The Juno beaches, located on both sides of Courseulles, were the responsibility of General Crerar's 3rd Canadian Division assisted by British sappers (demolition experts). Their objectives were to make the deepest penetration of the day, assist in attacking Caen, and capture the airfield at Carpiquet. This was a formidable task, given Rommel's troops on the shores of Courseulles. Their fortifications included heavy concrete emplacements containing 88-mm guns and machine guns and a high concrete wall.
Aerial reconnaissance had further shown rocky shores at low tide. An assault on Juno would have to be timed with the incoming tide to cover the dangerous rocks. As H-Hour approached, the local naval commanders delayed the simultaneous invasion of Juno and Gold beaches another ten minutes--from 0735 to 0745.
When the demolition parties finally made their way ashore, the first line of mined anti-invasion obstacles was submerged, placing the first units to land in the midst of deadly and unseen impediments. Landing craft often went astern, tangled in mines and twisted steel; scores of Centaur tanks listed and capsized.
Richard Saddler, a British Marine accompanying a sapper group in the first wave, described the scene:
" . . . So we had bodies floating out of the hatches and bodies floating in the sea . . . . You'd try to get to the guy and get his dog tags . . . so you could put him to rest." (1)
Despite the gory scene, the determined Canadians swarmed ashore, fighting furiously. Two battalions--the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and the Regina Rifles--overwhelmed or outflanked the Germans and quickly moved inland.
Other battalions were not so fortunate. Because the rising tide had reduced the beach to a narrow strip littered with wreckage, tanks, and guns, a reserve battalion took ninety minutes to arrive. Germans resistance delayed three battalions of a follow-up brigade until 1500.
By nightfall and the halt of operations, the Canadians were within sight of Caen, entrenched on the fringe of the Carpiquet airfield. Saddler summed up the harrowing invasion:
"When we were picked up they asked: 'Who are you?' 'We're Marine. We just blew up the sea wall for you.' 'Oh, we don't know anything about you guys. You're not accounted for.' They thought we would have been killed coming in on the first wave and weren't expecting us.
"Once we were picked up, we went on this British frigate, which was the control ship for that beach. At daybreak, the sailors aboard ship stitched up the bodies in hammocks and we pulled out about thirty minutes from shore and buried the dead at sea." (2)
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1. Richard Saddler, personal interview at Crawford Communications, Inc., December 1993.
