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Second World War (1939-1945)
The Navy in European Waters  - D-Day and the Normandy Landings

Over 100 Canadian warships and some 10,000 Canadian sailors supported D-Day, the 6 June 1944 landings in Normandy. Canadian ships and sailors helped protect the invasion fleet, cleared German minefields, and ferried Allied troops across the Channel.

Tangled Float, No.2
Tangled Float, No.2

Leonard Brooks' painting of a scene aboard HMCS Cowichan, one the Canadian minesweepers present at D-Day, shows some of the hazards of minesweeping.

In rough seas, an Oropesa float (sometimes called a paravane) has become tangled in a cable (left). Some of Cowichan's crew attempt to free the cumbersome float while it hangs from one of the derricks (centre). The louvered object to the left of the empty cradle for the float (far left) is probably an "otter", one of the devices which kept the minesweeping cable at a certain depth and streaming out behind the minesweeper.

Tangled Float, No.2
Painted by Leonard Brooks in 1944
Beaverbrook Collection of War Art
CWM 19710261-1165





HMCS Caraquet Model
Oropesa Minesweeping Float
Tangled Float, No.2
Chaudières Embarking for Normandy Assault
Third Canadian Division Assault Troops
260th Landing Craft Flotilla, Southampton, England
Officers of the 260th and 262nd Flotillas
The Crew of LCI(L) 135
D-Day
LCI(L) 249, Bernières-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944
LCI(L) 249 at Bernières-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944
LCI(L) 135 on Juno Beach
LCI(L) 249 in Drydock, Portsmouth, England
White Ensign, LCI(L) 250
Chaplain James Harold Graven's Pyx
Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando Battle Dress Blouse
Lanchester Sub-Machine-gun
Southampton Pub, D-Day Plus One
Rescue at Sea
The Gale of Hurricane Force on the Normandy Beach