by Mark Zuehlke
Most did, and the moving voices of remembrance for those who fell are heard here. “To the world he was just another one. To us he was our darling son,” wrote twenty-six-year-old Private Lawrence Burton Perkins’ family. Perkins, a Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlander, died on June 7. “In loving memory of Ewalt, a dear husband and daddy. Every day in silence we remember. Sadly missed by his loving wife and daughter Connie.” This for Private Ewalt Brandt of the Canadian Scottish Regiment, killed on June 10.
Repeatedly, the theme of remembrance is etched into the hard white stone. Often it is coupled with a sense of bewilderment mingled with pride in sacrifice. Why did this life have to be cut short? “God alone understands,” wrote the family of Regina Rifles Captain Robert Gibson Shinnan, who died on June 9.
We do well as a nation to seek more than divine understanding. The Canada we live in today exists because of the sacrifice of these young men who marched to a call to fight in foreign lands against fascism. They gave their all. Walking out of the cemetery at Bény-sur-Mer on a gentle spring day in Normandy, it is hard to imagine this landscape when it was torn by the blast of shells, gunfire, and the screams of young men dying. Birdsong seems to be everywhere this fine morning. Looking back, I see the Canadian flag snapping in the breeze among the headstones and hope that the trend of record attendance at memorial services on November 11 will continue. That more people will seek to remember and to understand how these young men came to lie in this place so far from home.
APPENDIX A:
CANADIANS IN NORMANDY:
JUNE 7–12, 1944
(NOT ALL UNITS LISTED)
3RD CANADIAN INFANTRY DIVISION
7th Reconnaissance Regiment
(17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars)
—observer elements only
The Royal Canadian Artillery:
12th Field Regiment
13th Field Regiment
14th Field Regiment
19th Army Field Regiment (attached)
3rd Anti-tank Regiment
4th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers:
6th Field Company
16th Field Company
18th Field Company
3rd Field Park Company
5th Field Company (attached)
Brigade Support Group:
The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (MG Battalion)
7th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
The Royal Winnipeg Rifles
The Regina Rifle Regiment
1st Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment
8th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada
Le Régiment de la Chaudière
The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment
9th Canadian Infantry Brigade:
The Highland Light Infantry of Canada
The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
The North Nova Scotia Highlanders
2ND CANADIAN ARMOURED BRIGADE
6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars)
10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse)
27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment)
1ST CANADIAN PARACHUTE BATTALION
(Landed Drop Zone V near River Dives)
APPENDIX B:
CANADIAN INFANTRY BATTALION
(TYPICAL ORGANIZATION)
HQ COMPANY:
No. 1: Signals Platoon
No. 2: Administrative Platoon
SUPPORT COMPANY:
No. 3: Mortar Platoon (3-inch)
No. 4: Bren Carrier Platoon
No. 5: Assault Pioneer Platoon
No. 6: Antitank Platoon (6-pounder)
A COMPANY:
No. 7 Platoon
No. 8 Platoon
No. 9 Platoon
B COMPANY:
No. 10 Platoon
No. 11 Platoon
No. 12 Platoon
C COMPANY:
No. 13 Platoon
No. 14 Platoon
No. 15 Platoon
D COMPANY:
No. 16 Platoon
No. 17 Platoon
No. 18 Platoon
APPENDIX C:
CANADIAN ARMY, GERMAN ARMY,
WAFFEN-SS ORDER OF RANKS
(LOWEST TO HIGHEST)
LIKE MOST Commonwealth nations, the Canadian Army used the British ranking system. Except for the lower ranks, this system little differed from one service arm to another. The German Army system, however, tended to identify service and rank throughout most of its command chain, while the SS ranking system was further complicated by the fact many of its ranks harked back to the organization’s clandestine paramilitary roots. The translations are roughly based on the Canadian ranking system, although there is no Canadian equivalent for many German ranks and some differentiation in responsibility each rank bestowed on its holder.
APPENDIX D:
THE DECORATIONS
Canadian military personnel won many military decorations between June 7 and 12, 1944. The decoration system that Canada used in World War II, like most other aspects of its military organization and tradition, derived from Britain. A class-based system, most military decorations can be awarded either to officers or to “other ranks,” but not both. The Canadian army, navy, and air force also have distinct decorations. Only the Victoria Cross—the nation’s highest award—can be won by personnel from any arm of the service or rank.
The decorations and qualifying ranks are:
VICTORIA CROSS (VC): Awarded for gallantry in the presence of the enemy. Instituted in 1856. Open to all ranks. The only award that can be granted for action in which the recipient was killed, other than Mentioned in Despatches—a less formal honour whereby an act of bravery was given specific credit in a formal report.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER (DSO): Army officers of all ranks, but more commonly awarded to officers with ranks of major or higher.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (DSC): Navy officers ranging in rank from commander down to lieutenant.
MILITARY CROSS (MC): Army officers with a rank normally below major and, rarely, warrant officers.
DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS (DFC): Air Force officers and warrant officers for acts of valour while flying in active operations against the enemy.
AIR FORCE CROSS (AFC): Air Force officers and warrant officers for valour while flying, but not while in active operations against the enemy.
DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL (DCM): Army warrant officers and all lower ranks.
CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY MEDAL (CGM): Navy chief petty officers, petty officers, and men.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL (DSM): Navy chief petty officers, petty officers, and men.
MILITARY MEDAL (MM): Army warrant officers and all lower ranks.
DISTINGUISHED FLYING MEDAL (DFM): Air Force non-commissioned officers and men for valour while flying in active operations against the enemy.
AIR FORCE MEDAL (AFM): Air Force non-commissioned officers and men for valour while flying, but not in active operations against the enemy.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION: WORSE THAN THE BEACH
1 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 650.
2 Charles Martin, Battle Diary: From D-Day and Normandy to the Zuider Zee (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1994), xii–xiv.
3 Ibid., 14.
4 Ibid., 15.
1: LIKE LIONS
1 Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (London: Collins, 1952), 292.
2 Gordon A. Harrison, Cross Channel Attack (Washington: Center of Military History, 1951), 304.
3 Max Hastings, Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984), 87–88.
4 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 650.
5 Hastings, 88.
&n
bsp; 6 Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy: The Unwritten Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign (London: Penguin Books, 2001), 114.
7 Wilmot, 292.
8 Stacey, 116.
9 Ibid., 650–52.
10 Wilmot, 293.
11 Ibid.
12 John Man, The D-Day Atlas: The Definitive Account of the Allied Invasion of Normandy (New York: Facts on File, 1994), 64.
13 Reginald Roy, 1944: The Canadians in Normandy (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1984), 23.
14 Stacey, 650–52.
15 Alex McKee, Caen: Anvil of Victory (London: Souvenir Press, 1964), 70.
16 Bernard Law, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, The Memoirs of Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G. (London: Collins, 1958), 254.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid., 222–23.
19 North Nova Scotia Highlanders War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
20 Will Bird, No Retreating Footsteps: The Story of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders (Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1983), 68–69.
21 Ibid., 69–70.
22 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the RCAF—A Record for Canada, vol. 5 (Shelburne, ON: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2448.
23 North Nova Scotia War Diary, n.p.
24 Jacques Castonguay and Armand Ross, Le Régiment de la Chaudière (Lévis, PQ: n.p., 1983), 245–46.
25 Ibid., 245.
26 Bird, 70–71.
27 Sherbrooke Fusiliers War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 4.
28 Ibid., 4.
29 Bird, 71.
30 Bill McAndrew, Donald E. Graves, and Michael Whitby, Normandy 1944: The Canadian Summer (Montreal: éditions Art Global, 1994), 47–48.
2: THROW THEM INTO THE SEA
1 Walter Warlimont, “The Invasion,” in Fighting the Invasion: The German Army at D-Day, David C. Isby, ed. (London: Greenhill Books, 2000), 88.
2 Tony Foster, Meeting of Generals (Agincourt, ON: Methuen, 1986), 306.
3 Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (London: Collins, 1952), 190.
4 Hans Speidel, “Ideas and Views of Genfldm Rommell, Commander of Army Group B, on Defense and Operations in the West in 1944,” in Fighting the Invasion, David C. Isby, ed., 41–42.
5 Wilmot, 191–92.
6 Ibid., 192.
7 Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg, “Preparations by Panzer Gruppe West,” in Fighting the Invasion, David C. Isby, ed., 74–75.
8 Ibid., 75.
9 Wilmot, 193.
10 Hans von Luck, Panzer Grenadier: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck (Westport, CT: Praeger Publications, 1989), 138.
11 B.H. Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970), 575.
12 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 122.
13 “Campaign in France, 1944: Answers by Gen. Blumentritt to questions submitted by Chester Wilmot,” University of Victoria Special Collections, 3.
14 Hubert Meyer, The History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 1994), 40.
15 Michael Reynolds, Steel Inferno: I SS Panzer Corps in Normandy (New York: Dell Publishing, 1997), 16–17.
16 Meyer, 40.
17 Kurt Meyer, Grenadier (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1994), 117–20.
18 Reynolds, 79.
19 Hubert Meyer, 41.
20 Arnold Warren, Wait For The Waggon: The Story of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1961), 280.
21 Bill McAndrew, Donald E. Graves, and Michael Whitby, Normandy 1944: The Canadian Summer (Montreal: éditions Art Global, 1994), 46.
22 Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (M.G.) War Diary, June 1944, Appendix 10 (D(2) Coy), RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
23 Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (M.G.) War Diary, June 1944, Appendix 15 Diary of Lt.-Col. P.C. Klaehn, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
24 Dave McIntosh, High Blue Battle: The War Diary of No. 1 (401) Fighter Squadron, RCAF (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1990), 147–48.
25 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the RCAF—A Record for Canada, vol. 7 (Shelburne, ON: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 3284–85.
26 McIntosh, 13.
27 B.B. Schofield, Operation Neptune (London: Ian Allen, 1974), 106–11.
28 Brereton Greenhous, Stephen Harris, et. al., The Crucible of War, 1939–1945: The Official History of The Royal Canadian Air Force, vol. 3 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995), 409.
29 Schofield, 106–11.
3: GOING INTO THE ATTACK
1 Ken Moore, interview by author, Esquimalt, BC, 15 May 2004.
2 Christopher Grant, An Illustrated Data Guide to World War II Bombers (St. Catharines, ON: Vanwell Books, 1997), 49–60.
3 Moore interview.
4 Ibid.
5 N.a., Listen to Us: Aircrew Memories (Victoria, BC: The Victoria Publishing Co., 1997), 265–66.
6 Ibid., 266–67.
7 Moore interview.
8 Ibid.
9 N.a., “The Royal Canadian Navy’s Part in the Invasion,” Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 219.
10 C. Anthony Law, White Plumes Astern: The Short, Daring Life of Canada’s MTB Flotilla (Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 1989), 69–74.
11 Ibid., 14–15.
12 “The Royal Canadian Navy’s Part in the Invasion,” 51.
13 Ibid.
14 Law, 37.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., 74–75.
17 Robert Gardiner, ed., Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships: 1922–1944 (London: Conway Maritime Press, 1980), 250–51.
18 “The Royal Canadian Navy’s Part in the Invasion,” 210.
19 Law, 75–76.
20 “The Royal Canadian Navy’s Part in the Invasion,” 220.
21 Ibid.
22 Law, 76.
23 “The Royal Canadian Navy’s Part in the Invasion,” 210.
24 Law, 76.
25 Ibid., 78.
4: A PICNIC
1 Don Mingay, interview by Michael Boire, Collingwood, ON, November 2003.
2 Maj. Michael Boire, “Notes on RMC Graduates,” correspondence with author, October 2004.
3 D.G. Cunningham, “Royal Military College Club of Canada Report,” n.d., copy in possession of author.
4 Boire correspondence.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 “Department of National Defence (Army) Public Relations–Promoted Brigadier,” Bulletin, Directorate of History, n.p.
8 David O’Keefe, “Notes on Kenneth Gault Blackader,” Black Watch Regimental Museum and Archives.
9 Eric Luxton, ed. 1st Battalion, The Regina Rifles Regiment, 1939–1946 (Regina: The Regiment, 1946), 38.
10 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 125.
11 Gordon Brown and Terry Copp, Look to Your Front… Regina Rifles: A Regiment at War, 1944–45 (Waterloo, ON: Laurier Centre Military Strategic Disarmament Studies, 2001), 58.
12 Lt. Col. F.N. Cabeldu, “Battle Narrative of the Normandy Assault and First Counter-Attack,” 145.2C4013(D2), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 3.
13 Maj. D.G. Crofton, “‘C’ Company—Landing on D-Day,” 145.2C4013(D4), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 3.
14 N.a., “Memorandum of Interview with Lt. Col. F.M. Matheson, OC, Regina Rif. by Historical Offr, 24 Jun. 44,” 145.2R11011(4), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 3.
15 Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 5.
16 Lochie Fulton, interview by Ken MacLeod, Victoria, BC, 9 February 1998.
17 Gordon Maxwell, “Battles,” Perspectives, Alex Kuppers, ed. (Royal W
innipeg Rifles Assoc. British Columbia Branch, 2003), 101.
18 Gordon Maxwell, group interview of Royal Winnipeg Rifle members by Ken MacLeod, Vancouver, BC, September 1997.
19 Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary, 5.
20 Fulton interview.
21 Bruce Tascona and Eric Wells, Little Black Devils: A History of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles (Winnipeg: Frye Publishing, 1983), 148.
22 Cabeldu, “Battle Narrative of the Normandy Assault and First CounterAttack,” 3.
23 Sherbrooke Fusiliers War Diary, June 1944, Appendix 27 Canadian Armoured Regt Operation Overlord Account of Action D Day to D+6 Inclusive, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
24 N.a., “Memorandum of Interview with Brig. D.G. Cunningham, Comd 9 CDN INF BDE by Historical Officer, 26 Jun 44,” RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
25 Capt. P.F. Ramsay, “Battle Narrative: ‘B’ Coy, 1 C Scot R,” 145.2C4(D6), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 3.
26 3rd Canadian Infantry Division GSWar Diary, June 1944, Appendix Jacket No. 1 Message Log, RG24, Library and Archives Canada.
27 Ibid.
28 Fulton interview.
29 Tascona and Wells, 149.
30 Stacey, 126.
31 Luxton, 39.
32 1st Hussars War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
33 “Memorandum of Interview with Lt. Col. Matheson,” 3.
34 Brown and Copp, 74.
35 Ibid., 65.
36 Stacey, 126.
37 Cabeldu, “Battle Narrative of the Normandy Assault and First CounterAttack,” 3.
38 Ramsay, “Battle Narrative: ‘B’ Coy, 1 C Scot R,” 3.
39 13th Canadian Field Regiment, RCAWar Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 3.
40 Ibid.
5: PERFORMANCE MOST CREDITABLE
1 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 70.
