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.

LCI(L) 249, Bernières-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944

Royal Canadian Navy telegraphist James Grant took this photograph from LCI(L) 249 of troops going ashore under fire on D-Day.

Soldiers from the landing craft (foreground) use a walkway and ramp (centre) to enter the water and wade ashore under enemy fire. At the water's edge are tanks and other vehicles that had been unloaded from other types of landing craft to support the infantry, including two amphibious Sherman tanks (right) and a Churchill AVRE (Armoured Vehicle, Royal Engineers) (left), designed to deal with enemy fortifications and obstacles.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 20020039-001_p3c