D-Day

Overview

     D-Day was planned to happen on June 5th 1944. However, stormy weather on that day forced a postponement of the invasion until June 6th 1944. The Canadians were invading the coast of Normandy. Canadian airmen, sailors and soldiers were the first into the action. When they finally reached shore they had to race across the treacherous open beach lined with pill boxes and filled with land mines and barriers. They fought their way through the beach then into the town of Bernieres, Courseulles and St. Aubin then through the inland. The price the Canadians paid was the loss of 340 lives with another 574 injured.

     The three main Army’s that were involved were the British, the U.S and Canada of course. France and Poland had relocated after they were occupied by the Germans and fought against them.  There were about 155,000 soldiers, 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles and 11,000 planes. Among that there were 14,000 Canadians who went to fight. One of the most recognized men during D-Day was General Omar Brady. He was the man who made all the important like when to attack and where to attack. When they had stormy weather on the day of the planned D-Day he made the call to postpone it.

D-Day happened to stop Hitler and the Nazis. Nazi Germany could not have been defeated without an invasion of northern France. Total control and take down over the Nazis was necessary because the Americans, Britons, Canadian were the good guys, and because Hitler and his Nazis were the very, very bad guys. If D-Day hadn’t happened it could be possible that the Nazis could easily be ruling Europe today. There still would have been Concentration camps, hard labor, discrimination and poor living conditions.

Toronto, 1944

This Picture is before all the men were shipped to Germany. It shows the Canadians leaving from Toronto  in 1944. It is a picture of all the women and children sending away their brothers, dads, uncles and cousins etc. This is significant because it’s actually showing them

Ethical Dimensions

I believe that the Germans were wrong in what they were doing but I’m going to look at it from a German soldier’s perspective.  Some people still have a strong hatred for the Germans and I believe that’s an unjust decision/judgment to make. The soldiers weren’t trying to kill every one and they had nothing against any of the countries they were fighting against. They were just trying to defend their land just like we would have done. Hitler was evil but that doesn’t mean that all of the Germans after him are evil as well.  You can’t judge the soldiers that were in the military before he had control. They were doing their job and we shouldn’t hate any of the German soldier’s because of that.

Continuity and Change

            D-Day was the beginning of the end for not only the Germans but Hitler mostly.  This war in history changed a lot for Germany and the Jews that were in Germany at the time. If the battle on Juno beach had never happened then Hitler still may have been ruling over Germany and the Jews still would have been in concentration camps.  If D-Day had failed there would have been many consequences

• WWII could have easily dragged on for at least another year, resulting in thousands of more deaths as well as the total extermination of Jews
• Britain would have been devastated by Germany’s new rocket weapons.
• The Soviet Army would have likely defeated Germany by mid-1945
• The bulk of Europe would have likely gone from Nazi to Communist

Historical Significance

Beachs Names

D-Day was the larger narrative to winning World War II and eating the Germans. D-Day was the perfect time, set-up and planning to attack the Germans. They took many hours and days to plan out exactly how they were going to attack which lead them to victory. Originally the Allies believed that they wouldn’t even make it pasted the beach; it was an amazing accomplishment for the Canadians.

 

 

Hailey Rutherford

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11730

http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/d_day/big/big_01_parade.aspx

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~kmmurray/The%20Longest%20Day/The%20Effects%20of%20D-Day.html

http://news.everest.edu/post/2009/06/d-day-the-day-that-changed-history