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Day Two: Juno Beach Centre
70 years ago this June, on Juno Beach, France, 14,000 Canadian soldiers aided by 10,000 Canadian sailors and 516 Canadian paratroopers stormed Juno Beach on the Normandy Coast. With the tragic Dieppe Raid just two years past, these young Canadian knew exactly the hell they were approaching as their boats hit the beach to a greeting of German gunfire. Failure at Juno would likely eliminate the allies’ ability to land on Europe for another several years, by which point the Nazis would have been unbeatable. Every single soldier knew the stakes and fought with everything they had. As history tells us, the battle was a complete success, but even great success in war comes at a terrible cost: 359 Canadian lost their lives, 574 were wounded and 47 captured.
The Juno Beach Centre (website) is a museum and cultural centre, which opened at Courseulles-sur-Mer, France on June 6, 2003. The Centre presents the war effort made by all Canadians, civilian and military alike, both at home and on the various fronts during the Second World War, as well as the manifold faces of contemporary Canadian society.
Overview of the Canadian Raid at Juno Beach
Excerpts from Wikipedia =>Juno or Juno Beach was one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. The beach spanned from Courseulles-sur-Mer, a village just east of the British beach Gold, to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, just west of the British beach Sword. The Juno landings were judged necessary to provide flanking support to the British drive on Caen from Sword, as well as to capture the German airfield at Carpiquet west of Caen. Taking Juno was the responsibility of the3rd Canadian Infantry Division and commandos of the Royal Marines, all under the command of British I Corps, with support from Naval Force J, the Juno contingent of the invasion fleet, including the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The beach was defended by two battalions of the German 716th Infantry Division, with elements of the 21st Panzer Division held in reserve near Caen.
The invasion plan called for two brigades of the 3rd Canadian Division to land on two beach sectors—Mike and Nan—focusing on Courseulles, Bernières and Saint-Aubin.[nb 1] It was hoped that preliminary naval and air bombardment would soften up the beach defences and destroy coastal strongpoints. Close support on the beaches was to be provided by amphibious tanks of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. Once the landing zones were secured, the plan called for the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade to land reserve battalions and deploy inland, the Royal Marine commandos to establish contact with the British 3rd Infantry Division on Sword, and the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade to link up with the British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division on Gold. The 3rd Canadian Division's D-Day objectives were to capture Carpiquet Airfield and reach the Caen–Bayeux railway line by nightfall.
The landings initially encountered heavy resistance from the German 716th Division; the preliminary bombardment proved less effective than had been hoped, and rough weather forced the first wave to be delayed until 07:35. Several assault companies—notably those of theRoyal Winnipeg Rifles and The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada—took heavy casualties in the opening minutes of the first wave. Strength of numbers, as well as coordinated fire support from artillery and armoured squadrons, cleared most of the coastal defences within two hours of landing. The reserves of the 7th and 8th Brigades began deploying at 08:30 (along with the Royal Marines), while the 9th Brigade began its deployment at 11:40.
The subsequent push inland towards Carpiquet and the Caen–Bayeux railway line achieved mixed results. The sheer numbers of men and vehicles on the beaches created lengthy delays between the landing of the 9th Brigade and the beginning of substantive attacks to the south. The 7th Brigade encountered heavy initial opposition before pushing south and making contact with the 50th Infantry Division at Creully. The 8th Brigade encountered heavy resistance from a battalion of the 716th at Tailleville, while the 9th Brigade deployed towards Carpiquet early in the evening. Resistance in Saint-Aubin prevented the Royal Marines from establishing contact with the British 3rd Division on Sword. When all operations on the Anglo-Canadian front were ordered to halt at 21:00, only one unit had reached its D-Day objective, but the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had succeeded in pushing farther inland than any other landing force on D-Day.
Read the full story at Wikipedia
We Need your Help!
Our visit to the Juno Beach Centre does not yet have a sponsor! In return for your sponsorhip, we will take a picture (with your logo if you prefer) of our Scouts at the memorial, and we will also record a video of our youth thanking you by name from the site. In addition, you will be featured in our "Sponsor Hall of Fame", on our interactive map, and we will publically thank you through our social media channels encouraging the parents of our 100+ youth members to do the same.
All sponsors of our journey will also receive a certificate of thanks signed by all the youth who will be attending the trip.
We Work Hard for Our Donations!
Scouts are not looking for a hand-out, we are looking for the opportunity to work for our donations. As much as we appreciate donations, we also really appreciate the opportunity to provide a service in exachange for the donation. Our adult and youth members are insured by Scouts Canada for service projects, and the onus would NOT be on your business/organization in the unlikely event of injury. We can clean parking lots, shovel snow, rake leaves, clean windows, chop wood, complete light-moderate manual labour, data-processing, painting, customer service, trail maintenance, trash clean-up, web design, photography, graphic design and really anything else you can think of. You will not only be providing a donation to help the youth experience a trip that will literally change the way they look at their place in the world but you will also be providing these same youth with real work experience and life skills.
Sponsor our stop at the Juno Beach Centre
We are seeking a $1,000 donation to sponsor our trip to the Juno Beach Centre.
Please contact us if you are able to help.
Click here to learn more about other ways you can help our youth!