Minutes after midnight on June 6, 1944, the first Canadians dropped into France from airplanes, followed hours later by troops storming the beaches and then tanks rumbling in after them. The Allied command had taken advantage of a tiny window of good weather, favourable tides and moonlight, and with three words from the laconic Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower — “Okay, we’ll go” — they set about reversing their fortunes in the Second World War. More than 10,000 Canadian sailors and 15,000 Canadian troops were involved and, according to the Department of National Defence, they suffered a total of 1,074 casualties on that day alone. And after landing on the beach, they kept battling through France, suffering ever more casualties. Stuart Thomson reveals what Operation Overlord, the battle for the beaches of Normandy, looked like through Canadian eyes on that historic day.
1st Canadian Parachute Battalion
At about 12 minutes after midnight on June 6, the first Canadians to take part in D-Day plummeted through a hole in the belly of a plane and, about 20 seconds later, were on the ground in France leading the Allied invasion.
The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion’s goal was to cut the bridges near Varaville and Robehomme and protect a British parachute battalion that was attacking German artillery. Due to a variety of problems, including a barrage of anti-aircraft fire that forced the pilots into evasive action, the planes were off-course and way below optimal altitude.
“I thought, ‘Jesus, I’m not going to be anywhere near where the other guys are because it’s taking so long for the others to get out,’ ” said Pte. Jan de Vries, in Juno: Canadians at D-Day, as he jumped into total darkness.
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See Also:
(1) Why Canada’s hate speech provisions were wrong then and still wrong now
(3) Canadian navy plans to use Asterix supply ship even more next year – vessel to be used 229 days
