Lest we forget
The “Day of Days”, or “D-Day”, June 6, 1944. Among the initial assault force at Normandy was the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. More than 100 warships of the Royal Canadian Navy formed part of the naval forces that cleared mines, kept enemy warships and submarines at bay, landed troops, and provided artillery support to the soldiers struggling ashore. The huge air armada that forced back the German Luftwaffe and saturated defenses with bombs included many squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force. In the following weeks, the First Canadian Army under the command of Lt. Gen. H.D.G. Crerar crossed to France. The push inland was a slow-moving, brutal campaign, with the Germans concentrating their strongest armoured forces in the British-Canadian sector. By late August two German armies had been destroyed, with some 400,000 casualties, but Canadians also paid heavily, with 5000 dead and more than 13,000 wounded, representing some of the heaviest losses of any Allied formation. Lest we forget.