75 years

It was 75 years ago, in the morning, that Canadian soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, supported by other Canadians in warships and in aircraft, landed at Juno Beach, in Normandy. The initial assault was carried out by:

• The 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade, comprised of ~
  • Regina Rifles at Courseulles (Nan Green beach),
  • Royal Winnipeg Rifles on the western edge of Courseulles (Mike Red and Mike Green beaches),
  • The Canadian Scottish Regiment was in reserve, and
  • The 10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Gary Horse) were in support; and
• The 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade ~
  • North Shore Regiment on the left at St. Aubin (Nan Red beach),
  • Queen’s Own Rifles in the centre at Bernières (Nan White beach),
  • Le Régiment de la Chaudière was in reserve, and
  • The 6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) were in support; and
• The 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade was in reserve, it consisted of ~
  • The Highland Light Infantry of Canada,
  • The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, and
  • The North Nova Scotia Highlanders, and
  • 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment) were in support.

Of course, there were many other units, including e.g. the 7th Reconnaissance Regiment (17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars) and several regiments of artillery, engineers, signals and service troops.

The individual landing sites on Gold, Juno and Sword beaches (where the British and Canadians came ashore) were identified by letter, using the (old) phonetic alphabet, from How to Roger. The Canadians landed at Mike and Nan beaches which were further subdivided by colour:

We salute them all, those who fought, especially those who fell, and those who remember … some commentators are worried that we will, soon, forget. I am sure that many will, perhaps that’s why whoever writes Justin Trudeau’s speeches for him (he’s both too busy and not smart enough write is own) decided to celebrate the Dieppe raid (Operation Jubilee, 19 Aug 42) rather than D-Day (Operation Overlord, 6 Jun 1944); but I think that our institutional memory is long and that historians will keep returning to the Second World War and to D-Day’s place in it. Perhaps D-day doesn’t yet have a Shakespeare who can do for it what the Bard did for Agincourt, but it’s only 75 years … there’s plenty of time.