Canada’s Role In D-Day

Hello again, its me! And yes that’s the best title I could come up with…

Anyways, for this blog post we had to choose 1 of 3 events “The Italian Campaign”, “D-Day” or “The liberation of Europe”. For me D-Day seemed the most interesting and to be honest the one I remembered the most information about so I choose it. Next we had to write an inquiry question about this topic and tie in Canada’s role in this event.  And finally we had to write a blog post of our answer, and that is what you are now reading. Please enjoy, and try to learn something.

Question: What role did Canadas victory of Juno Beach on D-Day play in the defeat of Nazi Germany?

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the long-awaited invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe, began with Allied armies from the U.S., Britain and Canada landing on the coast of Normandy.  Allied troops landed on 5 beaches, codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Canadian troops landed on Juno, American landed on Utah and Omaha, and British troops landed on Gold, and Sword.

Fourteen thousand young Canadians stormed Juno Beach on D-Day. Their goals was to establish a beachhead along the five miles between Courseulles and St-Aubin-sur-Mer, push through the gap between Bayeux and Caen, and penetrate to Carpiquet airfield some eleven miles inland.  Juno beach was five miles wide and stretched on either side of the small fishing port of Courseulles-sur-Mer, France. The Canadian troops stormed ashore in the face of fierce opposition from German strongholds and mined beach obstacles. The soldiers raced across the wide-open beaches swept with machine gun fire, and stormed the gun positions. In fierce hand-to-hand fighting, they fought their way into the towns of Bernières, Courseulles and St. Aubin and then advanced inland, securing a critical bridgehead for the allied invasion. Of the nearly 150,000 Allied troops who landed or parachuted into the invasion area, 14,000 were Canadians. They assaulted a beachfront code-named “Juno”, while Canadian paratroopers landed just east of the assault beaches.

Their courage, determination and self-sacrifice were the immediate reasons for the success in those critical hours. The fighting they endured was fierce and frightening. Other Canadians helped achieve this victory. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors in support of the landings while the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F. ) had helped prepare the invasion by bombing targets inland. On D- Day and during the ensuing campaign, 15 R.C.A.F. fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons helped control the skies over Normandy and attacked enemy targets. On D-Day, Canadians suffered 1074 casualties, including 359 killed.

John Keegan, eminent British historian, stated the following concerning the Canadian 3rd Division on D-Day: “At the end of the day, its forward elements stood deeper into France than those of any other division. The opposition the Canadians faced was stronger than that of any other beach save Omaha. That was an accomplishment in which the whole nation could take considerable pride.” The victory at Juno beach that day was a turning point in World War II and led to the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany. Canadians took pride in what they accomplished that day. The braveness, courage, determination, and strength that the men who fought that day had was absolutely incredible. Who’s knows what could have happened with out this victory.

So the answer to my original question would be… An absolutely enormous roll, without the defeat of Juno Beach, who’s knows if Nazi Germany would still exist today and how the rest of the war would have played out.

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