1.The 1st Battalion, Regina Rifle Regiment
Normandy Landing
June 6th, 1944

2. Planning for Operation OVERLORD
"In the East, the vastness of space will permit a loss of territory without suffering a mortal blow to Germanys chance for survival. Not so in the West! If the enemy here succeeds consequences of staggering proportions will follow within a short time." Adolf Hitler, 'Directive 51'.
3. Planning for Operation OVERLORD
Operation Overlord - code name for the invasion of northwest Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation began with the Normandy Landings on June 6th, 1944.
June 6th is commonly known as D-Day.
D-Day is among the largest amphibious assaults ever conducted. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than 3 million troops had landed by the end of August.
Planning began in earnest in 1943 and lessons from the failed landing at Dieppe (1942) were used to try and prevent a similar outcome.
Bodies Of Canadian Soldiers at Dieppe c.1942
4. Deception
Operation Fortitude was the codename for the deception operations used by the Allied forces during World War II in connection with the Normandy landings - Operation Overlord.
An entirely fictitious First U.S. Army Group ("FUSAG"), supposedly located in south-eastern Britain under the command of General Lesley J. McNair and General George S. Patton, Jr.
The plan was divided into Fortitude North, a threat to invade Norway, and Fortitude South, designed to induce the Germans to believe that the main invasion of France would occur in the Pas de Calais rather than Normandy.
This operation was one of the most successful deception operations of the war and some argue one of the most important.
Both Fortitude North and Fortitude South were related to a wider deception plan called Operation Bodyguard.
5. Invasion
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. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with 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 a free world.
General Dwight Eisenhower letter to soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force.
General Eisenhower giving orders to American Paratroopers
6. Invasion MapD-Day
7. Canadian Regiments of the 3rd Canadian Division
105 mm mortars of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa plus a platoon of medium machine guns from this Regiment would land with each assault battalion.
8. Mission
On June 6th, 1944, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and the 2nd Armoured Brigade were tasked with establishing a bridgehead on Juno Beach. Juno Beach was an eight-kilometre long stretch of beach bordering Saint-Aubin, Bernires, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Graye-sur-Mer.Assault troops were then to break through and move towards the Carpiquet airfield, 18 kilometres inland.
1st Hussars tanks and men of the 7th Infantry Brigade landing on a crowded beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer, June 6th,1944.Photo by Ken Bell. Department of National Defence / National Archives of Canada, PA-128791
9. Juno Beach Orientation
3rd Canadian Infantry Division with the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade
MIKE BeachNAN Beach
7th Canadian Infantry Brigade8th Canadian Infantry Brigade
1St HussarsFort Garry Horse
Green Red Green White Red
A COYB COY
Royal Winnipeg Rifles Regina Rifle Regiment Queens Own Rifles of Canada North Shore Regiment
w/C COY Canadian Scottish Regiment
Courseulles-sur-Mer
RiverSeulles
Reserve Battalions landing after the initial assault The Canadian Scottish Regiment and Le Rgiment de la Chaudire's.
10. 11. 12. 13. The 1st Battalion, Regina Rifle Regiment
At 11:00 am May 30th, the final briefing for D-Day was given by Lieutenant-Colonel Matheson.
The original date of June 5th, was postponed due to rough weather and high seas.
On the morning of June 6th, 1944, the German 716th Infantry was stunned by the noise and volume of fire but no serious damage was inflicted and they were in position.
This view from a landing craft of the 2nd Canadian Flotilla shows ships of Force J en route to Juno Beach on D-Day.
14. The 1st Battalion, Regina Rifle Regiment lands
Able (A) Company
Landed at 0805 directly in front of a strong point and were pinned down by heavy fire.
During the initial assault, as the landing craft of A Company splashed onto the shore in front of the block 1 sector, the company commander, Major Duncan Grosch, was wounded and became a casualty.
At 0830 hours, the company, still on the beach, reported that it was pinned down and taking casualties from heavy machine gun fire and rounds from an 88mm gun from inside the emplacement.
Despite the heavy early morning bombardment from naval gunfire, the gun emplacement, with its four-foot thick reinforced concrete walls and supporting fortified positions, was still intact.
The men of A Company lay on the beach, exposed to the intense fire directed at them. They could go no farther.
However, Lieutenant Bill Grayson, a platoon commander, took cover behind a corner of a house near the German concrete gun emplacement where he could not be observed by the crew inside.
Grayson checked the timing of the bursts and estimated that he would be able to get past the machine gun and run to the side of the emplacement where he could toss a grenade through the gun slit.
After the next burst from the machine gun, he made a mad dash for the emplacement only to become entangled in the wire that formed the protective barrier for the gun. Miraculously, the next burst of fire was delayed. Grayson tore himself free and tossed in his grenade.
On hearing the explosion, he dived in after it through the aperture. He leaped up just in time to see the last of the German gun crew disappearing through the back door of the emplacement. The rear man, on seeing Grayson, turned and threw a "potato masher" grenade at him, which landed between his legs. Coolly, Grayson reached down, grabbed the handle and threw the grenade back at the German who left abruptly before it exploded. Grayson then followed the Germans into a trench which zigzagged along to a covered underground protective area. On looking into this dark hole he could make out three or four figures. He heard shouts of Kamerad, so he motioned with his pistol for them to come out. Out came 35 men whom he promptly took prisoner.
By then, other men from A Company had reached the emplacement, and they disarmed the prisoners and led them away. With the 88mm gun out of action, A Company was able to push on into the town to clear block 5. For his daring action Grayson was later awarded the Military Cross.
By 1000, a seriously depleted A Company was still engaged in heavy fighting in the beach area as some Germans had moved back into the fortified positions.
15. Baker (B) Company
B Company landed on the left at 0815 hours. Due to low tide, the beach now stretched some 400 m ahead of them to the sea wall.
While Lt. Grayson was silencing the pillbox, B Company under Major F.L. Peters were able to move inland more quickly.
They were initially held up by a sea wall until it was breached by tank fire.
B Company was then able to move off the beach and begin clearing the town.
Major Frank Peters, his 2IC Capt. Glenn Dickin and Rifleman A.J. Kennedy were killed by mortar fire near Fontaine-Henry.
Charlie (C) Company

Charlie Company landed at 0835 hoursbehind B Company and advanced in Courseulles-sur-Mer without difficulty .