Juno Beach.
Moving west now, and the second invasion beach, Juno, between Courseulles sur Mer in the west, and St. Aubin sur Mer in the east, with the village of Berniers sur Mer roughly in the centre. Here starts some coverage of the intense fighting undertaken by our Canadian cousins.
On the morning of D-Day, a force of over 21,000 men landed here, supported by tanks, with by far the vast majority (some 14,000 + troops) being Canadian, from the North Shore New Brunswick Regiment, the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, Regina Rifles, Winnipeg Rifles and Canadian Scottish, with armoured support from 2nd Canadian Armoured Division, including tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers and the Fort Gary Horse.
Juno was one of the most heavily defended beaches and, like at Sword beach, the troops also had to contend with high sea walls, much higher in places in 1944 compared to today, due to the build-up of sand over the last 81 years. (film footage of this landing shows soldiers carrying long scaling ladders).
Facing
very stiff resistance, the Canadians suffered appalling casualties on the beach alone, and although numerically much less than on Omaha beach, in proportion to the size of the force involved, it was the
highest casualty rate of the entire landings.
Once off the beach, progress was a hard slog, with vicious, sustained fighting in the streets, clearing houses room by room, and fighting in cellars and backyards. This continued during the day, street by street, house by house, until finally breaking out later on 6th June, into the countryside beyond, to the first objective inland, the airfield at Carpiquet, on the western outskirts of Caen - where the Canadians would face even tougher battles with the12th SS (Hitler Jugend) Panzer Division, in the following days.
We visited this area on two separate occasions, and the pics below were taken at St. Aubin sur Mer on the first visit, and show the map of the area, views of the beach, a memorial and a defensive strong-point, all detailed as shown below.
I'm getting a bit stiff and slightly painful at the moment, but I'll try to post some more later tonight or, if not, then sometime tomorrow.
Thanks yet again for the continued interest and kind comments, "likes" etc, and I'll be back soon(ish).
Pic 1. Map showing the area of Juno Beach.
Pics 2 and 3. Views eastward along the beach, from the road behind the sea wall. Note the proximity of the buildings, each one fortified, each one needing to be neutralised.
Pic 4. Well known photo of a P-47, washed ashore after ditching at sea, in the same location (details can be found on various Internet sites).
Pic 5. Memorial to Canadian Forces at Juno beach (apologies for the poor quality).
Pics 6 to 10. Wiederstandsnest 27 (WN 27). This is a 50 mm PAK, positioned for enfilading fire down the beach in both directions. The thick concrete bunker provides protection from direct fire from the seaward side, and also from the flanks, whilst allowing a clear field of fire.
This particular gun was responsible for a high number of casualties in the North Shore Regiment, and also damaged or destroyed some armoured vehicles, before eventually being put out of action
.