Remembering the liberation of Europe by a Rimbey Second World War veteran
May 7, 2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe over the Nazi regime. 75 years since Allied troops on the western front liberated Europe.
D-Day took place on the 6th of June, 1944, regardless of unfavorable weather and conditions that they endured. It was a day that Canada, as well as the other allied nations participated in a series of events that made history.
They moved onto the Normandy coast that went on for around 80 km. The allied nations were assigned different beaches as their zones of attack. The United Kingdom was to move on code-named “Sword Beach”, United Kingdom and France would take “Gold Beach”. The Americans would undertake the invasion at “Omaha and Utah Beaches” and Canada would attack on “Juno Beach”.
In the year of 1944 the Battle of Normandy began. Starting with the landings on D-Day on the 6th of June, it continued on to August 21st, when at Falaise, the German army was eventually surrounded. It became to be known as some of Canada’s greatest feats of war. The Battle of Normandy and Canada’s role in it , played a crucial part in the events that led to winning of World War 2. During the Allied invasion of Normandy, Canada supplied soldiers, airmen and sailors, who participated in the operation, which were pivotal in its success. This battle of Normandy was also known as “Operation Overlord”.
On D-Day almost 150,000 allied fighters either parachuted or landed by boat on the beaches of Normandy, participating in the invasion, in order to free Western Europe from being occupied by the Nazi Empire. It was a very bloody and devastating battle with heavy losses on both sides. Getting through the enemy fortress that the enemy Germans had fortified with hard to penetrate defensive positions, would be extremely difficult. All along the coast of Europe, which extended Spain to Scandinavia. France was were the allied forces had to take over and establish position, this was in order to gain a foothold in the fight. It would be no easy task for the allies to overtake such a enemy stronghold. They had to also consider what would happen in case of their defeat at the battle of Normandy. There must be some way that they could possibly evacuate the soldiers in great numbers, in case they had to retreat. They knew that there would be a large number of casualties, whether they won or lost on that day in any case. But if they did manage to become successful on D-Day, it could turn the tides of the whole war. They would be able to establish a very important position, pushing into Western Europe in the efforts to liberate the occupation by the enemy, after years of struggle against their oppressors.
