Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 105 continued ... continued ... Before the infantry actually set foot on the beach, all artillery launched a saturation barrage against enemy defences. Destroyers pounded the beaches and the large landing crafts approached with their 4.7-inch guns firing. Landing craft Tanks fired rocket rounds. The four field artillery regiments, in all 96 guns of 105-mm, embarked on 24 LCTs, moved on simultaneously. From its craft the 12th Field Regiment opened fire against a fortified position in Courseulles. At 0655 (6:55 am), the 13th Field Regiment attacked another position west of the cliff. At 0744 (7:44 am), the 14th Regiment fired on the Bernières fortified position; and at 0739 (7:39 am), the 19th Regiment attacked a similar post in Saint-Aubin. For half an hour they fired above the heads of the infantry and above the LCAs that were by the shore. As we moved farther from the mother ship and closer to shore, it came as a shock to realize that the assault fleet just behind us had completely disappeared from view. Suddenly there was just us and an awful lot of ocean, or English Channel if you prefer. All that remained within sight was our own fleet of ten assault craft, moving abreast in the early-morning silence in a gradually extending line facing the shore, the A Company boats on the right and the B Company boats on the left. Daylight. We had never felt so alone in our lives. – Charles Cromwell Martin, Battle Diary, 1994, p. 4 On board their assault landing crafts, men of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles heading towards their sector of Juno Beach, June 6th, 1944. Photo by Dennis Sullivan. Department of National Defence / National Archives of Canada, PA-132651.
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