Normandy Landings
On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed on the shores of Normandy. This marked the beginning of the Allied march to Germany from the west. There were high casualties, but the Canadian sacrifice helped to bring the war to an end and achieve an Allied victory.
By 1944, the Allies were anxious to open a new front in Europe. The Soviet Union had been pressuring the Allies for years to make the war in Europe a two-front war and divert some the German resources away from the USSR. It was not until 1944 that the Allies were prepared to launch a full-scale invasion of France and regain a foothold in Western Europe. By this time the Soviet Union had shifted the momentum in the east and was pushing Germany back; nevertheless the USSR still wanted a second front opened in Europe.
The landing, what came to be known as D-Day, was nicknamed Operation Overlord. Plans for Operation Overlord began more than a year before the Allies landed in France. It required the coordination of land, air, and sea forces and their necessary equipment and vehicles. Furthermore, this operation was to include Britons, Canadians, Americans, and the French, so cohesion and cooperation between all the participatory countries was necessary. American General Dwight Eisenhower (later President of the United States), was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied forces, which meant he was in charge of organizing Operation Overlord.
CANADIANS DISEMBARKING AT JUNO BEACH. IMAGE FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.
Prior to the landing, the Allies fed misinformation to the Germans to confuse them on the date of the invasion. The Nazis knew that an invasion was coming, but the Allies could still keep the exact date and location a secret. Germans thought the most likely place the Allies would land was Pas de Calais; this point on the French coastline was the closest to Britain, making the trip along the English Channel the shortest. However, the beaches of Normandy were ultimately chosen for the landing. Across an 80 kilometre stretch of beach, over 150 000 soldiers, 5000 ships and landing crafts, and 50 000 vehicles were set to land; around 11 000 planes were also part of the coordinated amphibious landing. Allied troops landed at 5 distinct locations: Americans landed at Utah and Ohama Beaches, Britons at Sword and Gold Beaches, and Canadians at Juno Beach. Fourteen thousand Canadians landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, and another 450 were dropped behind enemy lines; 10 000 sailors participated from the Canadian Navy and RCAF pilots were flying Spitfires and Lancaster bombers.
The invasion began at 6:00am, and within two hours Canada had taken Juno Beach, overtaking German defences. This began the long road to the end of the war as the Allies were now poised to fight their way across Western Europe into Germany. Even so, it took months longer than expected for the Allies to fight their way out of Normandy to open up the rest of France. On D-Day alone there were more than 1000 Canadian casualties, including more than 350 deaths. The entire Normandy campaign, which lasted about two and a half months, saw more than 5000 Canadian deaths and 13 000 injuries.
Our exhibit is focused on the Home Front, where the majority of Canadians, especially women and children, would have experienced the war. However, there were just over a million Canadians who left home and served in the conflict. This blog series will look at 5 major battles or campaigns that involved Canadians during WWII: Dunkirk, Dieppe, Sicily, Normandy, and the Netherlands.