D Day (Juno Beach) By: Briana Richter

D Day was a planned attack by the Allies on Germany occupied France, created by military leaders to weaken German defences and start taking back France which Germany occupied. The plan was for the Allies to take over five different beaches on the coast of Normandy, France. Canada would take Juno Beach, the Americans were to take Omaha and Utah beaches, and Britain would capture Gold and Sword beach. They planned to take a ship from England to France and attack from the water, trying to gain more ground up the beach. Once the soldiers were close enough to the beach, they transferred into smaller ships with a ramp that would allow them to jump out. They also had floating tanks which were supposed to travel with the mini ships and shoot at the Germans once they got to the beach. Unfortunately, the plan fell apart due to bad weather, sinking tanks, and misguided navigation. Fourteen thousand Canadians were supposed to be in the attack, only three thousand made it in for the first, deadly attack. The first wave was the most affected because all of the German defences, including well protected ‘nests’ where German soldiers shot at Canadians from, barbed wire fences, and mines, were still intact. The lucky soldiers that managed to survive the run from water to shore and somehow weren’t shot, stormed the beach without help and began over powering the Germans. When the tanks showed up and started taking out the German strong points, Canadian soldiers were able to fight the remaining German soldiers and liberate French towns. The Canadians soldiers and paratroopers were the only forces to complete all of their objectives that day.
Canadian Objectives:
1) Establish a beachhead along the five miles between Courseulles and St-Aubin-sur-Mer
2) Push through the gap between Bayeux and Caen
3) Penetrate to Carpiquet airfield some eleven miles inland
Canadian Paratrooper Objectives:
1) Cut the bridges on the Dives and Divette Rivers in Varaville and Robehomme.
2) Protect the left flank of the 9th Parachute Battalion as it attacked the German artillery position in Merville.
3) To take a strategic position at a crossroad in Le Mesnil.

Though Canada finished all of their objectives, they took a huge loss. There were 1074 casualties, 359 of which were deaths. The soldiers had just spent weeks, if not months, training together and being shipped out. They were all very close and many men lost their best friends on D Day. The pain of these losses and the battle stayed with the survivors for the rest of their lives. It took many days for all the blood to wash off Juno Beach.
D Day can be linked to the larger narrative of the end of the war. D Day really was the turning point because that’s when the Allies started to take back German occupied Europe. Also, like the battle of Vimy Ridge, Canada proved that it could be useful and effective in the war to other countries and proved to ourselves that we can stand on our own feet. Because this battle began the end of the war and showed Canadians their strength and purpose, I think this event was very historically significant.

D Day happened for a variety of reasons. The idea of taking back German occupied Europe started in 1942 but the Allies never found the right time. Then, in 1944, they had to wait for the weather to be better. The attack was also held off because the Allies weren’t sure how strong Germany was yet. The battles of Dieppe and Hong Kong however, gave them an idea of what strategies didn’t work and how Germany would react to their attack. Leaders used this information to plan finally plan a successful attack. Also, all throughout February 1944, Britain had been bombing Germany. When the Germans tried to defend themselves, it caused a lot of German planes to be damaged and they couldn’t recover the planes or people. This helped the Allies because Germans couldn’t really bomb them while they were attacking Normandy. All of these factors convinced the military and political leaders that it was the right time for an attack.
The Allies decided to start liberating France because it was the most Westerly country. When Germany starterd taking over Europe, France assumed a defense approach for a number of reasons. They had been hit hard with WW1 and the Depression after which caused and maintained a loss of soldiers and supplies. They didn’t think they had enough resources to help the Allies and they were worried about the outcome of the war. Also, after Germany used the Shlieffen plan, France assumed that the Germans would try and go through France again. Unfortunately, they assumed wrong, which lead to Germany going around them and invading France.
The consequences of D Day was a lot of deaths and the destruction of Juno Beach. This event was very important to the end of the war but the success did not make the lives lost any less tragic.

The primary source I chose is a photograph of Canadian soldiers looking at a model of the German defenses on Juno Beach. This picture was taken after the Canadians took over the Germans and made it all the way to the German ‘headquarters’ where the model was placed. This picture shows that even with the Germans defenses so planned out and them predicting how Canadians would come in, they were able to succeed. This really fully explains the extent of Canadian work ethic and perseverance. Also, the expressions and body language of the two lone soldiers portray their true feeling about D Day and even the war. Yes, it was good that they won but they paid such a high price for it.

Juno and D Day as a whole, was a necessary event. Even though a lot of lives were lost and this was a big loss for the Allies, this attack started the liberation of German occupied Europe. If D Day had not happened, the Axis’s might have gotten too powerful to take down a different way.
This event shows us a bit about human behavior when we see how the military leaders were willing to sacrifice what was expected to be 2 out of 5 soldiers for the good of the world. This event also should be remembered because the death of all the soldiers was very significant and even though they did not live to see what their sacrifice amounted to, it was important to the outcome of the battle.

D Day had been planned for a few years before it actually happened. The previous battles (that were significant and involved Canadians), included the Battle of Dieppe and Battle of Hong Kong. The Allies lost these battles but it taught them a lot about what strategies did and did not work which helped create the plan for D Day. The progress that led up to D Day was a change in entry (by sea) and who was involved (soldiers and paratroopers). Also, the attack was more planned out (Britain bombing Germany to weaken their air force) and the soldiers were more secretive (in the previous battles, the opposition had known most of their battle plans).

D Day was a tragic event in which many lives were lost and many people affected. However, it showed Canadian soldiers’ perseverance and dedication, began the liberation of German occupied Europe, and played a significant part in the end of the war. Military leaders, though not heartless, are not afraid of sacrificing some for the good of all. D Day was a very significant event.