Download JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER Introduction

JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER
YV Introduction
Focus
This News in Review story focuses
on Canada’s contribution to the
largest military
invasion in history—the Allied
assault on Normandy. The diamond anniversary
of this critical
battle was recently
celebrated, in June
2004.
Definition
D-Day and H-Hour
are military terms
that stand for the
day and hour when
a military campaign
will begin. Troops
aren’t told the
exact time of the
attack until the last
minute, and sometimes D-Day and
H-Hour change
drastically, as
occurred in 1944.
YV
Sections
marked with this
symbol indicate
content suitable for
younger viewers.
To supplement their air-reconnaissance
photographs of the coast of France,
Allied planners asked citizens to mail in
any postcards they had purchased while
vacationing in France. They hoped that
the photographs of the coastal landscape on these postcards would give
them a better idea of the terrain.
On the first day 30 000 postcards
arrived. In the next few weeks,
10 million more came flooding through
the post. Everyone wanted to do something—anything—to help their sons,
fathers, husbands, friends, and sweethearts succeed in what they were soon
to face.
The big day that everyone dreaded—
D-Day—was coming soon. The Allied
forces had been preparing for this day
for more than four years. On D-Day,
Canadian, British, and U.S. forces
would invade mainland Europe, a
continent occupied by the Axis powers
of Germany and Italy. First, they would
get a foothold on the beaches of
Normandy, France. Then they would
fight their way across the continent to
the heart of Nazi Germany.
• Concrete pillboxes, fortified houses,
deep trenches, and machine-gun
emplacements would shoot down
soldiers who made it to the beach.
• Landmines, concrete barriers, and
barbed wire placed all along the beach
would keep Allied troops on the
beach, where they could be shot.
How to breach the walls of Fortress
Europe? By blasting through it with so
much firepower and so many attackers
that some soldiers would make it
through. D-Day would be the largest
military invasion force in history.
The Allies gathered together 156 000
fighting men to invade 80-kilometres of
coast. Of these, 14 500 were Canadian
troops, in 14 battalions and regiments.
A further 27 000 Canadians took part as
members of the Royal Canadian Navy,
Air Force, and Army, in support roles.
Thousands more participated as members of Britain’s Royal Navy and Air
Force. All these Canadians had been
training in England for this day since
they had first signed up at the beginning
of the war.
Fortress Europe
That first step—getting a foothold on
the beaches of Normandy—would be
difficult. Hitler had turned Europe into
a fortress. There were 210 000 German
troops spread along the coast, and the
German army had barricaded the whole
Atlantic shoreline to prevent just such
an attack from England.
• Barricades and mines in the water
would prevent easy landings.
• Placements of 88-millimetre cannons
and naval guns would fire on ships 20
kilometres out to sea.
At Daybreak
On the morning of June 6, German
soldiers peered out from their coastal
bunkers to see a vast flotilla of 7 000
ships and 4 000 landing craft emerge
from the morning mist. There were so
many ships, the soldiers would say, that
you could have lined them up end to
end and skipped back to England. But
these ships carried men set on a deadly
mission: to attack Fortress Europe, to
create a foothold in Normandy, and to
fight for freedom. These young soldiers
were frightened, they were seasick, and
many just wanted to go home. But they
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 44
The Combatants
Allied countries:
Australia, Canada,
China, Great Britain, New Zealand,
South Africa, Soviet
Union, and United
States
Countries occupied
by the Axis powers
that had resistance
movements: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece,
Luxembourg,
Netherlands,
Norway, Poland,
and Yugoslavia
Axis countries:
Bulgaria, Finland,
Germany, Hungary,
Italy, Japan, Manchuria, and Romania
stayed and did what had to be done.
The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
and the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade together were assigned a stretch of
beach code-named Juno. British divisions were assigned Sword and Gold
Beaches, and U.S. divisions were
assigned Utah and Omaha Beaches.
It was a long and bloody day. But 10
hours after H-Hour, Canadian troops
had pushed 13 kilometres inland to the
outer defences of the town of Caen.
This action secured success in the
British-Canadian sector. A beachhead
had been secured, the Western Front
had been opened, and the battle for
Europe could begin.
To Consider
1. Put yourself in a soldier’s position. How would you feel as you travelled
across the channel and were informed that this was not an exercise but
the real thing?
2. What defences did the Canadians have to face when they reached the
coast of France?
Did you know . . .
The 2004 diamond
anniversary (60
years) celebrations
of D-Day represent
probably the last
major celebration
of the June 6, 1944,
landings? Most of
the participants are
either dead or in
their late 70s and
80s. From now on,
it will be up to
younger Canadians
to keep alive the
memories of that
momentous day.
3. How might the success of Canada’s soldiers on D-day affect Canadians’
sense of national identity?
4. What can young Canadians today do to ensure that the memory of this
important event is never lost?
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 45
JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER
YV Video Review
Complete the
questions in Part I
of this exercise
while reviewing the
video. Later you
can attempt the
second part of the
exercise.
Part I
During the Second World War, Adolph Hitler and Germany attacked and occupied much of continental Europe, including France. The allies attacked France
on D-Day with the long-term goal of recapturing all of Europe from the German armies.
1. What did the Allies do on June 6, 1944?
2. This day is commonly known as _________________________________
3. Juno Beach is located in ________________________________________
4. Identify at least three ways the Germans tried to make it difficult to land
on the beaches of France.
5. What was the name of the famous German general who was leading the
German defence? ___________________________________________
6. Which countries fought beside Canada that day?
7. How many Canadians were killed or wounded on that first day? _________
8. How far inland did the Canadians reach on the first day? ________________
9. How many Canadians were killed or wounded before they could fight
their way beyond Normandy? _________________
10. Why do the French still come out to applaud the actions of men from so
many years ago?
11. According to Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, why did the Canadians
invade Europe?
12. How old was Gérard Doré of Roberval, Quebec, when he died in
Normandy?___________
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 46
13. Why did the Queen say thank you?
14. One invitation to the celebrations was a controversial one. Who was the
person invited and why was this so controversial?
15. How many Germans died in the Normandy campaign? ______________
16. What is the purpose of the Juno Beach Centre?
Part II – Crossword
Complete this crossword on Juno Beach using the words at the bottom to help
you answer the questions.
Across
2. One of the two beaches where the British attacked
3. One of the two beaches where the U.S. attacked
4. Month when D-Day occurred
5. Country that was occupying France at the time
7. Name of the war in which D-Day occurred
Down
1. Country where the Allies launched D-Day
2. Years that have passed since D-Day (at the time of filing)
3. Code name for the D-Day operation
4. The beach where the Canadians attacked
5. One of the two beaches where the British attacked
6. One of the two beaches where the U.S. attacked
1
3
2
4
5
6
7
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 47
Words to choose from:
France
Germany
Gold
June
Juno
Omaha
Overlord
Sixty
Sword
Utah
World War Two
JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER
YV Canadians in the Second World War
Note: This very
brief account
focuses on the
European front in
the Second World
War. The war in the
Pacific is yet another story.
Background to War
The Second World War began when
two nations began stretching their
military muscle and started invading
independent neighbouring countries.
In Italy, Benito Mussolini ruled his
country with an iron fist. His Fascist
regime embraced a totalitarian doctrine
that combined nationalistic and elitist
ideas. He invaded Ethiopia in 1935,
ignoring world opinion. His success
encouraged the future aggression of
Adolf Hitler of Germany.
Germany was humiliated after the
First World War, when it was stripped
of its colonies and had to compensate
the victors of the war, as laid out by the
Treaty of Versailles (1919). Economic
depression further destabilized Germany, making it possible for the charismatic leader Adolph Hitler to come to
power in 1933. His party, the National
Socialist Party of German Workers
(National-Sozialistische Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei, or NSDAP), otherwise
known as the Nazi Party, promised that
Germany would rise to greatness once
more, both economically and militarily.
Through violence and intimidation
Hitler eliminated his political opposition.
In 1935, Hitler enacted the
Nuremberg Racial Laws, which denied
Jewish German citizens their rights. On
the night of November 9, 1938, members of Nazi youth organizations attacked Jewish neighbourhoods. They
burned down synagogues, vandalized
7 500 stores, and arrested 26 000 Jews,
whom they began to send to concentration camps. Germany annexed Austria
in 1938, and then seized Czechoslovakia in 1939. Although Canadians hoped
that war could be avoided, it appeared
that the violent regime in Germany could
not be contained.
Canada Goes to War
In August 1939, Germany invaded
Poland. Great Britain sided with Poland
and signed a mutual protection treaty.
After Germany attacked on August 30,
Britain and France declared war on
Germany, on September 3.
Should Canada go to war? Canadians
well remember how many of their young
men had died in Europe during the First
World War, but they could not deny that
Hitler had to be stopped. On September
10, Canada joined the war effort.
Canada’s military was not in great
shape, so the first task of Mackenzie
King’s government was to prepare.
Volunteers were welcomed into the
army, navy, and air force. Industry and
agriculture were diverted for war purposes, such as building ships and manufacturing munitions. Canada became a
training centre for pilots from all over
the Commonwealth.
In the meantime, Germany invaded
and conquered many of the countries of
Western Europe. Britain braced itself for
attack.
Some Key Events
Battle of Britain—On July 10, 1940,
Hitler attacked Britain. British and
Canadian forces responded by bombing
Berlin and then beat off German raids in
the skies over London. After heavy
losses, Hitler postponed his invasion of
Britain.
Germany invades the Soviet Union— In
June 1941, Hitler made probably his
biggest mistake of the war when he
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 48
Definition
Conscript refers to
a soldier forced to
enlist and fight
rather than a
volunteer who
freely chooses to
enlist and do
battle. Conscription
in both world wars
seriously divided
Canadians.
Did you know. . .
Over the six years
of the Second
World War, more
than one million
Canadians (including 50 000 women),
or one-tenth of the
population, went
into uniform to
fight for freedom?
Unlike the armies
of our Allies,
virtually all of our
soldiers were
volunteers, fighting
to free the world of
tyranny. Of these
men and women,
45 000 lost their
lives, and many
more suffered
permanent injuries.
invaded the giant to the East. He underestimated the Soviet Union’s determination to fend him off, and the Eastern
Front continued to rage until the end of
the war. This battlefront bled Germany
white.
Attack on Pearl Harbour—On December 7, 1941, Japan, an ally of Germany,
attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii,
thereby crippling the U.S. Navy in the
Pacific and bringing the United States
into the war against Japan, Germany,
and Italy.
Attack at Hong Kong—Canadian
defenders were unable to thwart Japanese aggression on this British colony
in December 1941. At the end of the
battle, 286 Canadians were dead. A
further 266 died in concentration camps.
Battle of Dieppe—On August 19, 1942,
a Canadian force of 5 000 soldiers, with
about 1 000 British soldiers, attacked
the well-defended port of Dieppe on the
coast of France. The raid was intended
to test the German defences and distract
the German army from the Eastern
Front, where Soviet soldiers were being
slaughtered. The experiment was a
disaster. Almost 1 000 Canadians died
and 500 were injured. Of the 5 000
Canadians, 2 752 remained at the
beach, either dead or taken prisoner.
Lessons learned at Dieppe were to save
lives when D-Day was launched two
years later.
Invasion of Italy—On July 10, 1943,
Allied forces, including a large contingent of Canadians, invaded the island of
Sicily in southern Italy. Over the next
months they slowly fought their way
north through Italy.
D-Day—On June 6, 1944, after years of
training, the build-up of military hardware, and strategic planning, the day for
the Allied counterattack to recapture
Europe from German forces had come.
Though a small nation, Canada played a
key role. The fight for Normandy lasted
about 11 weeks.
Clearing the Coast—While other Allied
troops headed for Germany, the Canadians fought their way up the coast,
freeing up key port cities so that Allied
supplies could be provided to inland
troops. The Battle of the Scheldt, in the
Belgium-Netherlands border area, was
particularly fierce.
The Rhine Offensive—On February 8,
after conscripted Canadian troops
arrived to bolster the weakened volunteer troops, Canadians launched an
assault to capture an area along the
border of Germany and the Netherlands. British and U.S. troops attacked
Germany from farther south.
Liberation of the Netherlands—In
April, after crossing the Rhine, Canadian troops freed the Netherlands,
bringing disaster relief to a starving
population.
Germany surrenders, May 4, 1945—In
the following weeks, the Allies discovered the full horror of the war as they
entered the death camps where almost
two-thirds of Europe’s Jews had been
killed.
Activities
1. Make a timeline of the events leading up to war and the main events of
the war. On your own, find three more key events of the Second World
War to add to your timeline.
2. Which event of the Second World War do you think was a turning point,
that is, an event that changed the course of history? Explain your thinking.
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 49
JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER
YV Through Soldiers’ Eyes
Further Research
Since June 2004
represented the
diamond anniversary of D-Day, a
number of new
books have been
published, including Juno by Ted
Barris, Thomas
Allen Publishers;
Juno Beach by Tim
Sauders, McGillQueen’s University
Press; and Juno
Beach: Canada in
World War II, a
multimedia package including a CDROM, book and
Web site, by Pierre
Landry, Jack
MacFadden and
Angus Scully,
Penguin Canada.
Read the following reminiscences of
four soldiers involved in the D-Day
assault.
Kelvin Mactier, Winnipeg, Manitoba,
joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles at the
age of 21. He was one of the first to
land on D-Day.
We landed around 7 or 7:30 in the
morning near Courseulles-sur-Mer.
There was all kinds of gunfire coming
towards us and everyone was shooting
as they were running. I only got in
about 20 or 30 feet [6 to 9 metres]
when I was hit on the left side of the
face by a bullet. There must have been a
sniper in a church steeple to the left of
us.
It was just like getting hit on the head
with a sledgehammer. It knocked me
right down and I did a couple of somersaults. The bullet knocked out four
teeth, went through my tongue and
broke my jaw. I lay on the beach all day
and kept passing out and coming to.
What I remember most was men running by me the rest of the day. A lot of
troops came in behind us. I didn’t have
any fear of the Canadian Army being
overrun or that we were going to lose. I
knew we were in and that was it. . . .
I fully recovered and was back with
my regiment by September.
(In Luke Fisher, D’Arcy Jenish, and
Barbara Wickens, “Tale of War,”
Maclean’s, June 6, 1994)
Mervin Wolfe, Brandon, Manitoba,
joined the Canadian army at the age of
19. At Juno he served as a forward
operating observer with the 19th Army
Field Regiment, an artillery unit.
There were snipers firing at us from this
big, old house right at the edge of the
beach. There must have been half a
dozen guys dead on the beach when I
went in. As I ran up the beach, I was
loaded up pretty heavily with my
packsack, wireless set, a Sten gun, six
rounds of ammunition and six hand
grenades. One of the British commandos was running faster than me, probably because I was weighed down. He
crossed in front of me and the moment
he did he got hit. He went down and I
tripped over him. I always said that
bullet was meant for me instead of him.
(In Luke Fisher, D’Arcy Jenish, and
Barbara Wickens, “Tale of War,”
Maclean’s, June 6, 1994)
German soldier Franz Gockel defended
the Normandy Coast on D-Day.
In the beginnings, the ships lay at 20
kilometres, but the range slowly decreased. With unbelieving eyes we
could recognize individual landing
craft. The hail of shells falling upon us
grew heavier, sending fountains of sand
and debris into the air. The mined
obstacles in the water were partly
destroyed. . . .
Suddenly the rain of shells ceased,
but only for a very short time. Again it
came. Slowly the wall of explosions
approached, metre by metre, worse
than before—a deafening torrent—
cracking, screaming, whistling, and
sizzling, destroying everything in its
path. There was no escape, and I
crouched helplessly behind my weapon.
I prayed for survival and my fear
passed. Suddenly it was silent again.
There were six of us in the position,
and still no one was wounded. A com-
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 50
rade stumbled out of the smoke and dust
into my position and screamed, “Franz,
watch out! They’re coming.”
(Reprinted materials from Voices of DDay: The Story of the Allied Invasion
Told by Those Who Were There, by
Ronald J. Drez. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1994, as they
appeared on www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/
dday/sfeature/sf_voices.html)
George Frederick Johnson, Lance
corporal with the Fort Garry Horse
Regiment, participated in the second
wave on Juno Beach.
When I reached the tanks that first
night, I saw some of the wounded
coming back. We lost about 12, 13 guys
from my regiment—killed on the beach
that day. And I think there were another
15 or 16 wounded. I lost one of the kids
I went to school with. He was killed on
the beach along with another guy in his
tank.
Was I frightened? Continually. There
were times when you hit the deck. But
you’re so busy you don’t have time to
reflect. I think war is a foolish thing to
start with, but what are you going to do
when you have the Germans running
over smaller countries? And it looked
like they would come across the Channel into England and take that country.
That was when everybody said enough
is enough.
I was no hero. I just landed with the
rest of them and went along with it.
(Mark Zuehlke, “Canada’s Triumph at
Juno,” Time Canada, May 31, 2004)
Recreating the Past
1. In groups of four, each person can read out loud one of the quotations.
Try to capture some of the drama and reality of the words.
2. Next, summarize, in your own words, what your soldier talks about.
3. Compare each man’s experience and how he viewed his experiences on
June 6, 1944.
4. Write a personal response to one of the accounts of your own choosing.
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 51
JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER
YV D-Day: Beginning of the End
Quote
“The first 24 hours
of the invasion will
be decisive . . . the
fate of Germany
depends on the
outcome . . . for the
Allies, as well as
Germany, it will be
the longest day.”
—Erwin Rommel,
the distinguished
German field
marshall in charge
of the defence of
Normandy
Definition
Mulberries were
floating artificial
harbours made in
Great Britain in
parts, transported
across the channel,
and then put
together off the
coast of Normandy.
Each one was
connected to shore
with 10-kilometres
of flexible steel
roadways. Over the
next eight weeks,
the mulberries
allowed the Allies
to disembark the
1.5 million soldiers
and 1.6 million
tonnes of supplies
required to sustain
an invasion.
The secrecy of the D-Day mission was
of utmost importance. Many troops
didn’t even know for sure that their trip
to sea was not an exercise until they
were out on the water. To confuse the
enemy, General George S. Patton had
created a fake preparation force near
Dover, to make it look like the Allies
intended to invade Pas de Calais.
Movie-set builders created huge army
encampments with thousands of
wooden tanks. Days after the attack in
Normandy, the Germans were still
convinced that the real attack hadn’t yet
occurred.
On the evening of June 5, a code was
broadcast over the BBC for the members of the underground in France. On
hearing “The dice are on the table,”
5 000 French resistance fighters went
into action, disabling electrical and
telephone communication lines, and
blowing up railway lines.
Paratroopers (soldiers who use parachutes) went in first, at around midnight. They flew in on tiny
Albermarles, twin-engine bombers
converted to carry troops. The choice of
plane was crucial. If the Germans
spotted the bomber planes, they would
think that they were just over Europe on
another bombing raid.
In the meantime, the Allied forces
were crossing the channel from
Southampton, Portsmouth, and Gosport
toward Normandy. Bad weather
plagued the mission, even delaying it by
a day, but the bad weather served to put
the Germans off their guard—who
would be crazy enough to attempt an
invasion in such bad weather?
But attack they did at H-Hour: 6:30
a.m.
The Americans
The Canadians at Juno lost more men
on that first day than anyone but the
Americans at Omaha Beach. Omaha
was a complete disaster because only
two of the assigned 29 tanks made it to
the beach, and they only lasted a few
minutes. High cliffs overlooking the
beach provided an excellent defensive
position for the Germans, and the
Americans paid a heavy price.
On Utah Beach, the soldiers had less
trouble on the beach but instead faced
greater obstacles inland from rough and
flooded terrain.
The British
The British at Gold Beach were to
secure the site for a mulberry emplacement. They were also supposed to
bridge the gap between the Americans
to the south, and the Canadians to the
north. Their success on the beach was
largely due to their use of military
vehicles designed specifically to clear
the way through minefields and other
barriers.
The British at Sword Beach, farthest
north, did not make their objective
because of fierce fighting inland from
German Panzer (Tank) Divisions.
The Canadians
The Canadians were older and a little
less gung-ho than the soldiers from
Britain and the United States. Not only
had they been training for years for this
mission, they knew about and feared
another Dieppe disaster, in which so
many of their fellow Canadians had
been slaughtered.
The Canadians were responsible for a
10-kilometre stretch of beach that
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 52
included the small fishing port of
Courseulles-sur-Mer and the villages of
Bernières-sur-Mer and St. Aubin.
Heavy seas and a difficult landing site
meant that the Canadians went in late—
at 8:00 a.m.—to a wide, exposed beach
where the Germans were prepared.
It was a difficult landing. Some
heavily laden soldiers stepped off their
landing craft into deep water and
promptly drowned. Tanks dropped into
water that was too deep sank to the
bottom. Bombers and naval guns had
not managed to take out the German
defences, so the men had to run through
water and across beaches under a rain
of bullets. The sound of enemy gunfire
was continual, but the Canadians
braved the maelstrom. Only half of the
men to step off the first boats survived.
These were the Royal Winnipeg Rifles,
Le Régiment de la Chaudière, and the
North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment. One company of the Regina
Rifles lost 92 of its 120 men on the
beach. The situation was not as bad as
Dieppe, although 375 Canadians died
on that first day, and 628 were
wounded.
After making it onto the beach the
soldiers had to stop the German guns.
Tanks blasted shells at the German
pillboxes. Infantrymen climbed right on
top of them, tossing grenades through
the firing slits or kicking in the back
doors to fight with bayonets and rifles.
Although they arrived on the beach last,
the Canadians got farther inland than
any other D-Day unit.
Worse was to come, when the Canadians met the soldiers of the 12th SS—
Hitler Youth—at the Carpiquet airfield
outside Caen. The fighting was brutal.
Some Canadians were captured in
Normandy, becoming prisoners of war.
Of these, 144 Canadians were shot after
capture. In the first six days of the
Normandy campaign 1 017 Canadian
soldiers were killed. More than 5 000
were dead by the time the campaign
ended. By the end of the war, 42 000
Canadian soldiers had made the greatest
sacrifice for their country and for
freedom.
A Day for Canada to Remember
Partly because of our losses, and also
because of our hard-fought success, a
great thing happened for Canada on DDay. It seemed to many Canadians that
we stood tall as a David among the
Goliaths of Britain and the United
States. Despite our small population, we
fought alongside our partners to wrest
freedom from the brink. Many Canadians began to realize that we might
participate fully as a leader in the
world—we had earned that place as a
defender of freedom on Juno Beach.
Research Activities
1. On a blank map of Europe, locate and label Portsmouth, Southampton,
Normandy, Caen, Pas de Calais, and Berlin (capital of Germany). Explain
why the Germans would have expected an attack on Pas de Calais instead
of Normandy.
2. Research the events at one of the five beaches the Allied forces attacked
on D-Day. Write a one-page synopsis of the day’s efforts.
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 53
JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER
YV Juno Beach Centre
Further Research
Use these sites to
complete the
research activity:
www.normandie
memoire.com
(history section)
www.canadianbattleof
normandyfoundation.ca
www.waramps.ca/
military
www.vac-acc.gc.ca/
general/
sub.cfm?source=history/
secondwar
D-Day veteran Garth Webb, of
Burlington, Ontario, served with the
Royal Canadian Artillery. In 1994, to
mark the 50th anniversary of D-Day, he
visited Europe, where he was deeply
moved by the warm response the Dutch
people gave to the Canadians who had
liberated their country. Even those born
long after the war appeared grateful that
people from so far away would face
danger to free them.
Webb decided that the Canadian
contribution to the war should be better
recognized elsewhere, and so began his
mission to create a museum and memorial in Normandy. After many years of
lobbying and raising private and public
money for the project, Webb and his
partner, Lise Cooper, finally realized
their dream in the form of the Juno
Beach Centre, which overlooks the
beach that the Canadians stormed so
many years ago. This museum and
education centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer
opened on June 6, 2003, and it presents
the Canadian contribution to the Allied
effort during the Second World War.
If you can’t visit the real museum,
you can always visit the Juno Beach
Centre Web site at www.junobeach.org.
The site gives information about the
goals of the museum. It also gives you a
virtual tour of the museum in Normandy,
and has an excellent list of Web links
for anyone interested in learning more
about the Canadian war effort.
The second arm of information on the
Web site, Canadians in the Second
World War, lists four different types of
information:
• people
• events
• arms and weapons
• interactive centre
The interactive centre is quite informative, with interactive maps that
include:
• the Allied, Axis, and neutral countries
over time
• how the war progressed, including
Canadian troop movements and
Canadian frontlines
• what went on in different theatres of
war—for example, where German Uboats were sunk
• animations that demonstrate the
technology of war—for example, how
minesweeping works
Research Skills
1. Form groups of four to investigate the four Web sites in the margin box.
Each of you can assess one of the four sites. Answer the following questions about your site:
• What organization runs the site?
• How recent is the information? When was the site last updated?
• What kinds of information can you find at the site?
• Did you find any examples of bias on the site?
• Are statements backed up by facts?
2. Find one other Web site that you could use to research Canada’s contribution during the Second World War. Analyze it using the questions provided in Question 1. Would you recommend this site for research? Why, or
why not?
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 54
YV JUNO BEACH: SIXTY YEARS LATER
YV Remembering Activity
Quote
Globe and Mail
newspaper reporter
Roger Hall remarks
about the ways we
remember the
sacrifices made for
us:
They might be
symbols, but the
mourning and
emotions they
trigger are real.
Some say that one
can heal wounds by
forgetting, but it
seems to me that
healing can be
better achieved by
remembering. —
The Globe and
Mail, June 5, 2004
Besides the Juno Beach Centre, here are other ways that Canadians and the
French commemorate the many acts of courage made by Canadian soldiers on
D-Day.
• The Canadian War Cemeteries were perhaps the first commemoration. Benysur-Mer, five kilometres inland, holds 2 043 Canadian dead. A further 2 728
rest at Brettevile-sur-Laize. The Canadian names on the white crosses are a
mosaic of French, English, Ukrainian, German, Polish, Italian, Jewish, First
Nations, and more.
• A Canadian Sherman tank is parked permanently in the village square in
Courseulles-sur-Mer.
• Canadian Battlefields Foundation created a memorial garden on the grounds
of Le Mémorial du Caen, France, to recall the Canadian participation in the
Battle of Normandy. You can see it at
www.canadianbattleofnormandyfoundation.ca/memorial_garden.htm
•␣ The Sixtieth Anniversary Celebrations, in 2004, which transpired over 80 days,
the same length of time that it took to secure Normandy in 1944. Each town
held celebrations in turn, to correspond to the day when it was liberated 60
years earlier.
Activities
1. How do each of the above memorials help us remember what Canadian
soldiers accomplished on Juno Beach?
2. In what other ways do we remember and honour our veterans?
3. Think of three other ways that Canadian young people like yourself could
help remember Juno Beach.
4. You don’t need to go to France or have a lot of money to help others
remember what Canadian soldiers have accomplished. Design a memorial
of your own for the Canadians who fought in one of Canada’s great
battles during the Second World War. This could be a poster, a “newscast,” a pantomime, or any other means of presentation. Work in a group
to research one of the following battles. Then choose a way to memorialize the event and work together to create it.
• D-Day Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord), June 6, 1944
• Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917, in which 5 000 Canadians died and
15 000 were injured in their push to take Vimy Ridge, the linchpin of the
German defence system in northern France in the First World War
• Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee), August 19, 1942, in which 4 000 Canadians and a handful of Britons made a courageous attempt to breach the
Atlantic fortress in France
CBC News in Review • October 2004 • Page 55