On June 6, 1944 the invasion of Northwest Europe began with Allies landing on the coast of Normandy. It was the greatest seaborne invasion in history and was aimed at 80 kilometres along the Normandy coastline. The Germans had turned the coastline into a continuous fortress with guns, wire, mines and artillery pieces. The outcome of the war depended on the Allies taking Normandy.
The military planners had given Canada a major role in D-Day and it was to take one of the five beaches where Allied forces were to land on to begin the liberation of Europe from Germany. The Canadians went to take Juno Beach which was right in the middle of Normandy. There were about 155,000 soldiers, 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles and 11,000 planes set for the battle. The Canadians were responsible for "Juno" in the centre of the British front. The Canadians were to establish a line along the five miles between Courseulles and St-Aubin-sur-Mer and push through the gap between Bayeux and Caen.
Before D-Day, 230 heavy bombers from RCAF destroyed German shore batteries with 860 tons of bombs. Fifty Canadian destroyers, frigates and corvettes assisted in covering the invasion, providing anti-submarine escort and bombarding shore targets. 14,000 Canadians stormed Juno Beach and were the only force to capture all their objectives that day. It cost them 1000 casualties and 350 deaths.
The Canadian achievements on D-Day were incredible. By the end of the day the 3rd Canadian Division was well established on its midway objectives, and had progressed further inland than any of the Allies. Although short of the planned final D-day objectives the Canadians had broken through the “Atlantic Wall” (a modern fortification system along the coast of France) and smashed the first line of German defences.