70th Anniversary of D-Day, 1944-2014
Commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Campaign will soon be underway. Here are a few facts, quotes and graphics on D-Day.
Legion Magazine
May 1, 2014
Commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Campaign will soon be underway. Here are a few facts, quotes and graphics on D-Day.
Most of the Canadian soldiers who served in the Battle of Normandy were not involved in the D-Day landings or the bridgehead battles.
The 2nd Canadian Division did not arrive in France until after the capture of Caen on July 9 and 4th Armoured Div. reached Normandy later in the month, in time to take part in the August battles. Thus, for many veterans and their families, the area south of Caen and the roads to the River Seine are the important places of pilgrimage.
The 70th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy will introduce a new generation of Canadians to events that have long stirred the imaginations and collective memories of veterans and their children.
There will no doubt be extensive television coverage on June 6, centered on major Canadian commemorative events at the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer, but there will be much else to see and do in Normandy during June, July and August.
As the battle of Normandy ended in the last days of August 1944, the soldiers focused their energies on the pursuit of the German army and the liberation of northern France.
It was left to the war correspondents to make sense of the confused, bloody campaign that had ended so quickly after weeks of apparent stalemate. Newspapers carried stories, the first draft of history that was to constitute the beginning of our collective memory of what had happened and why it happened.
Exclusive Audio Version The Long Shock Of War The reverberations of war continue long after the last shell or bullet is fired. They roll
On the afternoon of Aug. 18, 1944, the 4th Canadian Armoured Division redeployed its forces in response to a directive from the corps commander to prevent the enemy from escaping the Falaise Pocket.
The division was to establish blocking positions along the River Dives between the villages of Trun and Chambois. The Polish Armd. Div. was to secure Chambois, linking up with the American 90th Infantry Div.
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