Blog City Juno Beach The Canadians in Normandy

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, thousands of Canadian assault troops anxiously waited aboard their landing craft, straining to launch themselves against Hitler's Fortress Europe. They were taking part in Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious operation in history. The Canadians and their British and American allies would storm the beaches of Normandy and begin the long and arduous task of liberating occupied Europe. The sector assigned to the Canadians was codenamed Juno. Stretching along five miles of sandy beaches, Juno Beach included the three small resort towns of Courseulles-sur-Mer, Bernieres-sur-Mer and Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. Waiting for them were men of the German 716th Division. They had erected thousands of obstacles, belts of thick barbed wire and dozens of minefields. Steel-reinforced concrete bunkers brimming with anti-tank guns, machine guns, and riflemen overlooked the beaches. Mortars and artillery were pre-sighted on the landing grounds. They were determined to prevent the Allies gaining a foothold in France. Victory at Juno would come at a heavy price: by the end of the day 340 Canadians lay dead. Hundreds more were wounded. These were the heaviest casualties on any beach save the near-disastrous American assault on Omaha. Yet the Canadians were also the only units to reach their D-Day objectives, advancing further inland than any other Allied army. As the historian John Keegan remarked, "That was an accomplishment in which the whole nation could take considerable pride." In this photo essay we'll take a tour of Juno Beach today, learning about the men drawn from across Canada who fought on these beaches and carried the day. I took all the recent photos myself in May 2015, while the historical photos are drawn from a variety of sources.

Then and Now Photos