- Reaction score
- 1,438
- Points
- 1,260
In honour of D-Day, here is a quick brief on the assault.
The soldiers that participated in Operation Overloard were divided into two elements, an airborne element and an amphibious assault element. For the purposes of this brief I will concentrate on Canadian troops, if you want info on other nations actions I can lend you some good books.
The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was part of British 3rd Brigade, 6th Airborne Division and was commanded by LCol G.F.P. Bradbrooke. On 6 Jun 1944 around 0020 hours C Coy, 1 Can Para was the first Canadian Soldiers into Battle. C Coy’s mission was to secure Drop Zone “V” then secure the town of Varaville (destroying all coms, HQ and defensive positions in the town”. A Coy’s task was to protect the British 9th Parachute Battalion in their attack on the Merville Battery as well as clear Gonneville sur Merville. B Coy’s task was to escort and protect engineer elements tasked to blow the bridges in Robehomme and then occupy key road and track junctions. The airborne forces were successfully able to complete their missions and meet their commanders end state, however it came at a price of 116 men either wounded, killed or taken prisoner out of 541 men that jumped that night.
The amphibious troops were comprised of two brigades from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade and the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade supported by tanks of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade (of which the Fort Gary Horse were part of as WO Menzies will tell you). The landing spot named “Juno” was defended by two battalions of the German 716th Infantry Division with elements of the 21st Panzer Division held in reserve near Caen.
The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division’s mission was to secure the beach them capture Carpiquet Airfield and reach the Caen-Bayeux railway line by nightfall.
The 7th brigade was scheduled to land at 0735 hrs however the first troops from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles did not land until 0749 due to rough sea conditions. The 8th Brigade was in the same situation; they were scheduled to land at 0745 but were also delayed. The Queens Own Rifles eventually landed at 0812 hrs at Bernieres, unfortunately outside the town was an 88mm gun emplacement with multiple machine gun nests.
By noon Juno beach was secured and MGen Keller (a Patricia) was able to establish his div HQ and start planning the advance inland. The Division advanced inland until 2100 hrs when the order to dig in for the night was given. At this time they were on Objective line Elm which was short of the objectives, they did advance farther inland than any other Allied unit. Thou like most operation it came at a cost; the 3rd Division suffered casualties of 340 killed, 547 wounded and 47 taken prisoner — remembering our fallen soldiers.
Mark Adkins
The soldiers that participated in Operation Overloard were divided into two elements, an airborne element and an amphibious assault element. For the purposes of this brief I will concentrate on Canadian troops, if you want info on other nations actions I can lend you some good books.
The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was part of British 3rd Brigade, 6th Airborne Division and was commanded by LCol G.F.P. Bradbrooke. On 6 Jun 1944 around 0020 hours C Coy, 1 Can Para was the first Canadian Soldiers into Battle. C Coy’s mission was to secure Drop Zone “V” then secure the town of Varaville (destroying all coms, HQ and defensive positions in the town”. A Coy’s task was to protect the British 9th Parachute Battalion in their attack on the Merville Battery as well as clear Gonneville sur Merville. B Coy’s task was to escort and protect engineer elements tasked to blow the bridges in Robehomme and then occupy key road and track junctions. The airborne forces were successfully able to complete their missions and meet their commanders end state, however it came at a price of 116 men either wounded, killed or taken prisoner out of 541 men that jumped that night.
The amphibious troops were comprised of two brigades from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade and the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade supported by tanks of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade (of which the Fort Gary Horse were part of as WO Menzies will tell you). The landing spot named “Juno” was defended by two battalions of the German 716th Infantry Division with elements of the 21st Panzer Division held in reserve near Caen.
The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division’s mission was to secure the beach them capture Carpiquet Airfield and reach the Caen-Bayeux railway line by nightfall.
The 7th brigade was scheduled to land at 0735 hrs however the first troops from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles did not land until 0749 due to rough sea conditions. The 8th Brigade was in the same situation; they were scheduled to land at 0745 but were also delayed. The Queens Own Rifles eventually landed at 0812 hrs at Bernieres, unfortunately outside the town was an 88mm gun emplacement with multiple machine gun nests.
By noon Juno beach was secured and MGen Keller (a Patricia) was able to establish his div HQ and start planning the advance inland. The Division advanced inland until 2100 hrs when the order to dig in for the night was given. At this time they were on Objective line Elm which was short of the objectives, they did advance farther inland than any other Allied unit. Thou like most operation it came at a cost; the 3rd Division suffered casualties of 340 killed, 547 wounded and 47 taken prisoner — remembering our fallen soldiers.
Mark Adkins