This Saturday marks the 65th anniversary of the largest single-day amphibious military invasion of all time.
About 155,000 soldiers, 5,000 ships, 50,000 vehicles and 11,000 planes participated in the World War Two Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.
The D-Day invasion took place along an 80-kilometre stretch of the coast of the occupied French region, with Allied forces divided between five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
The Allied landings in Normandy, also known as Operation Overlord, remain one of the most significant events in Canadian military history. About 15,000 Canadian soldiers landed on the morning of June 6, as part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division or the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, which were assigned the task of taking Juno beach.
Another 450 Canadians dropped behind enemy lines by parachute or glider while it was still dark. The Royal Canadian Navy supplied ships and about 10,000 sailors, and the Royal Canadian Air Force also supported the invasion with Lancaster bombers and Spitfire fighter planes.
Preparing for battle
The Canadian failure at Dieppe two years earlier no doubt helped shape and influence Allied plans for the Normandy invasion. But regardless, months of planning went into the June 6 operation, which had the objective of securing the city of Caen, from which Allied forces could launch a second front in western European – long regarded by Soviet leader Josef Stalin as the key to the ultimate downfall of Nazi Germany.
The sheer logistics of such a large-scale, simultaneous attack using the forces of three nations – Canada, the United States and Britain – required in-depth training exercises and equipment mobilization on a scale likely never seen before.
The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade alone completed almost a year of special assault and combined operations training just for D-Day.
And the training exercises themselves were not without risks. On April 28, 1944, on the English coast, 638 American soldiers and sailors were killed when German forces surprised one of the landing exercises.
In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies also tried to mislead the Germans regarding the date and place of the invasion.
Some of the more unusual Allied preparations included the adaptation of armoured vehicles specially for the D-Day assault. Those included tanks that specialized in “swimming,” bridge laying, flame throwing, road laying, mine clearing, and destroying concrete emplacements.
The invasion
Despite the activity and even several Allied “leaks,” the Normandy invasion, which began at around 6am, largely caught the entrenched German forces by surprise.
The Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach had to overcome a seawall twice the height of the one at Omaha Beach, as well as bombardment from 155mm and 75mm guns, and machine-guns.
It’s estimated the first wave of Canadians suffered 50% casualties, the second highest of the five D-Day beachheads.
Yet the Canadians advanced rapidly and within hours had cleared the beach and began their advance inland. In fact, Canadian units advanced farther inland than any other Allied troops and were the only ones to complete all their D-Day objectives, although many ultimately fell back to strengthen defensive positions.
Canadian casualties on June 6 at Juno Beach included 340 killed, 574 wounded and 47 taken prisoner. During the first six days of the Normandy campaign, 1,017 Canadians died.
Canadians went on to play an important role in the subsequent fighting in Normandy, with the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division coming ashore in July and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division in August.
By the end of the Normandy campaign – which lasted about two and a half months – about 5,020 Canadians had been killed (5,400 Canadians are buried in Normandy).
Canadian casualties totalled more than 18,000, while Allied casualties totalled 210,000 and German casualties were 450,000.
The Normandy campaign was a crucial moment for the Allies in WWII, as it solidified for them a foothold in Europe and stretched out German defences. The Allies were already making important advances elsewhere, but D-Day undoubtedly helped expedite Germany’s surrender, which came on May 8, 1945.
The Canadian successes – first at June Beach and then farther inland in subsequent months – solidified their already impressive reputation as excellent soldiers. The D-Day success also helped boost morale in both the military and at home.
In 2003 the Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer was officially opened to help recognize the sacrifice of the Canadians who fought in Normandy and the surrounding area during WWII.
Local connections
In Fergus, the D-Day invasion “provided much excitement and upset the normal flow of life, though it had been long expected,” according to the the Fergus News Record of June 8, 1944.
“Most Fergus people learned of the invasion when they turned on their radios in the early morning. The streets seemed strangely deserted in those early hours, because so many were staying indoors to hear all they could.”
At many places of business, employees crowded around radios throughout the day to hear the latest News, while some places even closed as a result of the slow day to allow employees to get back to their own radios.
Students not writing exams were also afforded the opportunity to listen to an address from King George at 3pm, as well as speeches from other military and political figures. That evening, a united prayer service, organized by the Fergus Legion, was held at St. Andrew’s church.
Limited information is available about local boys who participated in the D-Day invasion, as well as the subsequent fight to advance to Caen.
But Newspaper records recount a handful of stories of Wellington County residents involved in the invasion in early June.
According to the June 22, 1944 edition of the Mount Forest Confederate, Private Irwin Lytle was killed in action on June 6 at the age of 23, and it was “supposed he met his death on invasion day.” Lytle, a Mount Forest resident, arrived overseas in the spring or summer of 1943.
The June 28, 1944 edition of the Elora Express highlighted the story of John Hasson, of Ariss, who was killed in action on June 10 at the age of 20. Hasson, a gunner with an artillery unit in the 3rd Canadian Division, died “taking part in the invasion,” and could very well have landed on Juno Beach four days prior to his death. He joined the army in February of 1943, trained in Listowel and Ipperwash and arrived overseas in July of that year.
The Fergus News Record reported on June 15, 1944 that three locals were counted among the casualties in the “battle of Normandy.”
Flight Lieutenant Gordon Thring, of former Eramosa township, was reported missing in France on June 6, but five days later his parents received word that he was safe and located somewhere in the United Kingdon.
Trooper William Griffin, 28, of the Belwood area, was wounded in the arm on June 8 “while taking part in the invasion.” Griffin, whose brother, Grant, was also in the Army, enlisted in 1942 and “was driving trucks or tranSports.”
Private James Henderson, of Fergus, was more seriously wounded. His wife Alice received word on June 15 that he sustained head injuries in France and was suffering from “an intercranial hemorrhage.” It is unclear exactly what happened, though Henderson’s name is not included on the Fergus list of war dead from WWII.
If county residents can confirm any other local residents were involved in the Normandy invasion, they can contact the Advertiser at 519-843-5410.
With files from the Department of National Defence website (forces.gc.ca).
