Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 103 continued ... At dawn, the weather was still bad; a northwesterly wind was blowing at 15 knots. Channel waters were choppy with waves over one metre and clouds were piling up. At 0530 (5:30 am), destroyers started pounding the coastal defence positions. As thousands of engines roared and bombs exploded in the air, the LCAs were launched and the soldiers boarded them. In a few minutes, 130,000 men would be landing on French soil to oust the Nazi invaders. Objectives Operation Overlord was only one step of a global strategic plan for the complete defeat of Nazi Germany. The Normandy landing was designed to establish a bridgehead from which two armies, the First US Army on the west flank and the Second British Army to the east could be supplied by sea. With the bridgehead firmly secured, the armies were to move on to liberate France and the neighbouring countries. Germany, attacked on three separate fronts, in Northwest Europe, in Russia, and in the Mediterranean, would soon be exhausted and defeated. On June 6th, 1944, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and the 2nd Armoured Brigade were tasked with establishing a bridgehead on the beach codenamed “Juno”. This was an eight-kilometre-long stretch of beach bordering Saint-Aubin, Bernières, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Graye-sur-Mer. Assault troops were then to move towards the Carpiquet airfield, 18 kilometres inland. The 3rd Infantry Division, under Major General R.F.L.Keller, was under command of the Second British Army. It was flanked on the left by the 3rd British Infantry Division that was to land on Sword beach (Lion-surMer, Langrune-sur-Mer). To the right, the 50th British Division had as its target “Gold Beach” (La Rivière, Le Hamel, and Arromanches). An LCA just launched off HMCS Prince Henry carrying troops towards the Normandy beaches. Photo by Dennis Sullivan. Department of National Defence / National Archives of Canada, PA-132790. continued ...
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==