Let’s plant a 75-year-old treemedia.zuza.com/2/4/244624d7-0648-44eb-bed9-2941038... · l ish a ‘Third Reich’ — Adolf Hitler’s N azi Germany began to invade the c ountries

THE AMAZING THING ABOUT HISTORY

is that it is always there to look back on,learn from and ... be inspired by.

The hard part is that with our fast-paced, whirling world, what’s happeningin 30 minutes right now seems much big-ger than focusing on something that hap-pened 75 years ago.

So, when does history get centre stage?What about the millions of men and wom-en who gave everything they had for thefreedom of a dominated continent — andfears of a dominated world?

What about the single mothers and theorphaned children? What about livingevery day in a war-torn city, scared todeath about whether you will see thenext? What about the younger brother orsister back home in Canada left wonder-ing whether if they would ever see theirfamily members, their role models,again?

How can we talk to, and really educate,the young Canadian minds of today of thesacrifice and global citizenship shown byso many from just a few generations be-fore; many of whom have direct familylineage to one of the ‘greatest genera-tion?’

A huge misconception in today’s cul-ture is that the Second World War wasfought by a bunch of old men who wentover, and it happened, and it’s done. It’s

no longer relevant and that is, sadly, endof story.

Of course, that could not be fartherfrom the truth.

Let’s change that. Let’s move away fromdoom and gloom and focus on hope anddedication.

Let’s focus on the fact that millions ofpeople were being oppressed and thatyoung men and women from around theglobe bound together that culminated inwhat was, and still is, the most complexmilitary operation in history.

There is a saying that the best time toplant a tree was 50 years ago, but the sec-ond best time is now.

There is some planting to be done in theminds of today’s young men and women.To teach them about holding onto hope,rock-solid dedication and fighting for theperson beside you.

This is the story of Operation Overlord— D-Day — which took place in the earlymorning of June 6, 1944. It involved mem-bers from 12 Allied nations, includingCanada with an honorably substantialrole, and was the beginning of the end ofHitler’s reign over continental Europe.

— A special 75th anniversary of D-Daycommemorative project of The HamiltonSpectator and The Canadian WarplaneHeritage Museum

Let’s plant a75-year-old tree

A14 THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR l THESPEC.COM

C M Y

Countdown to D-DAY

Remembering Our PastThe 75th Anniversary of D-Day

In honour of all thosewho sacrificedeverything for their children,their grandchildren and great grandchildren, The HamiltonSpectator will be publishing a special section commemoratingthe 75th Anniversary of D-Day on June 1.

Written by The Hamilton Spectator’s award-winning journalismteam, this will be a keepsake you won’t want to miss being apart of and will feel inspired to share with children in the future.

Don’t miss the opportunity to showcase your business and paytribute in this commemorative section.

For more informationplease contact your account executive

or call 905-526-3438.

The memory lives on! Join us inreflecting on one of the most pivotal

moments of all time at our 75thAnniversary D-Day Gala.

A once-in-a-lifetime occasionto celebrate peace, liberty and

reconciliation and the chance topay tribute to more than a dozen

Second World War veterans who willbe in attendance.

◆ Three-set dance by the World Famous GlennMiller Orchestra

◆ AAA New York Sirloin steak dinner

◆ Chance to win a cruise for two on The Edgecourtesy of Celebrity Cruises Canada

◆ Two complimentary tickets per person forthe June 6 Tiger-Cats game featuring aceremonial D-Day flypast

◆ Chance to win a flight in the D-Day veteranplane, C47 Dakota

◆ A performance by HMCS Star band

◆ Performance by the Argyll and SutherlandHighlanders marching band

◆ Performance by Hamilton’s Hannah Baileysinging Vera Lynn’s famous Second World Warsongs

◆ Chance to win a $4,000 diamond, courtesy ofH&Z Diamond Centre

◆ Special D-Day gift package

◆ Chance to bid on a 9-day Africanphotographic safari

◆ Chance to bid on a Mike Grice painting theartist will be producing live inside the hangar

Included:

A discount is available for current serving militarymembers and veterans. For details, please contactEmily Millar at [email protected] or 905-679-4183.Ext. 253 with the name of your unit and rank.To purchase tickets and for more information,visit warplane.com or call 905-679-4183

Tickets: $200/personDate: Saturday, June 1, 2019Time: Doors open 5pmLocation: CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum

Hamilton & Burlington

“They fight not for the lust of con-quest. They fight to end conquest.They fight to liberate.”

— U.S. President Franklin D. Roo-sevelt.

On Sept. 1, 1939 — in a bid to estab-lish a ‘Third Reich’ — Adolf Hitler’sNazi Germany began to invade thecountries of Europe in sweepingfashion. His ‘Blitzkrieg’ attackspassed through shocked and helplessdefences like a rolling fog. By early1941, only the British Isles had yet tofall.

Nearly a year and a half went bybefore any attempt could be made toland a small invasion force on thecoast of France to fight back.

On Aug. 19, 1942, a force primarilymade up of Canadians — includingthe Royal Hamilton Light Infantry —attempted to land at the French portof Dieppe in what was codenamedOperation Jubilee.

Of the 4,963 young men who set outfor the operation, 2,210 returned anda total of 3,367 were listed as casu-

alties with 1,946 taken prisoner. Ninehundred and sixteen died. The RHLIlost 197, the second highest casualtytotal among Canadian Army units,according to Veterans Affairs Cana-da.

The defeat at Dieppe made twothings painfully, deadly obvious.First, there was much to learn to beable to sustain any break in Germandefences, which was vital in order toseize and hold a swath of land. Sec-ond, the risk to human life, resourcesand morale was very real and, evenmore so, difficult to rebound from.

Unknown to the world — includingthe common citizens of Germany —Hitler was systematically extermi-nating every Jewish person in Eu-rope. He craved the extinction of theentire religion. In the end, he wouldkill more than six million Jewishmen, women and children, includingapproximately three million Polish-Jews alone.

For those under his powerful heel,there was no end in sight.

Four and a half years after the startof war — and nearly two full yearssince the ill-fated landings at Dieppe— the Allied powers were finally ableto try again at piercing the armouredwall lining the coast of France.

This attempt would include morethan 150,000 young men and women,dwarfing the Dieppe invasion force insize and scale with troops from the

United Kingdom, United States andCanada.

It was codenamed Operation Over-lord, and D-Day — the secretive datemarked for the launching of the in-vasion — was scheduled for June 5,1944.

The operation was comprised ofnaval, ground-based and airborneoperations that were all designedaround supporting one another andcutting off Nazi reinforcement to thefive target beaches along the coast ofNormandy, France.

Much to the concern of SupremeAllied Commander Dwight D. Eisen-hower, early June had been plaguedwith extremely inclement weather.So much so that he decided to post-pone the June 5 invasion until aweather window produced itself inthe upcoming weeks.

At the last moment, he decided torisk it all on an opening in the stormson early June 6.

“This operation is not beingplanned with any alternatives. Thisoperation is planned as a victory, andthat’s the way it’s going to be. We’regoing down there, and we’re throw-ing everything we have into it, andwe’re going to make it a success.” hesaid.

If successful, the Allies would havea foothold to thrust themselves in a

bid to take back Europe. Not onlythat, but it would mark a secondvictory for the Allies, just two daysafter the liberation of Rome in Italyand be a much-needed sign of hopefor a world desperately awaiting amiracle. It could be the beginning ofthe end of the Second World War.

If turned back, the Allies wouldhave been faced with an unfathom-able hole from which to climb. Loss-es of astronomical proportionswould be definite. It would takeyears to be able to re-train and re-arm a fighting force of that size.Hitler could focus on Italy again, orfocus entirely on the western front.He would no longer have to worryabout the threat of a two-prongedattack. He could continue makingstrides in weapons innovations andwould remain unopposed in hiscarrying out of his diabolical “FinalSolution.”

Fast-forward, 75 years later. Weknow how the events unfolded on,above and around the shores of Nor-mandy on June 6, 1944. But, in thosemoments, not a single person in theworld knew what was going to hap-pen.

Those brave men did not just landon the beaches of France, they land-ed themselves in history as part ofthe most complex military opera-tions to ever take place. The opera-tion undoubtedly led to the end ofthe war in Europe — not even a yearlater in May 1945 — and the libera-tion of millions of people whosegratitude is just as strong today as itwas three-quarters of a century ago.

Hitler’s rain of V-2 rockets onEngland ended and the Nazi’s dreamof developing an atomic bomb wasthwarted. France, Holland, Belgium— all of western Europe — rejoiced.

And there’s no telling how manymore innocent Jews were saved.

“It was unknowable then, but somuch of the progress that woulddefine the 20th century, on both sidesof the Atlantic, came down to thebattle for a slice of beach only 6 mileslong and 2 miles wide.”

— U.S. President Barack Obama.June 6, 2009.

Alex Day is a member of the D-DayCommemorative Gala Committee,and an employee of the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum.

How the world turnedon a single dayThe stakes couldn’t have been higheras morning dawned on June 6, 1944

The famousphoto as thelanding craft’sdoor goes downand Canadiantroops begin theirassault onFortress Europein NormandyFrance, 75 yearsago.

Canadian troopsland on thebeachhead inNormandy, France,in June 1944shortly after theD-Day invasion.On a chilly, greymorning 75 yearsago, a fewboatloads ofscared, cold, oftenseasick youngCanadianscharged ashore ona windsweptFrench beach andhelped makehistory.

DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE CANADIAN PRESS

A Canadian veteran on Juno Beach,Courseulles-sur-Mer, France, on the60th anniversary the of D-Daylandings in 2004.

MIKE LARGE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALEX DAY

PART 1 OF 8Next week: The Canadian ObjectiveJune 6, 2019, will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themonumental days in human history. Itwas one that changed the course ofthe world, signalled the beginning ofthe end of the Second World War andshaped the image of Canada as apower on the world stage.Hamilton will pay tribute to all D-Dayveterans with a one-of-a-kind gala atthe Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theWorld Famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, in conjunctionwith Newspapers In Education, beginsan 8-week countdown to D-Day, witha look at what Operation Overlordwas, and what was at stake.


C M Y


In honour of all thosewho sacrificedeverything for their children,their grandchildren and great grandchildren, The HamiltonSpectator will be publishing a special section commemoratingthe 75th Anniversary of D-Day on June 1.




or call 905-526-3438.


















Included:

A discount is available for current serving militarymembers and veterans. For details, please contactEmily Millar at [email protected] or 905-679-4183.Ext. 253 with the name of your unit and rank.To purchase tickets and for more information,visit warplane.com or call 905-679-4183



Countdown to D-DAY

“There is going to be chaos and confu-sion and it’ll never be otherwise.You’re going to require leadership andinitiative.”

— Blake Heathcote, Testamentsof Honour

Those were the words of advicegiven to Sgt. Andy Anderson and theother officers of 1st Canadian Para-chute Battalion by their brigadier-general in the hours leading up totheir jump.

It’s not to say that Allied intelli-gence was far off in their findingsleading up to June 6, 1944, but to Sgt.Anderson and the brave young menbeside him, that sentence was themost accurate piece of informationthey’d be given.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Bat-talion helped make up the approxi-mately 30,000 Canadians who were inBritain being prepared for OperationOverlord. Canada had been taskedwith securing a plot of beachheadbetween the French towns of Cour-seulles to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, code-named “Juno Beach.”

“The Canadian invasion forces hadspent years in Britain training for thetask. They had tried very hard not tothink of what lay ahead. It was diffi-cult to realize the enormity of what wewould be attempting. I was part ofthat force. However, when we startedour assault training on the south ofEngland and in Scotland, we began torealize what loomed before us. Untriedtroops would dare to set foot in Hitler’sEurope. Everyday while in Britain,we heard stories of the heavily forti-fied French coast which the Germans,in four years with slave labour hadturned into a continuous system ofguns, pillboxes, mines, barbed wireand on the beaches, underwater pil-ings, some loaded with explosiveswaiting to blow up the assault crafts.It was a terrifying picture. The men ofthe infantry and tank regiments cho-sen for the invasion simply had todisregard what lay ahead for them

across the channel. We just dug in,trained harder, determined to do whatsome were saying would be impos-sible.”

— Cliff Chadderton, Royal Win-nipeg Rifles from his documenta-ry ‘Juno Beach to Caen.’

The Canadian effort on D-Daycould be broken down into fourgroups — navy, air force, infantryand the airborne paratroopers — andthey all had their own specific ob-jectives.

In the hours leading up to the mainlandings, the Royal Canadian Navyswept for mines in the waters ap-proaching the five target beaches,allowing a safer approach for thecorvettes and landing craft.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Bat-talion was being dropped in behindenemy lines from C-47 Dakotas andon Horsa gliders. They were taskedwith securing bridges east of thebeach and to hinder any sort of rein-forcement attempt that was to be

made by the Germans.Troops with the 3rd Canadian

Infantry Division’s made up themain invasion force with H-Hour(the time set for the landings of thefirst assault wave) scheduled for 0745hours. Their objectives were to es-tablish a beachhead, secure threecoastal towns and then advanceinland in order to link up with theprogressing forces from the otherbeaches. The Canadian soldierspushed farther inland than any oth-er company from any of the otherbeaches.

The Royal Canadian Air Force flewalongside the Royal Air Force andthe United States Army Air Forceand provided air cover and fire sup-port for the invasion force. Spitfirefighters kept the German Luftwaffepilots away from bombers andground troops while Typhoon attackaircraft took out armoured divisionsentrenched along the coast.

According to The Loyal Edmonton

Regiment Military Museum, “RCAFBomber Group 6, composed of 14RCAF squadrons, attacked severalkey strategic targets. With railways,bridges and fuel and ammunitiondepots damaged or destroyed, theGerman forces were unable to launchan effective counterattack againstthe Allied forces on the beaches ofNormandy.”

By the morning of June 7, nearly14,000 Canadians landed on or hadbeen dropped into Normandy. Buttheir success came at a price. Therewere 1,074 casualties with 359 of thoseyoung lives lost.

Alex Day is a member of the D-DayCommemorative Gala Committee,and an employee of the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum.

5 km

5 miles

200 km

200 miles

• The Allies invade occupied France• Some 175,000 British, American, Canadian, French,Polish, Norwegian and other nationalities participate in the first 24 hours of the Normandy invasion

June 6, 1944

Allied objectives for midnight on D-Day

U.S. paratroopers

First assault waves

Attacks by British paratroopers

German counterattacks Held by Germans at midnight on D-Day

Held by Allies at midnight on D-Day

U.S. VCorps

British XXXCorps

British I Corps

German15thArmy

GermanXLVII PanzerCorps

GermanLXXXIVCorps

U.S. VII Corps U.S. 2nd RangerBattalionUTAH

OMAHA

GOLD JUNO

SWORD

Bay of Seine

Atlantic Ocean

German7th Army

CarentanBayeux

Caen

Valognes

FRANCE

IRELAND

GERMANY

FRANCE

ITALY

U.K.

NORMANDY

Assault areas

D-Day: The Allies invade Europe

Sources: "D-Day: Operation Overlord Day by Day" by Anthony Hall; “Soldiers The Chicago TribuneLost at Sea” by James E. Wise and Scott Baron; “Slightly Out of Focus” by Robert Capa; “Voices from D-Day" by Jonathan Bastable; ” Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign“ by Roger Hesketh; “ Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II” by Jerry E. Strahan; skylighters.org; U.S. Navy; Museum of Science and Industry./ Staff, The Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, History.com, NPR, Encyclopedia Britannica, National WWII Museum in New Orleans,The Chicago Tribune,

Canadians

THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY, A SPECIAL PRESENTATION OF THE SPECTATOR’S NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION PROGRAM

From the air and the sea, the Canadians came

Lt.-CommanderD.W. Piers,commandingofficer of theHMCSAlgonquin,addresses hiscrew on the wayto Juno Beach inNormandy onJune 6, 1944.

HAMILTON SPECTATOR FILE PHOTO

PART 2 OF 8

Next week: Hamilton’s General,Harry CrerarJune 6, 2019, will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themonumental days in human history. It was one that changed the course ofthe world, signalled the beginning ofthe end of the Second World War andshaped the image of Canada as apower on the world stage.Hamilton will pay tribute to all D-Dayveterans with a one-of-a-kind gala atthe Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theWorld Famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, in conjunctionwith Newspapers In Education and theCanadian Warplane HeritageMuseum, continues an eight-weekcountdown to D-Day, with a look atwhat faced Canadians that day, 75years ago.

ALEX DAY


C M Y

Count down to D-DAY


In honour of all thosewho sacrificedeverything for their children,their grandchildren and great grandchildren, The HamiltonSpectator will be publishing a special section commemoratingthe 75th Anniversary of D-Day.




or call 905-526-3438.


















Included:

Thanks to the generous donations of the gala sponsors,tickets for all current or past member of the Canadian Forcesare half price, including a guest. For details, please contactEmily Millar at [email protected] or 905-679-4183, ext. 253.To purchase tickets and for more information,visit warplane.com or call 905-679-4183



When General Harry Crerar — the“quiet man who got things done” —died at the age of 76 in Ottawa in April1965, he was hailed as the most dis-tinguished military leader Canadahad ever produced.

A Hamilton native, Gen. Crerarwas the first Canadian to be promot-ed to general while serving at thebattlefront and the first to commanda full-fledged Canadian army in thefield.

The stern-faced, soft spoken gener-al, who left Hamilton in his early 20s,won wide acclaim for the CanadianArmy’s dramatic drive from Nor-mandy along the Channel coast intoBelgium, Holland and Germanyduring the Allied victory campaignthat ended the Second World War.

It capped a military career thatbegan at the Royal Military Collegein Kingston where he graduated in1909. He spent several years as a civilengineer with Ontario Hydro, but atthe outbreak of the First World Warin 1914, he went overseas as an artil-lery captain. He was in the Battle ofYpres where the first gas attack inhistory failed to crack the Canadianfront. Rising rapidly through artil-lery command posts, he was a lieu-tenant-colonel and corps counter-battery officer when the Great Warended.

In the interval between the wars,he served in various headquartersroles, attending the 1932 GenevaDisarmament Conference and theImperial Conference of 1937. He roseto full colonel in 1938, commandingthe RMC in Kingston. A month afterthe Second World War began, he wasmade a brigadier and sent to Londonto plan for the arrival of the 1st Cana-dian Division. In July 1940, he re-turned to Ottawa as chief of the gen-eral staff and was promoted to lieu-tenant-general in 1941.

Gen. Crerar took a step down inrank later that year to go overseasagain as commander of the 2nd Cana-dian Division then training in Eng-land. He explained to a friend: “Imust get away from a desk. I must getoverseas, for that is where I belong.”

Soon he was commanding the 1stCanadian Corps, and back at lieuten-ant-general in rank. It was the 2ndDivision of this corps that carried outthe disastrous 1942 raid on Dieppe, anoperation that he always defended asan essential prelude to the D-Dayoperation of 1944.

In the spring of 1944, Gen. Crerarwas returned to England, succeedingGen. McNaughton as commander ofthe Canadian Army.

Two weeks after D-Day, Gen. Cre-rar arrived in Normandy and beganforming the 1st Canadian Army forits special task of clearing the coast ofnorthwest Europe. He made his mil-itary reputation — and Canada’s — inthe bitter months of struggle towardGermany.

In the climatic attack across theRhine in February 1945, he had morethan 500,000 men under his com-mand, including eight British divi-sions sent to bolster the three Canadi-an divisions. By early March, he hadturned the Siegfried Line and clearedthe west bank of the lower Rhine in

an operation that received highpraise from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower,the Supreme Allied Commander.

Eisenhower later described him asa humble leader who was much lessflamboyant than his contemporaries,George Patton and Bernard Mont-gomery: “He was not one to seek thelimelight or command headlines. Hewas one of those great souls whoseonly ambition was to do his duty tohis troops and to his country.”

Gen. Crerar once summarized hispersonal philosophy of generalship:“Lead always, drive rarely, but whenyou must, drive hard.”

On his return to Ottawa in August1945, thousands welcomed him onParliament Hill, where, it was report-ed, he received one of the greatestovations in the country’s history.

About 20,000 people turned out fora civic ceremony and parade in Ham-ilton in 1946. He is remembered in hishome town with a neighbourhood,street and a park named in his ho-nour.

— with files from The HamiltonSpectator archives.

THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY, A SPECIAL PRESENTATION OF THE SPECTATOR’S NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION PROGRAM

The general who showed Canada the way

Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower, right, with General Harry Crerar, commandingCanadian First Army, watch a demonstration by Canadian troops during his visit to the Canadiansector on Dec. 19, 1944.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

General Crerar on the cover of TimeMagazine on Sept. 18, 1944.


PART 3 OF 8

Next week: The Build Up to D-DayJune 6, 2019 will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themonumental days in human history. Itwas one that changed the course ofthe world, signalled the beginning ofthe end of the Second World War andshaped the image of Canada as apower on the world stage.Hamilton will pay tribute to all D-Dayveterans with a one-of-a-kind gala atthe Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theWorld Famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, in conjunctionwith Newspapers In Education and theCanadian Warplane HeritageMuseum, continues an 8-weekcountdown to D-Day, with a look atwhat faced Canadians that day, 75years ago.

The Canadian Press

Gen. Harry Crerar, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Canadian Army Overseas, drives hisown Jeep to see Canadians in action shortly after he set up his headquarters in France after D-Day.

CANADIAN ARMY OVERSEAS PHOTO

A12 THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2019 THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR l THESPEC.COM

C M Y

Countdown to D-DAY






or call 905-526-3438.


















Included:




Where was the enemy?Adolf Hitler had boasted his Pan-

zer attack would drive the Allies intothe sea when the inevitable invasionbegan. It was now the day after D-Day, there was no massive counterattack, and with each hour, moreAllied reinforcements landed.

Why?The Panzers were held back

through an Allied deception plancalled Operation Bodyguard.

Against the Allies was a GermanArmy of 300 Divisions with 58 Divi-sions in France, Belgium and theNetherlands. Hitler had his favouriteField Marshal, Erwin Rommel, de-fending Normandy and Brittany.

In 1943, Rommel began addingpillboxes; gun emplacements; beachobstacles, and posts stuck into pos-sible glider landing fields. The fiveinfantry divisions holding the coastaldefences were stiffened with experi-enced leaders. Rommel took com-mand of three of the nine Panzerdivisions of the counterattack forcealthough only one of the Panzer Divi-sions was close to Normandy.

Rommel said: “The war will be wonor lost on the beaches. We will haveone chance to stop the enemy andthat is while he’s in the water strug-gling ashore. The first 24 hours of theinvasion will be decisive … for theAllies as well as Germany. It will bethe longest day.”

At the Tehran conference in 1943,Churchill outlined the importance ofdeception in the planning for an in-vasion of Europe and for it to be con-trolled at the highest command level.The Allies already had successfuldeceptions as in August 1942 when ahaversack of fake mine fields foundby Rommel’s troops helped defeathim at Alam el Halfa. In July 1943,fake plans placed on a corpse (Opera-

tion Mincemeat) showed that theexpected invasion of Sicily was actu-ally an invasion of Greece and Saloni-ka, just as Hitler expected.

Fake Army camps, and dummytanks were built in Egypt and falseradio signals were sent to completethe deception. At the time, Churchillis reputed to have said, “Everyonebut a bloody fool would know it’sSicily.”

Mussolini agreed with Churchill.Hitler did not agree and moved 1st

Panzer Division from France to Salo-nika; two Panzer Divisions from theEastern Front to the Balkans andsent Rommel to defend Salonika.

The Allied invasion of Sicily was asuccess. It was agreed that Deceptionplans for D-Day would be code namedOperation Bodyguard and co-ordi-nated at the High Command level.

Operation Bodyguard was builtaround 35 interlinked plans to buildsuch creditable threats that Hitlercould not counter one threat withoutexposing another. By mixing real andfalse threats, including an Alliedinvasion of Norway, attacks acrossthe Black Sea into Rumania and intothe Balkans; an invasion of theFrench Riviera; attacks into the Bor-deaux region of France and a mainAllied invasion into Pas de Calais theAllies could deceive Hitler and con-ceal Operation Overlord.

The most important operation wasFortitude.

Fortitude North: An allied invasionof Norway, then through neutralSweden, an invasion of Denmark andan attack against the Reich into Ber-lin.

Fortitude South: An allied invasionof France through the Pas de Calaiswith a diversion invasion in Norman-dy to draw the defenders from the Pasde Calais.

The deception plan had to agreewith Hitler’s opinion and be believ-able and credible.

Intelligence was collected throughmany sources, mainly through listen-ing to enemy radio transmissions;breaking enemy codes; sending spiesto report what was happening and

taking photographs from the air orthe from the sea.

To make the deception work, theplan had to involve different sourcesof information all saying the samething.

It then had to be checked to see ifthe enemy believed the deception.Through Ultra, the Allies could readHitler’s command teleprinter net-work and confirm whether the decep-tion plan was being believed.

The Allied command structure inthe Supreme Headquarters AlliedExpeditionary Force (SHAEF) co-ordinated all the Intelligence agen-cies under the Committee of SpecialMeans (CSM). This ensured that allthe different groups were co-ordinat-ed with each fake plan and had theauthority to make their part happen.

The Nazi command structure hadpower focused in one leader. Hitlercreated multiple separate and com-peting agencies providing differentpieces of information for his approvaland direction.

Fortitude North created a fictitious4th Army in Scotland that was pre-paring to invade Norway.

General Sir Andrew Thorne, whohad previously served as militaryattaché in Berlin and was well knownto the German High Command,would be the commander. Scotlandwas difficult for German reconnais-sance planes, so the deception reliedupon false radio messages creating acomplete army that could be listenedto and tracked by the German B-Dienst Intelligence.

The codes used were low level andknown to have been previously de-coded by the Germans. German dou-ble agents who had agreed to work forthe Allies were actively sending re-ports of fictional troop movementsand information on the 4th Army totheir handlers in the German Ab-wehr.

Fortitude South created the fake1st U.S. Army Group in southeast

England preparing to invade the Pasde Calais. This was commanded byGeneral George Patton, consideredby the German command as the natu-ral commander for the invasion.

The deception plan was similar tothat in Fortitude North but with thecomplication that the deploymentcould easily be observed by air andcoastal reconnaissance.

Dummy tank parks, army camps,with fake airfields created a believ-able and credible invasion forceagainst the Pas de Calais.

Double agents were very success-ful in Fortitude South.

On May 30, Hitler informed theJapanese Ambassador, General Hi-roshi Baron Oshima, that althoughthere might be diversionary attacksin Normandy or the Netherlands, themain invasion would be in the Pas deCalais.

For Hitler and his High command,the information from reliable Ab-wehr Agents across Europe; SignalsIntelligence from Y stations; cryptoanalysis units; and aerial photo re-connaissance all identified the Pas deCalais as the main invasion site.

Perhaps, the best judgment as towhether the D-Day Deception planworked are the words of GeneralOmar Bradley who wrote to his su-preme commander General Eisen-hower: “Operation Fortitude ... wasresponsible for containing a mini-mum of 20 divisions in the Pas deCalais during the first crucialmonths of the invasion. The enemywas led to believe - and reacted to - along inventory of opportune un-truths, the largest, most effective anddecisive of which was that (Neptune)itself was only the prelude to a majorinvasion in the Pas de Calais area ...Best testimony to the effectivenesswith which this misinformation in-fluenced the enemy’s command deci-sions is the historic record of theenemy’s committing his forces piece-meal-paralyzed into indecision inNormandy by the conviction that hehad more to fear from Calais.”

Ken Lloyd is a researcher andpresenter of Canadian Militarycommunications and code [email protected]

THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY, A SPECIAL PRESENTATION OF THE SPECTATOR’S NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION PROGRAM

It took a Bodyguardand some Fortitude

It took a fakearmy of realtroops and rubbertanks and guns tohelp fool Nazileaders in thedays before, andeven after, D-Day.


OperationFortitude Southfeatured a fakearmy under thecommand of Gen. GeorgePatton, as well asdummy tanks andguns.


How deception playeda key role in the successof the D-Day invasion

KEN LLOYD

PART 4 OF 8

Next week: The Atlantic WallJune 6, 2019, will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themonumental days in human history. Itwas one that changed the course ofthe world, signalled the beginning ofthe end of the Second World War andshaped the image of Canada as apower on the world stage.Hamilton will pay tribute to all D-Dayveterans with a one-of-a-kind gala atthe Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theWorld Famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, in conjunctionwith Newspapers In Education and theCanadian Warplane HeritageMuseum, continues an eight-weekcountdown to D-Day, with a look atwhat faced Canadians that day, 75years ago.

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Seventeen million cubic metresof concrete and 1.2 million tonnesof steel, stretched ominously andcontinuously for 2,687 kilometresshaped the foundation of AdolphHitler’s Atlantic Wall, alsoknown as his “Fortress Europe.”

On March 23, 1942 — underFührer Directive No. 40 — con-struction was ordered on thedefences along the Europeancontinent’s coast with the Atlan-tic. Initially built around hisKriegsmarine’s U-Boats, thefortifications eventually expan-ded to cover the coastline fromNorway all the way to the Span-ish border.

Nazi hierarchy concentratedon fixing defences along the as-sumed target of the French coast.So, in 1944 renowned and battle-tested, Field Marshall ErwinRommel, the famous “The DesertFox” for his accomplishments inNorth Africa — was given theresponsibility with overseeingand improving the fortificationsby Hitler.

Rommel, too, firmly believedthat beaches of France were theinevitable target for the Allies,and that the invasion had to becrushed right there. So, under hisdirection, in France alone, morethan 6 million mines were plant-ed.

Eventually, defences consistedof anti-tank and vehicle obstaclesknown as ‘Rommel’s Teeth’which were basically giant,jagged clusters of wood and steelwith explosives attached andthey were completely hidden

during high tide. Then the beach-es were jammed full of landminesand barbed wire, ditches weredug, and anti-tank walls builtfollowed by pillboxes housingmurderous machine-gun nestswith interlocking sightlines sothat all the beachhead could becovered. Close behind wereheavy artillery and anti- aircraftguns, armoured and infantrydivisions and even a secondaryline of heavy artillery to supportthe beachhead during an inva-sion, in hopes of delaying anyadvance until reinforcementscould arrive.

The term “Fortress Europe”was warranted, and the fortresswas formidable.

But, the Allies believed thatvictory could only be achieved bydriving the occupying Nazi forcesout, and that had to be done onland. Unfortunately, any sus-tained invasion would need afoothold to advance from andthat meant that the Nazi assump-tions of an inevitable beach land-ing — one, presumably close toEngland — were correct andwell-founded.

So, the Allies had to apply a fewtricks to improve their chanceson D-Day.

They were innovative in theirengineering of tactical vehiclesthat could be used to help themcrack the defences they weregoing to face. 79th ArmouredDivision of the British Army andspecialists from The Royal Engi-neers worked on what wouldbecome known as “Hobart’sFunnies,” which were tanks thatwere specially-modified to theproblems that the more tradition-al tank would face.

The most famous of these wasthe Duplex Drive tank, or “Don-ald Duck”, “Duck” or “DD” forshort. These were amphibioustanks that used a flotation screen

and two propellers to drivethrough the water. Other notableinventions that saw success onthe frontlines were the CrabMine-Clearing tank, the AVRE,and Crocodile Flame-Throwingtank.

The actual invasion force con-sisted of 156,000 American, Brit-ish and Canadian troops thatwent on to storm 80 kilometres ofthe ferociously defended French

territory of Normandy.The first wave was made up of

paratroopers sent to capturebridges and other crucial targets,while also disrupting any rein-forcement attempts made by theGermans. The second wave wasfilling the sky with bombers anddropping thousands of bombs oncoastal defences, followed by thethird wave consisting of warshipbatteries pummeling the beaches

in preparation for the landingcrafts carrying the invasionforce to their five designatedbeaches.

According to Veterans AffairsCanada, “some 14,000 Canadiansbegan the assault along theirsector of the coast — Juno Beach.Their mission was to secure thebeach, and then push inland.Although only one Canadianunit reached its D-Day objective,the first line of the German de-fences had been smashed andCanadian troops had progressedfurther inland than any of theirAllies. Hitler’s Fortress Europewas cracked. It was a remarkableachievement, but it was costly.By the end of D-Day, 340 Canadi-ans had given their lives.”

It was the beginning of the endfor Hitler and the war. Paris wasliberated on Aug. 25, 1944 mark-ing the end of the Battle of Nor-mandy. Total victory in Europewas declared May 8, 1945.

Alex Day is a member of theD-Day Commemorative GalaCommittee, and an employee ofthe Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum.


The imposing guns that fortified the Atlantic Wall from Norway to Spain,left, and one of the emplacements destroyed by the Canadians on D-Dayin Normandy.

THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR WWII PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, MCMASTER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Two of ‘Hobart’s Funnies,’ a tank that could swim ashore like a duck and atank that flailed away at hidden landmines.

Just some of the obstacles that lined the beaches of Normandy as menand machines tried to come ashore on June 6, 1944.

How to getafootholdin a fortressFacing the Allies onD-Day was an AtlanticWall bristling withdeadly defences

ALEXANDER DAY

PART 5 OF 8

Next week: Talk on theHomefrontJune 6, 2019 will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themonumental days in humanhistory. It was one that changedthe course of the world, signalledthe beginning of the end of theSecond World War and shapedthe image of Canada as a power onthe world stage.Hamilton will pay tribute to allD-Day veterans with aone-of-a-kind gala at theCanadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theWorld Famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, inconjunction with Newspapers InEducation and the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum,continues an 8-week countdownto D-Day, with a look at whatfaced Canadians that day, 75years ago.

This story was originally pub-lished in The Hamilton Spectatorin June 1994, on the 50th anniver-sary of D-Day.

AT 8 A.M. MARY FOUN-TAINE rose from bed and, as herusual routine, walked down thewooden stairs from the secondfloor of the family farmhouse tothe kitchen.

Unlike other mornings duringthe spring of 1944, this one wasdifferent. There was a sense ofurgency in the sunny morningair. Her mother, father and broth-er stood breathlessly around theradio soaking up the news thatfamilies across the continent hadbeen expecting for months.

One of them looked at her andexcitedly rattled on about theAllied forces storming Germantroops on the shores of Norman-dy, France.

The day was June 6. MaryFountaine was living on a 145-acre farm just outside Caledonia.She was 21 years old.

“We listened to our radio andheard the dramatic voices ofMatthew Halton and LorneGreen informing us of the land-ing, “ Mrs. Fountaine, 71, said in arecent Spectator interview. “Iwas excited and frightened at thesame time.”

Neil Bain, her husband, a 19-year-old farm boy from nearbyYork, enlisted the previous fall.Mary and their infant daughterwatched him go off to war. Whenshe waved goodbye as he went offto serve, she realized it was duty.That didn’t stop her from beingfrightened, she said.

“I was always conscious thatsomething might happen,” shesaid.

Her husband wrote faithfully,his time away filled by lettershome. They were her hope, a linkbetween a husband off at war, ayoung wartime bride and 18-month-old daughter. In one of theletters, he said he almost

drowned the morning of the D-Day invasion. The boat carryingsoldiers to shore unloaded themin seawater six feet deep.

In July, a month after the in-vasion, the letters stopped. OnAug. 8, a red half-ton truck pulledup the long rural driveway. Mrs.Fountaine received a final letter,this one written on official gov-ernment letterhead.

“We regret to inform you ...” itbegan. Her husband of two yearshad been killed July 25, 1944,during the battle of Falaise.

In Hamilton on June 6, day-break was greeted with freshwinds and scattered showers.The sun rose shortly after 5.30a.m. By then phone lines hadalready been buzzing for hours,the news of the much-awaitedinvasion dominating conversa-tions.

“Hamilton Waits In TenseAnxiety As Invasion Begins,”proclaimed a headline from theday’s Hamilton Spectator. Peoplewere hungry for news of the at-tack.

“While the majority of Hamil-tonians did not learn of the in-vasion until they rose from bedthis morning, there was a consid-erable number who heard thebroadcast before resting and lettheir friends know this greatnews,” the paper said. “The tele-phone in The Spectator officesjangled from 2 o’clock in themorning on, as the editors gath-ered their news from the teletypemachines. People wanted toknow if it were true — wanted toknow if the news had been ver-ified by the press services. Forthe world, it was an excitinghour.”

The paper described word ofthe invasion as “a thrilling fresh-ness that lost nothing throughanticipation.

“Hamilton was eagerly excitedto learn that at least the greatbattle for Europe was underway,with local lads undoubtedlyamong the spearhead troops, “the Spectator said. “Every radio

set in the city found eager listen-ers, as broadcasts from the bat-tlefront echoed across the seasand Prime Minister Churchilland Premier Mackenzie King toldtheir people that their armieswere on the sail for France, bat-tling the Germans on their for-tress front.”

Along the harbour shore, thenews rapidly spread from thewharves to inside factories. Meninside the steel mills broke fromtheir duties for quick conversa-tions about the development.

“I was working shifts andheard about it through the grape-vine,” recalls Reg Wheeler ofHamilton’s Beach Strip. “Wewere in the steel plant and workcouldn’t stop, but you can betthere was a lot of hurried con-versations. We got word therewas a tremendous invasion andwe were all proud, as proud asyou can be in a time of war. Ev-eryone was happy, but it didn’tmean the end of the war.”

Wheeler, a former city alder-man, was doing war work insidethe Dofasco steel mill. He saysnews of D-Day was mixed.

“We had the lesson of Dieppeand that was still very much oneveryone’s mind,” he said. “Weknew a landing on the coast ofFrance wouldn’t be easy.”

“Hamilton had grieved beforewith a stout heart, the scars ofDieppe were still on her brow, andit was assuring to hear that thelandings appeared to be stronglysupported and were, even at thisearly hour, making good headwayagainst the German foe.”

— Excerpt from HamiltonSpectator news story, June 6,1944.

In the city’s north end, womenworking in the Eaton KnittingCompany Ltd., on John Streetwere toiling making socks, sweat-ers and underwear for soldiers.In the morning hours, Rev. A.J.Love minister of Wesley UnitedChurch next door to the factory,listened intently to radio reportsof the new front.

Hastily, he called an official atthe plant and asked if the work-ers could be released for a briefprayer service.

Betty Tossell, 19, listened to thenoisy sewing machines shutdown as she made her way to thechurch.

“It was a wonderful gesture,”she said. “It was unusual forthem to stop the factory, but thiswas an important day. Everyonehad someone or knew of someoneover there.”

A few workers stayed at themill to mind shop. Inside thechurch people crammed pewsand aisles, their bodies spillingout the main door into the street.More than 1,000 people attendedthe 15-minute service.

“It was a day of prayer andhope, “ says Mrs. Tossell, now 69and living in Burlington. “Thiswas the big push that would getthe boys home.”

By mid-afternoon the rain letup and bursts of sun added to thejubilation racing through thecity. Rain clouds moved off andthe temperature reached 19 C(66.2 F).

Joyce Hollings was oblivious tothe excitement, making last-minute dashes preparing for herwedding that day.

Her future husband, a navyman, was stationed in Halifax butat home on a two-week leave.

“I had no idea of all the commo-tion until our minister called tosay we would have to put thingsback a bit, “ says Mrs. Hollings,70. “The minister was beingcalled to a park in Burlington tosay prayers for the boys.”

The wedding, in the backyardof her husband’s parents’ homeon Water Street in Burlington,was postponed an hour. At 7:30that night, the high school sweet-hearts wed. It was a small cere-mony with 12 or 13 people attend-ing.

“Everyone was at war, “ saysMrs. Hollings.

Crowds gathered at VictoriaPark, a popular meeting spot inHamilton’s then west end.

Vivian Connolly was at thepark on the corner of King andLocke Streets.

“It was bittersweet,” says Mrs.Connolly, then a 21-year-old ar-maments worker. “There weren’tany planned festivities, but peo-ple just met. I was happy andsharing in the happiness thatothers had, but still my mainconcern was my husband.”

Unknown to her, William Con-nolly, her husband, was a pris-oner-of-war. He’d been capturedApril 29, when his ship Atha-baskan was sunk in the Atlanticby a German torpedo during apre-D-Day run.

In May, Mrs. Connolly receiveda letter from the Department ofNational Defence saying herhusband was missing and pre-sumed dead.

D-Day was important, sheremembers. But Mrs. Connollystill had a heavy heart.

“I was waiting for some kind ofword about my husband.”

Three months after the sinkingand about six weeks after the biginvasion, her news arrived. Mrs.Connolly received a Red Cross

postcard saying her husband wasalive and in a German prisoncamp.

In downtown Hamilton’s regalGore Park, office workers andothers packed the space, stoppingtraffic along King Street andspilling up to Main Street.

“We brought sandwiches andsoda pop to the window in myoffice and watched all the excite-ment,” says Ellen Fairclough, 89.At the time, the future Conserva-tive MP from Hamilton West wasa public accountant. Her thirdfloor office was on the north-westcorner of King and James streets.

Eight or nine people stood inher office, faces pressed to theglass looking over the frenziedcore.

“It was the perfect vantagepoint to watch everything. Therewas so many people in thestreets, the streetcars wereslowed right down and had ahard time getting through.”

Late into the afternoon andinto the night, folks were stillcelebrating. On Barton StreetEast people packed the Trocad-ero Restaurant, which MariaPantalone opened that morning.She barely rested all day, tryingto keep pace with her revellingcustomers’ voracious demand forher homemade Italian spaghettiand hamburgers.

“It was a big party for every-body,” says her son Tony Panta-lone, himself stationed in Gan-der, Newfoundland, at the time.“It was a little restaurant. It seat-ed maybe 30 or 40 people, butthere were many more inside.People were in the streets.

“My mother was so excited.She ran out of food at the end ofthe day.” Mrs. Pantalone wasexuberant with her first day’ssuccess. She believed peopleflocked for her food.

“Later someone told her it wasD-Day and the war was coming toan end. My mother is from the oldcountry and she spoke very littleEnglish. I don’t think she un-derstood.”

D-Day, on thehome front

Vi Connolly, whoworked at SawyerMassey Argus, aHamilton factoryinvolved in the wareffort, while herhusband WilliamConnolly servedon theAthabaskan.

KAZ NOVAK THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR

A LOOK AT HAMILTON ON JUNE 6, 1944

BY JIM POLING

At work at the Otis Factory inHamilton.

HANDOUT COPY PHOTO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR


PART 6 OF 8

Next week: The D-Day DodgersJune 6, 2019 will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themonumental days in humanhistory. It was one that changedthe course of the world, signalledthe beginning of the end of theSecond World War and shapedthe image of Canada as a power onthe world stage.Hamilton will pay tribute to allD-Day veterans with aone-of-a-kind gala at theCanadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theWorld Famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, inconjunction with Newspapers InEducation and the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum,continues an eight-weekcountdown to D-Day, with a lookat what faced Canadians that day,75 years ago.

THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR l THESPEC.COM THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019 G13

C M Y

Countdown to D-DAY






or call 905-526-3438.


















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SOLD OUT

This story by James Elliott of TheHamilton Spectator was pub-lished on July 10, 2003, on the 60thanniversary of the start of thecampaign to liberate Sicily.

“Look around the hillsidesThrough the mist and rainSee the scattered crossesSome that bear no nameHeartbreak and toil and sufferinggoneThe lads beneath, they slumber onThey are the D-Day DodgersWho stay in Italy.”— Ballad of the D-Day Dodgers

Just before noon today, a spry82-year-old will make his way tothe Cenotaph in downtown Mil-ton. As his custom has been forthe best part of the last six de-cades, he’ll come alone to thegrey granite marker — no med-als, no beret — place a single redpoppy on the base, pause for a fewmoments and leave.

It is Huck Kelman’s homage tohis best friend, Pinky Coxe, killedright beside him on an islandlong ago and far away in a cam-paign largely forgotten by Cana-dians.

Coxe lies buried in the AgiraWar Cemetery in the centre ofSicily, one of 500 Canadians killedin the month-long campaign toliberate the first stepping stone ofNazi-occupied Europe.

It was big news at the time —

Canada committed an entiredivision, about 18,000 men, to theinvasionary force — but it wouldbe overshadowed by the Norman-dy invasion 11 months later as thedecisive blow to break Germanmilitary power on the continent.

Canada remembers June 6,1944, as D-Day and there’s abrand-new Canadian memorialat Juno Beach, but few Canadiansrealize the original campaign toliberate Europe began 60 yearsago today on a sandy bay calledCosta dell’Ambra on the south-east coast of Sicily, between Syra-cuse and Pachino.

By the time the Italian cam-paign ended some 20 monthslater, nearly 93,000 Canadianshad fought in Italy, 5,764 werekilled, another 20,490 werewounded or taken prisoner.

Almost all of the fighting wasagainst the cream of the GermanWehrmacht.

Although D-Day was bigger interms of ships and aircraft, theSicilian invasion — code nameHusky — was in fact the largestamphibious assault of the entirewar, landing 180,000 troops, 15,000vehicles and 1,800 guns of theBritish Eighth Army (includingthe 1st Canadian Division) andthe American 7th Army.

The invasion itself, however,was by no means a precursor ofwhat lay ahead. The actual land-ing was largely unopposed by ademoralized Italian army andcasualties were extraordinarily

light — seven Canadian dead and25 wounded — but it was reallyjust the calm before the storm.

CBC radio correspondent PeterStursberg would later report onthe ominously peaceful dawnthat greeted the Canadians onJuly 10, 1943.

“There was something fantas-tic about it all. The early morningsun was shining now, and I couldsee the vineyards above the yel-low-brown beach and the littlewhite houses in the vineyardsand a town spread out on the hillsbeyond. It was just like a col-oured picture in a geographicalmagazine.”

Huck Kelman, a platoon ser-geant with the Lorne Scots, re-members the heat — 46 C in theshade — “was killing, honest toGod it was killing.”

Hamilton native Pat O’Neill,who went ashore with the Has-ting’s and Prince Edward Regi-ment — the famous Hasty P’s —was one of the first to hit thebeach, sent in to blow up razorwire with Bangalore torpedoes.

Once ashore, “it was so hot itwas like walking in your sleep.There was so much dust, youcouldn’t see your feet.”

Helmets and rifle steel becameunbearably hot.

Despite the overwhelmingsuccess of the landing, O’Neillsays there was no false optimism.

“We knew it was coming. Thefirst day was a cakewalk and thenfour days later, we walked into an

ambush. We first met the Ger-mans at a place called Gram-michele. We were riding tanksand they opened up on us with88s. That was the start of our war.From there on, it was you foughtand you died. Or you lived.”

In Canada, the first news of theinvasion was from CanadianPress correspondent Ross Mun-ro, who through a stroke of in-credible good luck, gained a sev-en-hour advantage on the En-glish and American press.

His detailed account of theCanadian landing, because it wasthe first and mentioned no otherforces, gave the impression theCanadians were rolling up Sicilyall by themselves. From Sicily,the campaign moved north to themainland where a Hamiltonfarmboy, Eric Mathias, mannedSherman tanks with the OntarioRegiment.

Of the three complete five-mantank crews that he served with,Mathias was the only survivor.“Some were brewed up (burned),drivers got shot in the head. Oneshell came through the side of thetank, took the seat out from un-der me and cut the gunner inhalf. I always figured I had anangel sitting on my shoulder.”

The opposition were the fear-some German panzers.

“When you see a tracer bullethit the front of their tank and justbounce, yeah, it’s scary, but wegot around it. The thing I remem-ber the most was the respect wegot from the Germans. And werespected them, even though wewere trying to do away with eachother.”

Indeed, German war recordsindicate that the appearance ofCanadian forces in any sectorduring the often-bitter campaignwas generally the signal for theGermans to commit their besttroops.

The Italian campaignersgained their now-famous nick-name after D-Day when BritishMP Lady Nancy Astor is reputedto have said the 8th Army wasdodging D-Day while the realfighting was going on in North-west Europe. The ensuing up-roar among the troops producedthe sarcastic Ballad of the D-DayDodgers.

Today, what was an insult 60years ago is a curious badge ofhonour for the surviving vets ofthe Italian campaign.

“After June 6, we were kind offorgotten,” said Mathias.

“And the Germans left theirelite troops down there for us. Wedidn’t have it any easier afterD-Day; it was tough going all theway. I’m proud to be a D-DayDodger.”

It’s a view seconded by Kel-man. “We should get more atten-tion. They talk about everybodyelse, but we did a lot of toughfighting. They were great sol-diers, I’ll tell you right now.”

And O’Neill. “Once the Nor-mandy landing took place, theyforgot about us. We fought longerthan any other division in theCanadian army because westarted 11 months before theFrance landing. But I wouldn’tchange a nickel, I wouldn’tchange a dime. I was proud to bedown there.”

Historian Daniel Dancocks inhis 1991 book, The D-Day Dodg-ers, provided a sad epilogue tothe Italian campaign.

“There are few memorials totheir efforts. Unlike Normandywhere every city, town has apicturesque plaque or monu-ment recalling its liberation,Italy (perhaps understandably)has virtually turned a blind eyeto its recent past. Superhighwayshave been built over the battle-fields and most of the concretefortifications constructed by theGermans have been removed.

“Only the cemeteries tell thetale of what happened here in1943, 1944 and 1945.”

An official War Office photo, titled Two Minutes in Ortona: “A cameraman in a doorway onthe main square when Canadian tanks broke into Ortona. For two minutes, he clicked hiscamera. From his pictures this composite was made — one of the most outstanding of thewar in Italy. On the left, a Canadian tank officer, crossing the square in overalls had openedup his tank to check firing results. A sniper’s bullet hit him in the shoulder. He is beinghelped to a dressing station by a medical assistant, while another is standing by. TheSherman tanks on the left are still in action. Near the centre of the picture, another medicalassistant runs forward across the exposed area to follow the war up another street straightahead. On the right, a group of half a dozen men have gathered round a wounded officer,who kneels while his back is bandaged. One man has caught sight of the camera, and peersinquiringly around the doorway.”

HAMILTON SPECTATOR WWII PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, MCMASTER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY: A SPECIAL PRESENTATION OF THE SPECTATOR’S NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION PROGRAM

For many Canadians,their D-Day was in 1943When the campaign ended 20 months later, nearly 93,000 Canadianshad fought in Sicily and Italy, 5,764 were killed and another 20,490were wounded or taken prisoner.

JAMES ELLIOTTThe Hamilton Spectator

Below: A holeblasted in ahilltop wall inItaly gives thisCanadian, Pte.M.D. White ofGrassland,Alta., a vantagepoint to observeany enemymovementswhile men of hisunit move into anew position.

PART 7 OF 8

Next week: It all comes down tothe weatherJune 6, 2019, will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themonumental days in humanhistory. It was one that changedthe course of the world, signalledthe beginning of the end of theSecond World War and shapingthe image of Canada as a power onthe world stage.Hamilton will pay tribute to allD-Day veterans with a sold out,one-of-a-kind gala at theCanadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theworld famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, inconjunction with Newspapers inEducation and the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum,continues an eight-weekcountdown to D-Day, with a lookat what faced Canadians that day,75 years ago.


C M Y

Countdown to D-Day

Remembering Our PastThe 75th Anniversary of D-DayIn honour of all those who sacrificed everythingfor their children, their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, The Hamilton Spectator will bepublishing a special section commemorating the75th Anniversary of D-Day.Written by The Hamilton Spectator’s award-winningjournalism team, this will be a keepsake you won’twant to miss being a part of and will feel inspired toshare with children in the future.

Look for your copy inside the Hamilton Spectator tomorrow, May 31st.

IT WAS JUST HOURS BE-FORE the amphibious assault ofD-Day was scheduled to com-mence that Allied Supreme Com-mander Dwight Eisenhowerpostponed it for 24 hours. Origi-nally planned for June 5, some-thing made him change his mind.

The reason? The weather. Treacherous seas and fierce

winds threatened the amphibi-ous assault. Air support wouldalso have to deal with cloud coverobscuring targets and landingsites, and the storm’s rain would

slow the advancing army and itstransports in mud.

Proven over and over duringthe course of the Second WorldWar was the importance of theweather. It could make or breakany operation quicker than theenemy. But, it could aid in one,too.

The Allies knew that and theirplans called for a full moon toreveal defences, obstacles andlanding zones for their glidersand paratroopers, as well as pro-viding a low tide at dawn to ex-pose the well-positioned un-derwater obstacles along the

beaches.The next suitable date for

launch was forecast for twoweeks away, and every day thatpassed, the Allies risked losingthe element of surprise.

Similar forecasts were beingpresented by meteorologists inthe Luftwaffe to Field MarshalErwin Rommel. He and his com-manders assumed that becauseof rough seas and gale-forcewinds, any suitable window foran invasion would be pushed intomid-June. Rommel went to visithis wife on her birthday andmany troops and high-rankingofficers were moved around forwar games and drills.

However, armed with ad-vanced weather tracking andprojecting systems, specificallyones in Canada, Iceland andIreland, British meteorologists

had a hunch that there would bean opening for the invasion inmorning hours of June 6.

“Let’s go.”The plan was set, and with

those two words, Eisenhowertook the full responsibility of theoperation onto his shoulders.With victory, there would be afoothold on Europe to push backthe occupying German forces.With defeat, a crushing loss ofmanpower and resources wascertain to devastate morale. Notto mention putting any hopes ofanother attempt back a year ormore.

As the operation unfolded, the

weather was still far from ideal.Allied air support was off themark, paratroopers were landingscattered, miles off their targetsand landing craft were flippingand flooding.

Fortunately by noon, theweather cleared to reveal a land-ing force that took the Germandefences by surprise and ulti-mately changed the course of thewar, and history, forever.

Alex Day is a member of theD-Day Commemorative GalaCommittee, and an employee ofthe Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum.

THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY, A SPECIAL PRESENTATION OF THE SPECTATOR’S NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION PROGRAM.

The June 5, 1944, weather map that Allied leaders used to decide if D-Day would proceed on June 6 or not.

VE-DAY 60

It all came down ...to the weather

A base in the south of England, loaded with troops and ready to set offfor Normandy.

HAMILTON SPECTATOR WWII PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, MCMASTER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Presented with the latest, advanced forecast, Eisenhower said, ‘Let’s go’

PART 8 OF 8

June 6, 2019, will be the 75thanniversary of D-Day, one of themost monumental days in humanhistory. It was one that changedthe course of the world, signalledthe beginning of the end of theSecond World War and shapedthe image of Canada as aformidable nation on the worldstage. Hamilton will pay tribute toall D-Day veterans with a sold-outone-of-a-kind gala at theCanadian Warplane HeritageMuseum on June 1, featuring theWorld Famous Glenn MillerOrchestra.Today, The Spectator, inconjunction with Newspapers InEducation and the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum,completes an eight-weekcountdown to D-Day, with a lookat the role weather played on June6, 1944.

Horsa gliders await their cargo of soldiers the day before the invasion launches.

FILE PHOTO

ALEX DAY

Torpedo boats await the signal to go.

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Documents

Let’s plant a 75-year-old treemedia.zuza.com/2/4/244624d7-0648-44eb-bed9-2941038... · l ish a ‘Third Reich’ — Adolf Hitler’s N azi Germany began to invade the c ountries