D-Day : Juno Beach, Canada's 24 hours of destiny

257 Pages·2004·13.401 MB·English

by  Lance Goddard

d-day
Dedicated to my sons,
Ethan and Cameron.
d-day
Juno beach
canada’s 24 Hours
of Destiny
lance goddard
foreword by Major-General Richard Rohmer, D.F.C.
The Dundurn Group
Toronto
Copyright © Lance Goddard,2004
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted
in any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise (except for brief
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should be requested from Access Copyright.
Editor:Barry Jowett
Copy-Editor:Andrea Pruss
Design:Jennifer Scott
Printer:Friesens
National Library ofCanada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Goddard,Lance
D-Day :Juno Beach,Canada's 24 hours ofdestiny / Lance Goddard.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-55002-492-2
1.World War,1939-1945 — Campaigns — France — Normandy.2.Canada.Canadian Army — History —
World War,1939-1945. I.Title.
D756.5.N6G62 2004 940.54'21422 C2004-900460-3
1 2 3 4 5 08 07 06 05 04
We acknowledge the support ofthe Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Councilfor our
publishing program.We also acknowledge the financial support ofthe Government ofCanadathrough the
Book Publishing Industry Development Programand The Association for the Export ofCanadian Books,
and the Government ofOntariothrough the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Creditprogram,and the
Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership ofcopyright material used in this book.The author and the pub-
lisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions.
J.Kirk Howard,President
Printed and bound in Canada.e
Printed on recycled paper.
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“Confront them with annihilation and they will then
survive. Plunge them into a deadly situation, and they
will then live.When people fall into danger,they are then
able to strive for victory.”
~ Sun Tzu
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword by Richard Rohmer 9
The Men 11
Introduction 15
Prelude to D-Day 17
Preparation for D-Day 27
Ready to Go 39
D-Day:Hour by Hour 47
End of Day 221
Juno Beach Centre 233
Glossary 239
Bibliography/Resources 247
Acknowledgements 249
Photo Index 251
Index of the Men 253
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FOREWORD
The sixth day of June 1944 was D-Day.That day,starting just after 0001 hours,the first
Canadian, British, and American paratroopers jumped out of their transport aircraft
into the black darkness over Normandy. Their task was to open the long-expected attack
against Hitler’s Fortress Europa, an assault designed to liberate Western Europe from the
oppressive,brutal,deadly,humanity-crushing rule of Nazi Germany.
The paratroopers of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion,a strong part of the com-
bined Canadian-British force that jumped out of the Dakota and Albemarle aircraft,
were the first Canadian troops to land on French soil on D-Day. Notwithstanding the
horrendous handicap of the darkness and the confusion,the Canadians,while suffering
major casualties, succeeded in gaining their assigned objectives east of the Orne River
and north of Caen.
H-Hour was the time designated for the landing ofCanadian,British,and American troops
at their assigned beaches,starting from the Orne on the east and reaching miles to the west to
Sword (British),Juno (Canadian),Gold (British),Omaha (American),and Utah (American).
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