Normandy 1944, Canada Remembers

Germans Counterattack

That attempt was not long in coming, and the Canadians were to feel its fury. On June 7, Canadian troops renewed their advance. The Royal Winnipeg Rifles and The Regina Rifles reached their original D-Day objectives with comparative ease. It was a different story for The North Nova Scotia Highlanders and The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment (27th Armored) ordered to occupy two villages on the outskirts of Caen. At Buron, the Canadians grappled with ready and waiting German Panzer troops. Intense house-to-house fighting ensued before the Germans were driven out of the town.

That was only the beginning, as the bulk of the Canadian force bypassed Buron and moved on Authie. There they ran into the elite 12th SS Panzer Division which consisted of fanatical Hitler Jugend. These inexperienced 18 year olds proved willing to die for their Fuehrer. Moreover, they were led by tough officers, all veterans of the savage fighting on the Eastern Front. These ruthless troops gave no quarter, and the Canadians facing them had never before seen their like.

The Germans fell upon the Canadians with devastating results. One company of North Novas was obliterated. The shells of the Sherbrookes' tanks simply bounced off the armour of the German Mark IVs, whose longer-range guns soon reduced many of the highly flammable Shermans into burning hulks. The losses were high on both sides as ferocious hand-to-hand fighting broke out. The Canadians inflicted considerable casualties, but on this day they were outmatched and overwhelmed. Driven out of Authie and Buron, the North Novas and Sherbrooke Fusiliers barely survived.

There was more punishment to come. The next day the SS troops attacked The Regina Rifle Regiment and The Royal Winnipeg Rifles. The outcome was just as calamitous. Surrounded and running short of ammunition, the Winnipegs at Putoten Bessin had to retreat under incessant fire. That night, The Canadian Scottish and tanks of The 1st Hussars succeeded in recapturing the town at heavy cost. "Never a wounded man whimpered," the Canadian Scottish war diary claimed; "the opposite in fact was the case and time and again badly wounded men had to be ordered back."

The Reginas had a much closer call. SS tanks and infantry overran the infantry battalion's front line and infiltrated its headquarters area. A wild nightlong mêlée took place. The regiment's war diary recorded, "The whole sky was lit up by blazing roofs and burning tanks . . . . " Only some inspired work with PIATs (the infantry's anti-tank weapon) and the propitious arrival of The Sherbrooke Fusiliers' Shermans salvaged a desperate situation. "Everyone fought magnificently and although the picture looked black, there was no sign of wavering anywhere." The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (MG) and 12th Field Regiment along with an unidentified Anti-tank unit were also involved in this action. A Military Cross was won by Captain Hal Gonder from the Cameron Highlanders.

All in all, it had been a grim indoctrination for Canada's citizen soldiers. In two days, the North Novas, Sherbrookes, Winnipegs, and Scottish suffered almost 600 casualties. But, while it bent, the Canadian line did not break. The contest between the two armies had ended in a draw. And though the Canadians had painfully learned to dread the cold efficiency of their adversaries, they also realized that they could hold their own. The 12th SS had momentarily stopped the Canadian advance, but it had paid dearly for the privilege.

The Canadians struck back on June 11, but the gains were limited. Elements of Le Régiment de la Chaudière and The Fort Garry Horse joined British units in a hotly contested, but ultimately successful, attack on the SS in the town of Rots. However, an assault on the village of Le Mesnil Patry by The Queen's Own Rifles and The 1st Hussars ended in tragedy. Riding aboard the fast-moving tanks, the Canadians came under lethal fire from well-sited enemy armour and artillery. Some of the attackers penetrated the village on sheer daring alone, but it was all for naught. "I have never witnessed a battle of this intensity, before or since," recalled one officer of the Queen's Own. Nineteen Shermans from the lead squadron of the Hussars were destroyed only two escaped the fire of the terrible Nazi 88s. In all, the two regiments had 114 killed and 65 wounded.

After six debilitating days of continuous fighting, the 3rd Canadian Division and the 2nd Armoured Brigade totaled up their losses. Just over 1,000 Canadians had died, nearly 2,000 had been wounded, and more suffered from battle exhaustion. But the Canadians had secured their portion of the Allied bridgehead. By the beginning of July they were again trying to enlarge it, against an enemy well-schooled in defensive techniques and forbidden by Hitler to relinquish any ground.