D-Day Remembrance Ceremony, near Bernières-sur-Mer, Juno Beach, June 6, 2006
Juno beach is five miles wide and includes the towns of St. Aubin-sur-Mer, Bernières-sur-Mer and Courseulles-sur-Mer. On D-Day the coastline had been fortified by the occupying Germans and bristled with guns, concrete emplacements, pillboxes, fields of barbed wire and mines. The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division reinforced by the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade landed in two brigade groups and fought their way across the beaches and into the towns. The No. 48 Royal Marine Commando secured the left flank at Langrune-sur-Mer. The opposition the Canadians faced was stronger than that of any other beach save Omaha.
11. Site de Langrune-sur-Mer
Located in the town center, on the sea front is the 48th Royal Marine Commando monument. In the entrance hall of the city hall there is a plaque in memory of the friendship between the 48th Royal Marines Commando veterans and the citizens of Langrune-sur-Mer.
12. Site de Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer
A 50-mm gun casement has been preserved at Place du Canada. There are stone memorials to the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, Fort Garry Horse and 48th Royal Marine Commando here.
La Maison Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada
13. Site de Bernieres-sur-Mer
This pretty seaside village is distinguished by its church with a 13th century bell tower and 220-foot spire. La Maison Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada commemorates the men of this regiment. The house is one the famous houses on the beach as it appeared in many news reels and official photos. Memorials to the Queen’s Own Rifles, Le Regiment de la Chaudière and Fort Garry Horse are located by a German bunker at La Place du Canada. There is an excellent view of the beach from the bunker position and you can imagine what it must have been like when 800 men of the Queens’s Own Rifles stormed ashore here as the lead wave of the dramatic D-Day assault.
There are also the North Nova Scotia Highlanders plaque and Journalists HQ plaque. There is a walkway on the seawall that makes for a pleasant stroll along the ocean. If you walk east along the seawall about ½ km, you can see the house that appears in the background on the famous film footage showing the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada storming the beach on D-Day.
14. Site de Courseulles-sur-Mer
In the Courseulles-sur-Mer town center, on the sea front there is a Sherman Duplex Drive (DD) tank on display. This tank was recovered in 1970 from the sea and restored. Badges of regimental units who fought in the area are welded to it. Monuments in the area include the Royal Winnipeg Rifles monument, Regina Rifles Regiment stele, Canadian Scottish Regiment stele, Royal Engineers plaque, and the Liberation and De Gaulle monument. The Croix de Lorraine monument commemorates the return of General de Gaulle in France.
15. Centre Juno Beach (Juno Beach Centre), Courseulles-sur-Mer
The Juno Beach Centre presents Canada’s role in military operations and the war effort on the home front in World War II. Film, audio and displays bring pre-war and wartime Canada alive, as well as covering the fighting experiences. Juno Park at the front of the center has walkways with interpretation panels, a preserved German bunker and a path leading to the beach. There is little development here, so nothing interrupts your contemplation of beach and ocean. You can imagine the sands littered with mines-on-sticks, spiky metal “hedgehogs”, barbed wire and other barbarisms intended to rip the heart out of landing craft and the 14,000 Canadians that landed in this area.
Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, Reviers
Voie des Français Libres - BP 104 - 14470 Courseulles-sur-Mer, Tel. 02 31 37 32 17 (£3.50)
16. Site de Graye-sur-Mer
Monuments include the Liberation monument , Churchill “One Charlie” tank - Breakthrough plaque, Royal Winnipeg Rifles and 1st Canadian Scottish plaque, Canadian plaque, and Inns of Court monument.
17. Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, Reviers
Surrounded by the fields where the 3rd Canadian Division fought, this cemetery contains the graves of 2,044 Canadian soldiers. This is a place of reflection and remembrance.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about D-Day beaches
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D-Day beaches Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
