39 Lieutenant M.G. Aubut and Private C.D. Walker of the North Shore Regiment examining a German cross-Channel gun, Sangatte, France, 26 September 1944. Library and Archives Canada/Department of National Defence fonds/PA-131243 While Big Canoe adjusted to army life and underwent initial training in Canada that summer of 1944, the Canadian army was involved in twelve weeks of bitter fighting in Normandy. By the end of August, the Germans were seemingly routed and retreating north across the Seine. The campaign in Normandy and the subsequent breakout battles resulted in high casualties for both sides. For the Canadians, this initial liberation campaign cost 18,444 casualties including 5021 killed. The 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions suffered the highest casualty rate of all Allied formations.3 Despite the heavy losses, the resounding and rapid Allied victory in Normandy created a general mood of confidence and high expectation among senior commanders. This optimism was only elevated in the weeks to follow. Paris was liberated on 25 August, followed by the remarkable British advance northward including a 120-kilometer thrust in a single day. How could one not be optimistic? It would have been reasonable to think that with one last push, the war would soon be over. As one headquarters’ intelligence summary stated, “The August battles have done it and the war in the West has had it. Two and a half months of bitter fighting have brought the end of the war in Europe within sight, almost within reach.”4 This was the atmosphere of late August in which senior Allied commanders made their decisions. As a result of their rapid northward drive, units of British Second Army arrived at Brussels on 3 September and entered the port city of Antwerp the following day. On the left flank of the Allied advance, Canadian forces crossed the Seine on 30 August and pushed into Rouen. The next day, Canadian units entered Dieppe, where the Germans had already fled. The port city held deep emotional significance because of the tragic Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942, in which Canadian forces had attempted a seaborne assault, resulting in 900 Canadians killed and nearly 2,000 captured. This time, the 2nd Division paraded triumphantly through the same streets that the survivors of the disastrous raid in August 1942 were marched off to captivity. By 3 September, the First Canadian Army crossed the Somme and advanced towards Boulogne. The Allies had burst out of Normandy “like a star-shell, four armies going in different directions with the distances between them getting even larger.”5 While rapid advances in the British and American sectors caught the headlines in early September, the First Canadian Army got on with the less glamorous and more tedious task of clearing the Channel ports. Dieppe was taken without a fight, but Hitler had declared the remaining Channel ports as “fortresses” to be defended to the last man. Boulogne was next. It was hoped that the capture of the city and its harbour could alleviate some of the supply issues facing the Allied advance. Codenamed Operation Wellhit, the set-piece assault began on 17 September. Hitler’s fortress order held true this time; the defences at Boulogne were formidable. Ringed by high hills turned into strongpoints by the Germans, the city’s 10,000 defenders had no shortage of fire power from coastal guns, 88mm cannons, 15cm howitzers, and anti-tank guns. While the Canadian attack was well planned and executed, it took the six days and 634 casualties, most caused by Germany artillery, to the take the city. Unfortunately, the port facilities were heavily damaged and remained unusable for months.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==