Today is June 6, 2011 - the 67th anniversary of what I think was truly one of the most important battles in history - the Allied invasion of Normandy - Operation Overlord, but more commonly known simple as D-Day.
I do not intend to get into a deep analysis of the importance of the battle, other than it was crucial to establishing a true Second Front against the Nazis, thereby hastening the end of the war and helping check the westward progress of the Red Army in their Eastern Front war of annihilation with the Nazis.
It was also an enormously complicated battle in logistical terms - coordinating the movements of thousands of men, ship and aircraft and all the supplies of food, fuel and ammunition that were required - all the while deceiving the Germans and contending with the weather (which proved to be a crucial factor).
Canadians played a major role on D-Day - of the 5 landing beaches, one (Juno Beach) was assigned to the Canadian 3rd Division. Two beaches - Gold and Sword - were assigned to the British, and two beaches - Utah and Omaha - to the Americans. The British and the Americans also committed airborne troops to land behind German lines to capture certain strategic points and to interfere with possible German reinforcements.
Much as at Vimy Ridge a generation earlier, and in part redeeming the tragic 1942 raid in Dieppe, Canada's soldiers performed magnificently:
"Fourteen thousand young Canadians stormed Juno Beach on D-Day. 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. The price they paid was high - the battles for the beachhead cost 340 Canadian lives and another 574 wounded. John Keegan, eminent British historian who wrote Six Armies in Normandy, 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.”
We should all pause for a moment to remember days like this, when young men and women from another generation and from many countries undertook enormous risks and made sacrifices to defeat the pure evil that was Nazi Germany - many of them paying the ultimate price. Canadian soldiers came face to face with the fanaticism of the Nazis - shortly after the invasion, numerous Canadian POWs were brutally murdered by members of the 12th SS Division.
Here are a variety of links, etc., to help us remember. What was accomplished then should never be forgotten - nor given away.
