Juno beach...and the Canadians...

After Gold beach moving east we come to the Canadian sector and Juno beach. There is a very famous photograph showing Canadian troops coming assure at Bernieres...

 

You can check out the original here..

 

http://www.virtualfunzone.com/slike/place/Normandy_1944_Then_and_Now/3.jpg

 



 On these beaches the British and Canadian forces used lots of special armoured vehicles designed to overcome specific problems with beach landings - things like soft sand, mine-fields, trenches and bunkers. They also used tanks that swam! I'll do a special post on the 'Funnies' as they were known but on these beaches they saved many lives taking out strongpoints like this

 

Now that looks like a commanding field of fire right long the beach - but apparently the Germans did not anticipate a landing at anything other than full tide. So the beach at half-tide or lower is actually not in view - so you can land without being troubled by this particular nasty bit of work.

 

 

There is a great museum dedicated to the Canadian experience in Normandy at Courseulles. Inland is the reminder of the price they paid during the landings and in the rest of the campaign.

 

 

I'll try to post more on the critical junction between the Canadian landings at Juno and the British landings at Sword as this led to one of the most anxious few hours on D-Day when elements of the 21st Panzer division counter-attacked and actually got all the way to the sea before being thrown back. One of those 'what if' moments in history.