This is it
The following day arrived with renewed assurance from the officers that they were going to invade.
It was between 1300 and 1400 hours on the fifth when the craft slipped quietly out of the harbor, in daylight, with no fanfare except for waving dock workers wishing the Canadians good luck on their historic undertaking. One of the pipers played Road to the Isles as the men were carried off to war.
"Alright, this is for real, then" the last cynics conceded.
By 1600 hours, additional orders and maps for all leaders down to section level were opened from sealed bundles. The status of this information was Top Secret in its sealed state, and went down to Secret once opened. Now the operation as concerned for the battalion, and much of the greater plan could be appreciated.
Their parent brigade, the 9th, was to be the follow up force for 7th and 8th Brigades, who would storm a portion of beach code named Juno. The 7th would land on Nan White and the 8th on Nan Red beach.
In the 9th Brigade, the HLI of C was the follow up battalion for the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders and the North Nova Scotia Regiment. They were to land on the following morning at the towns of Courseulles-sur-Mer and St. Aubin-sur-Mer, and follow up through the lead element's consolidated foothold. Through the various towns, supported by tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers, the whole brigade would make its way to Carpiquet airfield, south of the city of Caen.
The HLI would follow the rapid gains of the lead battalions by bicycle and would take the lead with the rest of 9th Brigade for the final capture of Carpiquet airfield. Army planners at Supreme Headquarters wanted to own this aerodrome and start using it as early into the invasion as possible, which meant heavy casualties had to be accepted if necessary. Carpiquet airfield was one of the most critical objectives for the entire invasion plan.
Also included in the sealed packages were addresses to the troops by Field Marshall Montgomery, overall commander of 21st Army Group, and the famous briefing from Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, which read:
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.
The eyes of the world are upon you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in the free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capability to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good Luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
DWIGHT EISENHOWER
Now the men of the HLI, and indeed, the entire invasion force (save the airborne soldiers, parachuting deep into Norman country that evening), settled into their cramped quarters for a long wait.
The sea continued to churn heavily, and many soldiers became sick. A point came for many when they weren't so concerned about the enemy on the beaches, but just to disembark from their tossing and turning boats, which caused stomachs to do the same.
Private Bill Marshall was one of about four in his hold that was not feeling ill. He opened up a can of link sausage, (which was primarily soy, very little meat found its way into the sausage, if any, at times, "I hold before you a mystery" people would say,) the sight of which made some of the sick feel sicker. After all, "if they slide down easy, they'll come up easy." He was also to enjoy a first time novelty, a self-heating, magnesium can of tomato and oxtail soup.
Pte. Nels Hilborn was not hungry. He was shoving his way up top of his craft regularly to throw up over the side, his toes curling with each heave.
¶
D Day
6 June
0400 hours
The inky blackness of the English Channel erupts with light and thunder as the invasion fire plan initiates with a massive naval shelling. Bombers are also on their way and this combination amounts to a preparatory bombardment the likes of which history has never before witnessed.
Many of the HLI officers on decks could see the flashes from the guns, which were supporting the airborne landings.
By 0700, battleships with their massive guns, and rocket dispensing barges hammed the towns, countryside and beaches on what was turning out to be a gray overcast day. Tracked artillery pieces also pitched in while chocked onto the flat decks of their craft. These 105 mm "Priest" guns fired on the fly blindly in the general direction of their objectives from the decks of their landing craft.
The support was impressive, but would it take care of the defenders?
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The members of 716th Infantry Division weren't necessarily the cream of Germany's crop. Rather, some were slightly overage, or underage, or racially impure to serve with the other units; or just as likely not medically fit enough. The best soldiers present were veterans from the Russian front, sent to France to serve a term of convalescence after being "used up" on the Russian front.
The sound of unidentified aircraft passing high overhead at 0400 was reported by soldiers serving the night shift to their immediate supervisors; Caen was being bombed. The medieval city was only a dozen miles away, which meant people in high places could see the flashes as the heavy bombers dumped payload after payload onto it's buildings and inhabitants. The impacts could be felt under their feet miles away as a dull vibration. People in bed were woken up by a distant low sounding series of thuds. It was the unmistakable noise of bombs from airplanes, dozens of them.
Sometime after 0400, across the Normandy beachfront, infantry units like the 716th were alerted at varying times to stand-to, with next to no idea of what to expect. They looked out to the dark sea with binoculars and spotter scopes, but little could be seen on an overcast night such as this. Was the bombing a preclude to an invasion?
By the time first light arrived to usher in a dull cloudy day, fighters and bombers belonging to the allies were tearing over the skies. Spitfires flew inland and stalked for enemy fighters, while Typhoons dove and fired rockets onto targets they had studied from photographs only a few hours previous. Battleships switched their aim to support the infantry landings at 0700. Buildings were erupting and occasionally collapsing around the Germans and French citizens alike.
Much of the bombardment was haphazard in terms of accuracy and for those who had the misfortune of landing in heavily defended areas, the price was high. On Omaha beach, the American landing was a slaughter almost of Dieppe proportions. The specialized Duplex Drive Sherman tanks, which were to swim in and support the infantry, did not even make it to the beach before being destroyed by German coastal guns. The infantry on the beaches advanced regardless and took the beach, with heavy caualties.
Their American comrades on Utah beach hadn't met nearly the resistance and quickly consolidated their gains and pressed on towards their objectives inland. British beaches Sword and Gold, which lay on either side of Juno, encountered heavy resistance, took their beaches, but could not make much headway inland towards Caen.
The Canadians at Juno also had heavy resistance. The Queen's Own Rifles and Winnipeg Rifles bore the brunt of it, taking heavy casualties, but captured the beach. Enemy machineguns, positioned inside the pillboxes, reaped havoc on the infantry exposed on the beaches. Only just over half of the QORs and Winnipeg Rifles were left standing after their mad dash for the first available cover; followed up by a close range fight to eliminate the soldiers of 716th division on the beach.
¶
The HLI, with 9th Brigade was to land on Nan Red beach and advance inland. But instead, after chugging in circles off the coast for hours, the HLI was redirected to the right at Bernieres-sur-Mer, White beach, to avoid the congestion of equipment and personnel. However, the new location proved to be just as congested.
Here, the Queen's Own had lost over 100 men dead and wounded fighting for the beach at Bernieres. When the HLI landed at around 1120 a.m., the wounded were being cared for but many of the dead still remained where they had fallen. Bodies of Queen's Own Riflemen were floating in the water and as the ships carrying the HLI approached, the bodies bounced and skidded along the hulls.
One craft, carrying Lt. Col. Griffiths and his command group, was damaged as it ran into a mine attached to an obstacle made of welded railway tie sections. The explosion hurt no one, but did manage to put a three foot hole in the ship's hull.
Padre Jock Anderson stood on the deck, stranding with the rest of headquarters until their recovery hours later. In the meantime, he had a grandstand view of the beach. In the water, when he looked directly down, bodies were floating in the water, bouncing off the ship's hull; Canadian bodies. The beachfront was occupied by a few buildings recently scarred and at the moment were surrounded by Canadian men and equipment pouring off the narrow strip of beach.
Standing next to him was the old vet, Regimental Quartermaster Rutherford, who was now officially in his second war.
"George," Jock asked, "can I say that I've been in action now?"
The man answered yes, it was close enough.
"Okay then, enough of this, take me home!"
For the other LCIs, they touched down with no problem. Two sailors for each ship got out to hold on to fat ropes at diagonals, to keep the craft straight. For the vehicle carrying craft, the ramps would drop, and the universals of the mortar and carrier platoons disembarked. Bicycle carrying soldiers on LCI(L)s walked off the deck, down the sides on iron steps, and waded ashore.
Inside the belly of a landing craft, Nels Hilborn sat in the driver seat of his mortar section's carrier. Other carriers were jammed against each other, all waiting for the ramp to drop.
When it did the immediate view was of a narrow tract of beach completely occupied by soldiers, mostly moving off the beach in orderly lines, while some others gaggled in small groups. There were ashen faced medics and stretcher bearers at work in earnest for their first time; the casualties they helped were not acting.
Nels drove the carrier forward, but stopped short of driving down once he noticed bodies of dead soldiers floating in the shallow water. He shouted back to the mortar platoon commander, that there were bodies in the way and naturally he did not want to drive over them. However, the momentum of the landing could not wait.
"If you don't get moving, you'll be one of them! Move!"
Such was the experience of The Highland Light Infantry of Canada on D-Day, stepping and driving over the grim leftovers of a hard won fight.
For the walking men, it was a short wade from the parked landing craft to the beach. Once a soldier's wet feet stepped out of the Channel onto dry land, he joined the compacted mass of others gradually shuffling their way off the beach.
At high tide, only a few yards separated the sea from a three foot high retaining wall made of concrete. Behind this wall some vehicles took refuge while the lines of troops snaked around them. The bulldozer which had pushed beach sand into a ramp for the combat vehicles sat off to the side, waiting for another job. Near the dozer a tracked anti aircraft gun pointed its single Bofors autocanon inland; its crew scanned the sky in anticipation of enemy aircraft.
In single file they carried their bicycles onto the paved road. Here, the companies and platoons expected to carry on into the Norman countryside, riding their bikes behind a speedy advance of tanks and mounted infantry. If things were going as planned (and they did not know if it was), they would be hard pressed to keep up with the advancing battalions. In fact, that was why A Company was mounted on the carrier platoon's universals, to keep at least one company up with the battle if events should progress so quickly.
To look behind them, towards the sea, would have been an awesome sight. Countless landing craft of various types were at the beach, about every fourth with a barrage balloon floating high above it to reduce the effectiveness of enemy air attack. In the distance naval war machines were either firing their guns inland or were poised to do so.
But there was little time to gaze backward. The gains of the assaulting brigade had to be exploited; the Canadians were to reach Carpiquet airfield.
