by Mark Zuehlke
2 Maj. J.R. Martin, “Report No. 147 Historical Section Canadian Military Headquarters: Part One: The Assault and Subsequent Operations of 3 Cdn Inf Div and 2 Cdn Armd Bde, 6–30 June 44—N.W. Europe,” 3 December 1945, Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, para. 230.
3 Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (MG) War Diary, June 1944, Appendix 7 ‘B’ Coy ChofO(MG), RG24, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
4 Will R. Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment (Fredericton, NB: Brunswick Press, 1963), 234.
5 N.a., “Memorandum of Interview With Brig K.G. Blackader, Comd 8 CDN INF BDE by Historical Officer, 24 Jun 44,” O18(D13), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 2.
6 North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 2.
7 Bird, North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, 234.
8 Ibid.
9 Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (MG) War Diary, Appendix 7, n.p.
10 Joe Ryan, interview by John Gregory Thompson, Cobourg, ON, 6 November 2003.
11 Bird, 235.
12 Charles Richardson, interview by John Gregory Thompson, London, ON, 10 March 2003.
13 Bird, 235.
14 Stacey, 134.
15 Bird, 236.
16 Ibid., 236–37.
17 Ibid., 238.
18 R.M. Hickey, The Scarlet Dawn (Campbelltown, NB: Tribune Publishing Limited, 1949), 204.
19 “Memorandum of Interview with Brig K.G. Blackader,” 2.
20 Stacey, 127–28.
21 Don Learment, interview by John Gregory Thompson, Guelph, ON, 21 November 2003.
22 Ibid.
23 North Nova Scotia Highlanders War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
24 Will Bird, No Retreating Footsteps: The Story of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders (Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1983), 74.
25 Ibid., 75.
26 Ibid., 74.
27 Ibid.
28 Don Learment, “Soldier, POW, Partisan: My Experiences During the Battle of France, June–September 1944,” Canadian Military History, Spring 2000, 94.
29 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 75.
30 Ibid.
31 North Nova Scotia Highlanders War Diary, n.p.
32 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 76.
33 Learment, 94.
34 North Nova Scotia Highlanders War Diary, n.p.
35 Ibid.
36 N.a., “Memorandum of Interviews with Capt (A/Maj) A.J. Wilson, Nth NSHighrs, 18 Jun 44 and Capt (A/Maj) E.S. Gray, Nth NSHighrs, 29 Jun 44 by Historical Offr: The Engagement at Buron and Authie, 7 Jun 44,” 145.2n2011(D3), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 2.
37 Will Bird, The Two Jacks: The Amazing Adventures of Major Jack M. Veness and Major Jack L. Fairweather (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1954), 10.
38 “Memorandum of Interviews with Wilson and Gray,” 2.
39 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 80.
40 “Memorandum of Interviews with Wilson and Gray,” 2.
41 Sherbrooke Fusiliers War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 5.
42 “Memorandum of Interviews with Wilson and Gray,” 2.
43 Learment, 94–95.
44 “Memorandum of Interviews with Wilson and Gray,” 2.
6: BAPTISM AT AUTHIE
1 Gordon Brown and Terry Copp, Look to Your Front… Regina Rifles: A Regiment at War, 1944–45 (Waterloo, ON: Laurier Centre Military Strategic Disarmament Studies, 2001), 62.
2 Kurt Meyer, Grenadier (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1994), 121.
3 Michael Reynolds, Steel Inferno: I SS Panzer Corps in Normandy (New York: Dell Publishing, 1997), 22.
4 N.a., “Special Interrogation Report: Brigadeführer Kurt Meyer, Comd 12 SS Pz Div ‘Hitler Jugend’ (6 June 1944–25 Aug 1944),” Reginald Roy Collection, University of Victoria Special Collections, 2.
5 Reynolds, 24.
6 Ibid., 23.
7 Ibid., 21–24.
8 Ibid., 23.
9 Hubert Meyer, The History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 1994), 204.
10 Reynolds, 37–41 and Appendices IV and V.
11 Terry Copp, Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 18–19.
12 George Forty, British Army Handbook: 1939–1945 (Phoenix Mill, England: Sutton Publishing, 1998), 67.
13 Reynolds, 34–41.
14 Hubert Meyer, 40–41.
15 Kurt Meyer, 121.
16 Ibid., 122.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 H.M. Jackson, The Sherbrooke Regiment (27th Armoured Regiment) (n.p., 1958), 125.
20 Merritt Hayes Bateman, interview by Tom Torrie, 28 May 1987, University of Victoria Special Collections.
21 George Mahon, “Letter to Lt. Col. Gordon, June 25 1944,” Melville Burgoyne Kennedy Gordon fonds, MG 30–e367, Vol. 1, Personal Correspondence, Library and Archives Canada.
22 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the RCAF—A Record for Canada, vol. 5 (Shelburne, ON: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2451.
23 George Mahon letter.
24 Bateman interview.
25 Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, Appendix: “B Squadron, 27 CAR (SFR)—Summarized by Lieut. L.N. Davies,” 3.
26 Ibid.
27 Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment War Diary, Appendix: “27 Canadian Armoured Regiment—Diary of Events of ‘D’ Day and D plus 1 by Sgt. T.C. Reid, No. 2 Troop, ‘C’ Sqn,” 2–3.
28 Hubert Meyer, 42.
29 Don Learment, interview by John Gregory Thompson, Guelph, ON, 21 November 2003.
30 N.a., “Descriptive Record,” Melville Burgoyne Kennedy Gordon fonds, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
31 Don Learment, “Soldier, POW, Partisan: My Experiences During the Battle of France, June–September 1944,” Canadian Military History, Spring 2000, 95.
32 Will Bird, The Two Jacks: The Amazing Adventures of Major Jack M. Veness and Major Jack L. Fairweather (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1954), 11–12.
33 Ibid., 12.
34 Ibid., 12–13.
35 Ibid., 13.
36 Will Bird, No Retreating Footsteps: The Story of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders (Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1983), 90.
37 Ibid., 91.
38 Bird, The Two Jacks, 13.
39 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 91.
40 Ibid., 93.
41 Kurt Meyer, 122.
7: DON’T DO ANYTHING CRAZY
1 Will Bird, The Two Jacks: The Amazing Adventures of Major Jack M. Veness and Major Jack L. Fairweather (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1954), 13.
2 Ibid., 14.
3 N.a., “Combat Lessons—7 CDN INF BDE,” RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 5.
4 Bird, 15–16.
5 Ibid., 16–17.
6 Jack Byrne, interview by John Gregory Thompson, St. Joseph, ON, 10 October 2003.
7 N.a., “Memorandum of Interviews with Capt (A/Maj) A.J. Wilson, Nth NSHighrs, 18 Jun 44 and Capt (A/Maj) E.S. Gray, Nth NSHighrs, 29 Jun 44 by Historical Offr: The Engagement at Buron and Authie, 7 Jun 44,” 145.2n2011(D3), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 3.
8 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the RCAF—A Record for Canada, vol. 5 (Shelburne, ON: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2469.
9 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 128.
10 Will Bird, No Retreating Footsteps: The Story of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders (Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1983), 98.
11 Ibid., 100.
12 Don Learment, “Soldier, POW, Partisan: My Experiences During the Battle of France, June–September 1944,” Canadian Military History, Spring 2000, 95.
13 Ibid., 96.
14 Don Learment, i
nterview by John Gregory Thompson, Guelph, ON, 21 November 2003.
15 Learment, “Soldier, POW, Partisan,” 96.
16 Ibid.
17 Learment interview.
18 Howard Margolian, Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 60.
19 Ibid., 44–45.
20 Hubert Meyer, The History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing Inc., 1994), 45.
21 Margolian, 58–60.
22 Richard M. Ross, The History of the 1st Battalion Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (MG) (n.p., n.d.), 42.
23 “Memorandum of Interviews with Capt (A/Maj) A.J. Wilson,” 3.
24 William Boss, Up the Glens: Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, 1783–1994 (Cornwall, ON: Old Book Store, 1995), 186–87.
25 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 100.
26 North Nova Scotia Highlanders War Diary, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
27 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 5, 2469–70.
28 Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment War Diary, Appendix: “27 Canadian Armoured Regiment (SFR) #4 Troop,” RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 3.
29 North Nova Scotia Highlanders War Diary, n.p.
30 Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
31 Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment War Diary, 3–4.
32 Stacey, 132.
33 Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment War Diary, 5.
34 Stacey, 132.
35 Byrne interview.
36 Boss, 187.
37 Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders War Diary, n.p.
38 3rd Canadian Infantry Division GSWar Diary, June 1944, Appendix Jacket No. 1 Message Log, RG24, Library and Archives Canada.
39 Kurt Meyer, Grenadier (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz, 1994), 122–23.
40 Ibid., 124.
41 Hubert Meyer, 45.
42 Margolian, 62–63.
43 Bird, No Retreating Footsteps, 97.
44 Margolian, 63.
45 Ian J. Campbell, Murder at the Abbaye: The Story of Twenty Canadian Soldiers Murdered in the Abbaye d’Ardenne (Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 1996), 77.
46 Margolian, 64.
47 Learment interview.
48 Learment, “Soldier, POW, Partisan,” 96.
49 Margolian, 63.
50 Learment, “Soldier, POW, Partisan, 96.
51 Margolian, 69–70.
52 Hubert Meyer, 48–54.
8: THE DEVIL DANCED
1 Dan Hartigan, A Rising of Courage: Canada’s Paratroops in the Liberation of Normandy (Calgary: Drop Zone Publishers, 2000), 170.
2 Ibid., 153–54.
3 Ibid., 167.
4 Ibid., 156–60.
5 Col. C.P. Stacey, “Report No. 139 Historical Section Canadian Military Headquartersr: The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in France (6 June–6 September 1944), 11–12.
6 Ibid., 12.
7 Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (London: Collins, 1952), 294.
8 John A. Willes, Out of the Clouds: The History of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion (Perry, ON: Port Perry Printing, 1995), 91.
9 Brian Nolan, Airborne: The Heroic Story of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in the Second World War (Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995), 105.
10 Hartigan, 162.
11 Ibid., 169.
12 Ibid., 169.
13 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 10.
14 Hartigan, 174.
15 Napier Crookenden, Dropzone Normandy: The Story of the American and British Airborne Assault on D-Day 1944 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976), 31.
16 Hartigan, 173–75.
17 Ibid., 175–76.
18 Ibid., 176.
19 Ibid., 176–77.
20 Ibid., 177–80.
9: GREEN AS GRASS
1 Bernard Law, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, The Memoirs of Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G. (London: Collins, 1958), 251.
2 Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy: The Unwritten Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign (London: Penguin Books, 2001), 163.
3 Montgomery, 252.
4 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 141–42.
5 D’Este, 73.
6 Ibid., 161.
7 Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (London: Collins, 1952), 297.
8 Stacey, 80.
9 Wilmot, 299.
10 Hubert Meyer, The History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 1994), 49–50.
11 N.p., “Combat Lessons–7 CDN INF BDE,” RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
12 Gordon Brown and Terry Copp, Look to Your Front… Regina Rifles: A Regiment at War, 1944–45 (Waterloo: Laurier Centre Military Strategic Disarmament Studies, 2001), 58.
13 Stewart A.G. Mein, Up the Johns! The Story of the Royal Regina Rifles (North Battleford, SK: Turner-Warwick Publications, 1992), 113.
14 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the RCAF—A Record for Canada, vol. 6 (Shelburne, ON: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2917–18.
15 Tony Foulds, “In Support of the Canadians: A British Anti-Tank Regiment’s First Five Weeks in Normandy,” Canadian Military History, Spring 1998, vol. 7, 73.
16 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 6, 2917–18.
17 Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 6.
18 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 6, 3015.
19 N.a., “Memorandum of Interview with Brig H.W. Foster, Comd 7 CDN INF BDE 22 Jun 44: 7 CDN INF BDE in the Assault and the Achievement of its Objective,” 018(D13), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 1.
20 Brigadier H.W. Foster, “7 CIB—Combat Lessons,” RG24, vol. 10986, Library and Archives Canada, 2.
21 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 6, 3015.
22 Ibid., 2981–82.
23 13th Field Regiment, RCAWar Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 3.
24 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 2, 912.
25 Ibid.
26 Meyer, 50.
27 Regina Rifles War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
28 Reginald Roy, Ready for the Fray: The History of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) 1920 to 1955 (Vancouver: Evergreen Press, 1958), 231–32.
29 13th Field Regiment, RCAWar Diary, 3.
30 1st Hussars Armoured Regiment War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 4.
31 Ibid.
32 A. Brandon Conron, A History of the First Hussars Regiment, 1856–1980 (n.p., 1981), 65–66.
33 Harold Bertrand Gonder, interview by Mark C. Hill, 23 July and 7, 8, 9 August 1985, University of Victoria Special Collections.
34 Ibid.
35 Mein, 113.
36 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 2, 912.
37 Ibid., 833–34.
38 Ibid., 834–35.
39 Ibid., 835.
10: NOW YOU DIE
1 Hubert Meyer, The History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision “Hitlerjugend” (Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 1994), 50.
2 Bruce Tascona and Eric Wells, Little Black Devils: A History of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles (Winnipeg: Frye Publishing, 1983), 151.
3 Meyer, 50.
4 Ibid.
5 Tony Foulds, “In Support of the Canadians: A British Anti-Tank Regiment’s First Five Weeks in Normandy,” Canadian Military History, Spring 1998, vol. 7, 74.
6 Harold Bertrand Gonder, interview by Mark C. Hill, 23 July and 7, 8, 9 August 1985, University of Victoria Special Collections.
7 Ibid.
8 Richard M. Ross, The History of the 1st Battalion Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (MG), (n.p., n.d.), 44.
9 Maj. G.T. MacEwan, “Battle Narrative: D-Day and the Counter-Attack on Putot-en-Bessin,” 145.2C4013(D3), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 5.
10 Foulds, 74.
11 MacEwan, “Battle Narrative,” 5.
12 Lochie Fulton, interview by Ken MacLeod, Victoria, BC, 9 February 1998.
13 Jean E. Portugal, We Were There: The Navy, the Army and the RCAF—A Record for Canada, vol. 6 (Shelburne, ON: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 1998), 2918–19.
14 Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary, June 1944, RG24, Library and Archives Canada, 7.
15 Ibid.
16 Col. C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), 135.
17 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 6, 2982.
18 Meyer, 52.
19 Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary, 7.
20 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 6, 2985.
21 Ibid., 2983.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid., 3044.
24 Ibid., 3017.
25 Ibid., 3045.
26 N.a., “Memorandum of Interview with CSM Belton, B Coy, R Wpg Rif, 14 Jun 44,” 145.2R20011(1), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, n.p.
27 Portugal, We Were There, vol. 6, 3045.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid., 3015–18.
30 Stacey, 136.
31 Howard Margolian, Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998), 80–81.
32 Ibid., 82–87.
33 Ibid., 90–93.
34 Ibid., 96–99.
11: ONE HELL OF A GOOD SCRAP
1 Jim Parks, interview by Ken MacLeod, Vancouver, BC, November 1997.
2 Ibid.
3 Lt. Col. F.N. Cabeldu, “Battle Narrative of the Normandy Assault and First Counterattack,” 145.2C4013(D2), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 3.
4 Tony Foulds, “In Support of the Canadians: A British Anti-Tank Regiment’s first five weeks in Normandy,” Canadian Military History, Spring 1998, vol. 7, 74.
5 Lt. Col. C.M. Wightman, “Battle Narrative: Putot en Bessin Counter Attack–June 8th, 1944 and the move to Rots,” 145.2C(D4), Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, 2.
6 Reginald Roy, Ready for the Fray: The History of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s), 1920 to 1955 (Vancouver: Evergreen Press, 1958), 233.