Although the Allies, including Canada, encountered German defences bristling with artillery, machine guns, mines, and booby-traps, the invasion was a success

REPRINTED FROM THE CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM:

Canada declared war on Germany in September 1939.

Britain’s declaration of war did not automatically commit Canada, as had been the case in 1914. But there was never serious doubt about Canada’s response: the government and people were united in support of Britain and France. After Parliament debated the matter, Canada declared war on Germany on 10 September. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King promised that only volunteers would serve overseas. Canada was unprepared for war. The regular army of 4500 men, augmented by 51,000 partly-trained reservists, possessed virtually no modern equipment. The air force had fewer than 20 modern combat aircraft while the navy’s combat potential consisted of only six destroyers, the smallest class of ocean-going warships. It was a modest beginning.

Canada was a full partner in the success of the Allied landings in Normandy (‘D- Day’).

Determined to end four years of often-brutal German occupation, on 6 June 1944, Allied forces invaded Western Europe along an 80-kilometre front in Normandy, France. 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. Although the Allies encountered German defences bristling with artillery, machine guns, mines, and booby-traps, the invasion was a success. Other Canadians helped achieve this victory. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors in support of the landings while the 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.

Canadians played a prominent role in the Normandy Campaign, a deadly battle of attrition.

For the first month following the D-Day landings, a stalemate developed during which the Allies built up their forces in a narrow bridgehead. Additional Canadian formations were committed to the struggle and organized as II Corps, serving under First Canadian Army. In July Canadian troops helped capture Caen. They then participated in a series of difficult offensives towards Falaise aimed at joining an American advance from the south and encircling the German forces in Normandy. By August 21, the Germans had either retreated or been destroyed between the Canadian-British and American pincers. The ten-week Normandy Campaign cost the Canadians alone more than 18,000 casualties, 5000 of them fatal. Normandy was the beginning of 11 months of hard fighting in Northwest Europe. Canadians would also go on to play an important role in bitter struggles at places like the Scheldt, the Rhineland and the Netherlands during the Allied offensives that would eventually help defeat the Germans and see Victory in Europe (V-E) Day declared on May 8, 1945. Canada’s impressive efforts in the Second World War remain a point of great national pride, even many decades later. The brave Canadians who came ashore on D-Day and saw action in the Battle of Normandy were among the more than one million men and women from our country who served in the cause of peace and freedom during the conflict.  CLICK HERE to find other 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy events in Canada