D-Day, the Normandy Landings - June 6, 1944

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       1. Mike Sector. In the west, two assault companies of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, one from the Canadian Scottish and two from the Regina Rifles, supported by tanks from the 1st Hussars, were assigned objectives at Courseulles astride the mouth of the Seulles River.
       2. Nan Sector. Two assault companies of The Queen's Own Rifles were to land and take Bernières, a small beachfront resort town. Two companies of The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment was assigned to capture St-Aubin, another resort town. DD tanks of the Fort Garry Horse was to support both groups, with Le Régiment de la Chaudière from Quebec in reserve.

    The reserve brigade, including The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, The North Nova Scotia, The Highland Light Infantry of Canada, and armour of The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment was held as floating reserve, with orders to land when the situation in Nan Sector was clear. Artillery, machine gun and mortar units, signals and medical corps personnel and other units accompanied the troops in all sectors as support units.

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Map of the Normandy region and the north-western coast of France.

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Battle

In the first day of the invasion, Canadian casualties numbered about 1,000 killed and wounded; no accurate record was possible to indicate how many were killed on the beach and how many became casualties inland. Once the Canadians cleared the seawall (about an hour after leaving the transports) they were able to advance towards their objectives in the hinterland.

German response to the landings was slow; mobile troops were not authorized to counter-attack the Canadian beaches until the next day.[10]

By noon, the bulk of the 3rd Canadian Division was ashore, with leading elements having pushed several kilometres to seize bridges over the Seulles River. By 6:00 p.m. they had captured the town of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. A single troop of four tanks of the 1st Hussars reached the division's final objective line before nightfall (the Caen–Bayeux highway), but was forced to pull back because they had passed the supporting infantry.

By the end of D-Day the 3rd Canadian Division had penetrated farther into France than any other Allied force, advancing roughly 10 km at the cost of almost 1,000 casualties, including 335 killed. The 7th Infantry Brigade dug in at Banville and Reviers, while the 8th Brigade with the 10th Armoured Regiment reached Colomby-sur-Thaon. Part of the 9th Brigade, the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, together with the 27th Armoured Regiment, was at Villons-les-Buissons.

    None of the assault divisions, including 3rd Canadian Division, had managed to secure their D-Day objectives, which lay inland, although the Canadians came closer than any other Allied formation.[11

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]By the end of the next day, the Canadian forces had linked up with the British forces that had landed at Sword Beach. Although there was a gap where the British 3rd Infantry Division should have been, they were redirected to Lion-sur-Mer.

The Canadian advance resumed in the very early hours of the 7th, aiming to take the original D-Day objectives. Around noon Bretteville-l'Orgueilleuse, Norrey, and Putot were occupied by the 7th Brigade with little resistance. The 8th Brigade was occupied subduing small pockets of enemy troops around Anguerny and Colomby-sur-Thaon, and in a fruitless attempt to take two radar stations to the west of Douvres. The 9th Infantry advanced towards Carpiquet airport and was the first to encounter what would become an exhausting series of counter-attacks from two divisions of the I SS Panzer Corps, the 12th and the 21st.

The Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer commemorates the Canadian liberation force's efforts and is a memorial to the lives lost. Canadians who were killed during the battle for Juno Beach are interred at the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery.

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Juno Beach order of battle on D-Day

Force J was commanded by the British, and the flagship vessel came from the Royal Navy. Among the chief vessels in the force were

    * HMS Hilary

The force also included 109 Royal Canadian Navy vessels, among them:

    * HMCS Algonquin
    * HMCS Sioux
    * HMCS Prince Henry
    * HMCS Prince David
    * 4th, 14th, and 16th Canadian Minesweeping Flotillas

Landing craft from both the RN and RCN were employed in Force J, the total number were:

    * 1 Landing Ship Headquarters
    * 2 Assault Group Headquarters Ship
    * 3 Landing Ships Infantry (Large)
    * 3 Landing Ships Infantry (Medium)
    * 12 Landing Ships Infantry (Hand Hoisting)
    * 20 Landing Craft Infantry (Large)
    * 8 Landing Craft Infantry (Small)
    * 142 Landing Craft Assault
    * 4 Landing Craft Assault (Obstacle Clearance)
    * 18 Landing Craft Assault (Hedgerow)
    * 8 Landing Craft Support (Medium)
    * 4 Landing Craft Headquarters
    * 22 Landing Ship Tank Mark II
    * 2 Landing Craft Tank Mark III (Flotilla of 10 craft each)
    * 7 Landing Craft Tank Mark IV (Flotilla of 10 craft each)
    * 2 Landing Craft Tank Mark V/VI (Flotilla of 10 craft each)
    * 7 Landing Craft Flak
    * 7 Landing Craft Gun (Large)
    * 7 Landing Craft Tank (Armoured)
    * 8 Landing Craft Tank (High Explosive)
    * 9 Landing Craft Tank (Rocket)
    * 36 Landing Craft Personnel (Large) Smoke Layer
    * 4 Landing Barge Flak
    * 4 Landing Craft Support (Large) Mark I
    * 3 Landing Craft Support (Large) Mark II
    * 1 Landing Ship Dock
    * 15 Rhino Ferry

Canadian Army

3rd Canadian Infantry Division

    * Mike Sector
          o The Royal Winnipeg Rifles
          o The Regina Rifle Regiment
          o The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) (Victoria)
          o 6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) (London, Ontario)
          o The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa

    * Nan Sector
          o The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (Toronto)
          o The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment (New Brunswick)
          o Le Régiment de la Chaudière (Quebec)
          o 10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse) (Winnipeg)
          o The Highland Light Infantry of Canada (Galt, Ontario)
          o The Dundas, Stormont and Glengarry Highlanders
          o The North Nova Scotia Highlanders
          o 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment)
          o Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa

    * Support Units integrated with troops in Mike Sector and Nan Sector
          o Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery (12th, 13th, 14th, and 19th Field Regiments)
          o 7th Reconnaissance Regiment (17th Duke of York's Royal Canadian Hussars) (Montreal)
          o 3rd Anti-Tank Regiment
          o Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers
          o Royal Canadian Army Service Corps
          o Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps
          o Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
          o Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps

British

    * Ground forces from Combined Operations and the British Army
          o HQ, 4th Special Service Brigade
                + No. 48 Royal Marine Commando
          o Elements of 79th Armoured Division
                + "B" Squadron, 22nd Dragoons (Royal Armoured Corps)
                + HQ, 5 Assault Regiment, Royal Engineers (Detachment)
                      # 26 Assault Squadron, RE
                      # 80 Assault Squadron, RE

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Top: Wounded Canadian soldiers lying on Juno beach awaiting transfer to casualty clearing station, Normandy, France, 6 June 1944. Middle: The same bunker in 2006 Bottom: The view down the beach from the bunker, showing enfilading fire position.

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Juno Beach timeline

6 June 1944

03:30
    Canadian soldiers on the transport ships are served breakfast.
04:00
    Canadians on the invasion ships watch flashes in the east from Le Havre where the RAF is bombing heavy German guns. To the west, they see flares where the Germans have spotted the American convoy heading for Utah and Omaha beaches. Overhead, the transport aircraft are heard returning from their mission.
04:30
    All soldiers are ordered on deck of the transports and muster at embarkation stations.
05:00
    Dawn. All ships go to action stations.
06:00
    The men on the ships can make out the dark grey line of the French coast ahead. The allied battleships and cruisers begin the bombardment of the beaches.
06:10
    Destroyers and other warships closer in begin firing. At Juno Beach there is no return fire from the Germans.
06:30
    The convoy breaks radio silence.
07:00
    At Juno Beach, after an hour of tank, artillery, and battleship fire, the Germans begin returning fire on the Allied ships.
07:30
    Most heavy support firing ends. Germans continue to attack the invasion force. Landing craft head for the beaches.
07:45
    Landing craft reach the beach; first men and tanks land.

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08:00
    The first Canadian beachhead is established in Courseulles in Nan Green Sector by the Regina Rifles, covered by the tanks of the 1st Hussars. Naval gunfire had taken out the German guns in their area but nearby the Royal Winnipeg Rifles on Mike Sector come under heavy fire – there the navy had missed the German guns and many of the soldiers die in the water, never reaching the beaches. In Nan Red Sector, the North Shore Regiment lands under heavy German fire.
08:30
    The Queen's Own Rifles land at Nan Sector, held up by high seas. The soldiers have to run 200 yards from the shore to a seawall under fire from hidden German artillery. Only a few men of the first company survive.

10:00
    Canadian soldiers are on the beach in all sectors. Reserve troops begin to reach the beach on the rising tide. While the Canadian Scottish suffers only light casualties, the landing craft bearing Le Régiment de la Chaudière hit hidden mines, killing many men. Others drown trying to reach the shore.
10:30
    Major General Rod Keller, the Canadian commander at Juno Beach, reports to General Crerar in England: "Beach-head gained. Well on our way to our immediate objectives."

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12:00
    All units of the Third Canadian Division are on shore at Juno Beach.
18:00
    The North Shore Regiment captures St-Aubin. In the next few hours, the Canadians capture Courseulles and Bernières. Later the Highland Regiment captures Colombiers-sur-Seulles and the 1st Hussar reaches its objective 15.7 kilometres from the beach at the Caen-Bayeux Highway intersection. A troop of the 1st Hussars 'C' Squadron was the only Allied unit to reach its planned final objective on D-Day, although they had to pull back because they were too few in numbers to hold the ground.

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Sergeant Cosy of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles

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Sergeant Cosy's Story

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Cosy's Pillbox named after the valiant efforts of Sergeant Cosy and his men from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles

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Equipment

German

German defences included the judicious use of mines and obstacles (such as "Element-C") in the water designed to hinder landing craft. While the coast was heavily mined, German engineers discovered in 1943 that the mines they were using were not holding up to prolonged exposure to seawater and were suffering a failure rate of up to 50%.[12]

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Allied

Specialized equipment either introduced specially for the D-Day landings or else used in combat for the first time on D-Day included:

    * Duplex Drive amphibious tanks
    * the "Battle Jerkin" used to carry individual equipment
    * the High-Top Combat Boot
    * the Mark III steel helmet

A variety of armoured vehicles were utilized by units such as the 22nd Dragoons of the British Army on D-Day as well. These vehicles were used to clear minefields and help tanks and vehicles negotiate anti-tank obstacles or soft sand.

The three field regiments (12th, 13th and 14th) of the 3rd Canadian Division were re-equipped with M7 Priest self-propelled guns for the assault phase of the landings, as was the 19th Field Regiment which was put under their operational control. The Priests were "borrowed" from the U.S. Army; later in the Normandy fighting they were to be returned to the Americans and the field regiments re-equipped as standard "towed" regiments with 25-pounder artillery pieces. The M7s were later converted into armoured personnel carriers before Operation Totalize.

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The Duplex Drive explained at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, France