Xtreme TACTICS 101
Sr Member
On Augest 19, 1942 the Canadian Army attempted to take the Dieppe Beach and the major Port for a short period, both to prove it was possible and to gather intelligence from prisoners and captured materials while assessing the German responses. They also wanted to destroy coastal defences, port structures, and all strategic buildings. But due to the failure of the Canadian operation due to the well dug in German Forces that killed hundreds and captured thousands, a new Operation was put into place by the whole Allied force.
My great uncle was one of the men on this beach.
"When we hit the beach, we knew we were going to fail. The germans had dug themselfs in very well, and had well placed machine guns everywhere. All I remember was hearing a large ringing in my ears when I hit the ground. My best friend had been hit by a shell and had been torn to pieces. I keep running, angry and scared at the same time. When the raid had been lost, I knew I would either die, or get out alive. I wasn't going to be captured. When I realized all hope was lost in getting back to the rest of the men who were falling back, I pretended to be shot, and lay there as still as possible pretending to be hit. One of my other buddies who was a medic came running back through the fire and everything, and started draging me to where everybody was taking coverbehind a downed tank. I kept screaming Im fine, then finally we got to cover. He checked me, and he asked what I was doing pretending to be hit. I said hey, Im not going to be captured, so my plan was to play dead, when it was dark, make a run for it in to the English Channel. Start swiming, and hope for the best. He said what a dumb plan, and then we all fell back and got off the beach. Many of us were captured, but those of us who were not, swore revenge, and later, we got it."
On June 6, 1944, Canada, the United Kindom, and the Unites States, Australia, and New Zealand took part in the largest Land, Sea, and Air invasion humanity has ever known. Thousands were killed and wounded, and many more casualties were to come durring the operations following this one, Operation Overlord.
In this thread, honour both the Axis and Allied who have fallen in combat in this invasion that had cost MANY lives. If it wasn't for the Allies winning this invasion, and eventually the war, we would all still be fighting a war.
On this day, the 5 main countries, helped by the many other countries such as "Free" France, and Norway took the five beach heads that made up the Normandy beaches. The Americans taking Omaha, Utah, aswell as Pointe du Hoc, where the German coastal defense guns were, and the British/Australian/New Zealanders taking Gold and Sword, and the Canadians taking Juno.
Personally, I had 3 famaly members that fought in this battle. My great grandmothers brothers. One was in the RCAF, one was in the Canadian Navy, and the other in the Canadian ground infantry, the one mentioned above. Two were killed that day, one in the air, one on the sea. I talked to my great uncle George about the beach when he landed. He replied after a few moments and said the following.
"Have you ever seen the movie Saving Private Ryan"
"Yea."
"Thats pretty much what it was like, only Canadians in place of the Americans. When my landing craft hit a tank barrier, we all jumped out of there. The boat was litterally being riped to shreads by the barrier, the machine-gun fire, and the 88's. We all ran up the shore line, geing gunned down like crazy trying to avoid the bodies of your friends. It was a slaughter... The dead everywhere. Men I trained with running around with no arm, or screaming on the ground with no legs. At one point, we couldn't move due to the damn MG-42's fireing on us all the time. Our commanding officers were being gunned down by snipers, we were being hit by the shells and bullets. We practically had to run up the beach all at once in the hope a few of us could make it up the beach into some cover where the german's couldn't use there 88's and other shells on us. We had the second hardest beach to take. Omaha was the worst, the Americans lost a hell of a lot of boys in this Operation. But thank god for the paratroopers who took out the batteries that were shelling us. The only problem was, after the beach, we had to take Caen... Jesus, im still wondering how I made it through that war in one pice... Atleast we finally ended the war before it could have gotten worse. At lease we didn't have Nukes then, or you wouldn't be here. None of us would..."
A full list of the Allied countries who took park in the Normandy invasion:
-British 6th Airborne Division
-British I Corps, British 3rd Infantry Division and the British 27th Armoured Brigade.
-Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade
-British XXX Corps, British 50th Infantry Division and British 8th Armoured Brigade
-79th Armoured Division
-U.S. V Corps, U.S. 1st Infantry Division and U.S. 29th Infantry Division
-U.S. VII Corps, U.S. 4th Infantry Division
-U.S. 101st Airborne Division
-U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
-Free French SAS (Special Air Service) 4th battalion in Brittany (Operation Dingson, Operation Samwest).
-And many Australians, and New Zealand solders who took part in the invasion of Normandy
I hope to honour there memories, and as for the rest of you who have or had your famaly in this invasion, please, share there story, so the rest of us can know about what the Allied invasion force and the brave German defenders experianced while breaking through/defending Hitler's Atlantic Wall.
Thank you veterans, we owe you this one.
My great uncle was one of the men on this beach.
"When we hit the beach, we knew we were going to fail. The germans had dug themselfs in very well, and had well placed machine guns everywhere. All I remember was hearing a large ringing in my ears when I hit the ground. My best friend had been hit by a shell and had been torn to pieces. I keep running, angry and scared at the same time. When the raid had been lost, I knew I would either die, or get out alive. I wasn't going to be captured. When I realized all hope was lost in getting back to the rest of the men who were falling back, I pretended to be shot, and lay there as still as possible pretending to be hit. One of my other buddies who was a medic came running back through the fire and everything, and started draging me to where everybody was taking coverbehind a downed tank. I kept screaming Im fine, then finally we got to cover. He checked me, and he asked what I was doing pretending to be hit. I said hey, Im not going to be captured, so my plan was to play dead, when it was dark, make a run for it in to the English Channel. Start swiming, and hope for the best. He said what a dumb plan, and then we all fell back and got off the beach. Many of us were captured, but those of us who were not, swore revenge, and later, we got it."
On June 6, 1944, Canada, the United Kindom, and the Unites States, Australia, and New Zealand took part in the largest Land, Sea, and Air invasion humanity has ever known. Thousands were killed and wounded, and many more casualties were to come durring the operations following this one, Operation Overlord.
In this thread, honour both the Axis and Allied who have fallen in combat in this invasion that had cost MANY lives. If it wasn't for the Allies winning this invasion, and eventually the war, we would all still be fighting a war.
On this day, the 5 main countries, helped by the many other countries such as "Free" France, and Norway took the five beach heads that made up the Normandy beaches. The Americans taking Omaha, Utah, aswell as Pointe du Hoc, where the German coastal defense guns were, and the British/Australian/New Zealanders taking Gold and Sword, and the Canadians taking Juno.
Personally, I had 3 famaly members that fought in this battle. My great grandmothers brothers. One was in the RCAF, one was in the Canadian Navy, and the other in the Canadian ground infantry, the one mentioned above. Two were killed that day, one in the air, one on the sea. I talked to my great uncle George about the beach when he landed. He replied after a few moments and said the following.
"Have you ever seen the movie Saving Private Ryan"
"Yea."
"Thats pretty much what it was like, only Canadians in place of the Americans. When my landing craft hit a tank barrier, we all jumped out of there. The boat was litterally being riped to shreads by the barrier, the machine-gun fire, and the 88's. We all ran up the shore line, geing gunned down like crazy trying to avoid the bodies of your friends. It was a slaughter... The dead everywhere. Men I trained with running around with no arm, or screaming on the ground with no legs. At one point, we couldn't move due to the damn MG-42's fireing on us all the time. Our commanding officers were being gunned down by snipers, we were being hit by the shells and bullets. We practically had to run up the beach all at once in the hope a few of us could make it up the beach into some cover where the german's couldn't use there 88's and other shells on us. We had the second hardest beach to take. Omaha was the worst, the Americans lost a hell of a lot of boys in this Operation. But thank god for the paratroopers who took out the batteries that were shelling us. The only problem was, after the beach, we had to take Caen... Jesus, im still wondering how I made it through that war in one pice... Atleast we finally ended the war before it could have gotten worse. At lease we didn't have Nukes then, or you wouldn't be here. None of us would..."
A full list of the Allied countries who took park in the Normandy invasion:
-British 6th Airborne Division
-British I Corps, British 3rd Infantry Division and the British 27th Armoured Brigade.
-Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade
-British XXX Corps, British 50th Infantry Division and British 8th Armoured Brigade
-79th Armoured Division
-U.S. V Corps, U.S. 1st Infantry Division and U.S. 29th Infantry Division
-U.S. VII Corps, U.S. 4th Infantry Division
-U.S. 101st Airborne Division
-U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
-Free French SAS (Special Air Service) 4th battalion in Brittany (Operation Dingson, Operation Samwest).
-And many Australians, and New Zealand solders who took part in the invasion of Normandy
I hope to honour there memories, and as for the rest of you who have or had your famaly in this invasion, please, share there story, so the rest of us can know about what the Allied invasion force and the brave German defenders experianced while breaking through/defending Hitler's Atlantic Wall.
Thank you veterans, we owe you this one.
