day it had penetrated ten kilometres inland, joined up
with the Canadians from Juno beach to the east, and reached the heights above Port-enBessin.
Juno Beach
Juno Beach was assaulted by the Canadian 3rd Division. It was heavily defended with
emplacements and formidable beach obstacles. Rough seas delayed the landings. The
Germans opened fire as the Canadian infantry landed and the first wave suffered heavy
casualties. D Company of the Regina Rifles lost half its strength even before it reached the
beach. More tanks had been allocated to Juno beach than others because of the nature
of the terrain. There were more "Funnies" designed to help the infantry over the seawall,
through the barbed wire and across the minefields. Beyond the villages lay flat, open
country with almost no opposition. At the end of the day the Canadians had penetrated
deeper into France than any other division.
Sword Beach
Off-shore shoals and heavy defences around the port of Ouistreham considerably reduced
the width of the landing area on Sword beach. The first troops ashore were 8th Brigade
Group of the British 3rd Division, supported by the Commandos of 1st Special Service
Brigade. 3rd Division’s D-Day objective was to capture the city of Caen some ten miles
(fifteen kilometres) inland. High tides resulting from the bad weather, coupled with stiff
German resistance, delayed the division's advance and prevented much of its supporting
armour getting ashore in time to help. Congestion on the narrow beach as the tide
advanced and gunfire from strong German defences inland increased the number of
casualties.
Nursing the Wounded
Casualties among the first men to land on D-Day were looked after by the army medical
personnel who landed with the assault waves. Wounded men were stabilised and taken
back across the Channel in landing ships. Military hospitals around Britain were on standby
to receive the wounded. Once the beachhead had been secured, field hospitals were set
up in Normandy and the women’s nursing services crossed the Channel to care for the
casualties.
Members of Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service, known as ‘Flying Nightingales’,
specialised in nursing casualties being evacuated by air. They were among the first
medical staff to be flown out to Normandy. Other doctors and nurses worked on hospital
ships which brought the wounded back to Britain.
Losses on D-Day
75,000 men were landed on Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches before midnight on D-Day, at
a cost of around 3,000 killed, wounded or missing. 23,250 men were landed on Utah Beach
at a cost of under 250 casualties. Of the 34,000 US troops who landed on Omaha Beach
where the German resistance was strongest, some 2,000 casualties were suffered - a high
proportion of the total Allied losses on D-Day. In all the Allies suffered approximately 10,200
casualties on 6 June. This figure was lower than the planners and commanders had been
expecting, but each death represented a sad loss for families and comrades. D-Day was
the beginning of a hard-fought campaign in north-west Europe which was to end with
Allied victory in May 1945.
JUNO BEACH CENTRE, COURSELLES-SUR-MER, NORMANDY
Juno Beach Centre is a learning centre and tribute to the many Canadian soldiers who
gave their lives thousands of miles from home during the D-Day landings, and the
subsequent Battle of Normandy. A museum and cultural centre, it opened at Courseullessur-Mer on the 59th anniversary of D-Day on 6 June 2003. The Centre presents the war effort
made by all Canadians, civilian and military alike, both at home and on the various fronts
during the Second World War, as well as representing Canadian society today. It is situated
facing the beach where many of the first wave of Canadian 3rd Division soldiers lost their
lives faced with heavy German artillery fire.