Found in the Sherbrooke Fusilier War Diaries *

(This piece originally adapted from the Sherbrooke Fusilier War Diaries originally appeared in The Dream The Glory and the Strife edited by Raymond Fenech - 2018 Hidden Brook Press.) 

                

June 4-6 1944                                              

                                                                                     

High winds and low clouds stall D-Day 24 hours.          

In spite of the wind the flotilla sails southward                        

all night via charted channel waters. Men ruminate     

over what awaits on shore then land is sighted             

at 1000 hrs off Berniere-Sur-Mere. Craft start                        

the run in to the beach, men quite calm                        

sitting on top of their vehicles watch the shore.   

The Regiment lands, moves forward, no casualties                  

but next day German tanks make a first appearance,  

force the CDN infantry to retire with 63 killed,              

wounded or missing. Later, ready to move on                

a half hour notice, the sun sets amidst black                          

banks of clouds leaving a dirty red smudgy sky             

with the boom of distant gunfire broken                        

by the sharper rattle of nearby machine guns.

Everything seems ominous. Everyone is on alert.          

                                                                                   

July 18, 1944                                         

      

                                                                                     

The shadow of death passes over Headquarters. 

In minutes, 21 cm mortars take thirty-one lives. Heavier casualties than a normal day’s fighting.            

                                                                                                              

August 25, 1944                                           

                                                                                     

An extensive map issue arrives showing vast

distances and fabulous advances imagined by HQ.

Startling indeed, as those left from D-Day recall

the slow, difficult struggle for CAEN and the

devastating exploitation and FALAISE assault.

Two days later considerable friction develops                 

among all command levels. Little is accomplished         

due to the lack of appreciation by the Infantry              

of issues arising using armour in country where

dense woods greatly limit the traversing of guns.

                                                                                     

 September 1944 – May 1945                                                                                                                                                                     

A few men who were through the thickest fighting                  

are a little jittery yet but doing well and should            

soon be over it as the Regiment fights on in NWE. 

*Nearly 150,000 Allied troops landed or parachuted into the invasion area on D-Day, including 14,000 Canadians at Juno Beach. My father was one of the men who landed that day.

The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors and the RCAF contributed 15 fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons to the assault. Total Allied casualties on D-Day reached more than 10,000, including 1,074 Canadians, of whom 359 were killed. By the end of the Battle of Normandy, the Allies had suffered 209,000 casualties, including more than 18,700 Canadians. Over 5,000 Canadian soldiers died. (From the Canadian Encyclopedia.)