D-Day Landings: Juno Beach

Juno Beach was one of the 5 landing beaches during the D-Day Landings on 6th June 1944. The 6 mile wide section of beach was sandwiched between Sword and Gold Beaches. It was the second most heavily defended beach and was assigned to the 3rd Canadian Infantry.

The bombardment of German defences commenced at 6:00am and lasted for 90 minutes. The first landing crafts reached Juno Beach at 7:45am. They had wanted to attack at low tide as this would have exposed the defensive measures in the sea. However, low tide was at 4:45am so many of these defences were submerged. Mines took a heavy toll on landing craft damaging around 30%.

Many soldiers waded ashore where they were met with a vicious wave of firepower. The first waves took heavy casualties – it was estimated that each Canadian soldier landing in the first wave had a 50/50 chance of survival.

Once the Canadians cleared the seawall, they were able to advance to their objectives. The German response was slow and there was no authorized counter attack until the following day. Of the 21,000 men who landed on the beach on 6th June 1944, 1,200 were casualties.

Tours for 2010

Our battlefield tours to Normandy are among our most popular. All tours include a full day at the British sector of Normandy. For more information, prices and availability, call 0208 816 8789 or send an enquiry via the “Contact Us” page.