Military history

Area Six

JUNO Beach Walk: Mike Beach - The Fight for Courseulles

HISTORICAL SECTION

The 3rd Canadian Division, commanded by Major General R.F.L. Keller, had been allocated to land on JUNO Beach on D-Day (for more information on this formation see the previous chapter). Their beachhead had been divided into two sectors: Nan Beach from Courseulles-sur-Mer to St Aubin-sur-Mer, and Mike Beach west of Courseulles. Mike Beach was the responsibility of units from the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade, and itself divided into Mike Red on the left and Mike Green on the right. To the right of Mike Beach was Love Beach, but no landings were due to take place here on D-Day.

Major General R.F.L. Keller.

The assault at Mike Beach was led by the Royal Winnipeg Rifles of 7th Canadian Brigade. It would transpire that the pre-D-Day bombardment here had been the most ineffectual on a British beach on D-Day, and the defences were pretty much intact as the landing craft approached the coast at H Hour. As such, it would prove one of the toughest fights on D Day, but a combination of the level of training the Canadians had received prior to Normandy and the full range of armoured and engineer support meant that, despite the difficulties, the troops here were able to overcome the problems, albeit at some cost. The Winnipegs, or ‘Little Black Devils’, a name given to them because of the design of their cap badge, landed on the join of Mike Beach and Love Beach.

The defences on Mike Sector, Juno Beach.

The official history of the Canadians on D-Day records,

The infantry’s experience on the right battalion front of the Canadian division was a mixture of good and bad. The Royal Winnipeg Rifles state that they touched down at 7:49 a.m., all three assault companies landing ‘within seven minutes of one another’. On the far right, ‘C’ Company of the Canadian Scottish, which was prolonging the Rifles’ front here, reported that it landed with slight opposition, and the platoon which had the job of knocking out the 75-mm. casemate north of Vaux approached it ‘only to find – thanks to the Royal Navy – the pill-box was no more’.

Quite different was the experience of ‘B’ and ‘D’ Companies of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, a short distance to the left, whose task it was to deal with the western portion of the Courseulles strongpoint. The battalion diary remarked grimly, ‘The bombardment having failed to kill a single German or silence one weapon, these companies had to storm their positions “cold” – and did so without hesitation.’

‘B’ Company met heavy machine-gun, shell and mortar fire beginning when the LCAs were 700 yards from the beach. This continued until touchdown, and as the men leaped from the craft many were hit ‘while still chest high in water’. But the Little Black Devils were not to be denied. ‘B’ Company, with the aid of the tanks, captured the pillboxes commanding the beach; it then forced its way across the Seulles bridge and cleared the enemy positions on the ‘island’ between the river and the little harbour. The fierceness of the fight on the beach is attested by the report of the Special Observer Party which later examined the German positions: ‘Big guns in this area were probably all put out of action by close range tank fire, and the machine gun and mortar positions gave up when surrounded by infantry.’ When the strongpoint was clear ‘B’ Company had been reduced to the company commander (Capt. P. Gower) and 26 men. Gower, who had set a powerful example of leadership and courage as he directed the clearing of the successive positions, received the Military Cross. An assault party of the 6th Field Company Royal Canadian Engineers, which landed with the infantry, had similar losses; the company had 26 casualties during the day.

‘D’ Company met less fierce opposition when landing, since it was clear of the actual strongpoint area. It had relatively little difficulty in ‘gapping’ a minefield at La Valette and clearing the village of Graye-sur-Mer beyond it. When the reserve companies landed the beach and dunes were still under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire.¹

Aerial view of Mike Beach on D-Day.

Tank support on Mike Beach came from the 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars), equipped with Sherman DD tanks. They were launched at 2,000 yards from the beach direct from the LCTs into the sea. They later reported,

all were being subjected to mortar and other enemy fire. Ten tanks succeeded in launching . . . seven succeeded in reaching the beach, the other three going down, one to rough seas, one having the screen damaged by mortar fire and one being run down by rocket craft ... Of the seven which touched down and the six which landed dry, three were put out of action either on the beach or among the underwater obstacles . . . While on the beach or in the water the ten tanks definitely destroyed two 75mm guns and 6 LMGs. . . . A very noticeable event was that very shortly after the tanks deflated back of the [amphibious screen] and commenced firing on the beach fortifications, the enemy manning these casements surrendered. It has since been learned from some of these prisoners that the presence of tanks at this stage of the attack came as a complete surprise and were the main factor in their decision to surrender instead of fighting.²

Canadian troops landing on Mike Beach.

Lieutenant C.M. McLeod of 1st Hussars recalled a typical experience of a tank troop commander on Mike Beach as the landings began,

My tank touched down at the right position on the beach with the other two tanks of my troop, one on either side of mine. A few of the infantry were engaging the pill boxes to our immediate front. About fifteen minutes later the AVREs landed to clear the beach and make exits. They did this job in half an hour then I led my troop through the gap to find the infantry company I was supposed to working with.³

Once again on the British sector, the use and implementation of the Sherman DD tanks proved successful, despite the weather and enemy fire. With these tanks now on the beach, and as the infantry fight was proving difficult, they were able to provide the vital armoured support the Winnipegs needed. In ‘A’ Squadron,

seven DDs succeeded in passing through the hail of shell, mortar and small arms fire that the Germans threw out over the water whatever [sic] they could see the odd-looking two feet of canvas screen protruding ... The sudden appearance of tanks on the beaches in front of their positions had a [sic] momentarily disorganised the German gunners ... Landing on the right of 3rd Troop, Captain Powell’s tank was fired upon from a concrete fort. An armour piercing shot hit the 75mm, went about half-way through the barrel and glanced off taking a gouge out of the turret ... As soon as the anti-tank guns on the beach had been liquidated, the seven DD tanks began to cruise up and down the beach engaging the machine-gun nests.⁴

Captain John Wilson Powell was awarded the Military Cross for bravery on Mike Beach on D-Day. His citation reads,

he was immediately engaged by an anti-tank gun in a concrete casemate. Before being able to neutralise the gun, his tank was hit three times, the third shot putting his master gun out of action. Captain Powell moved his tank forward and neutralised the enemy gun with his Browning machine-gun whilst directing the fire of the other tanks onto enemy gun positions.

During this action he received an injury in his left hand and while still on the beach he changed tanks and continued to engage enemy coast defences, as well as organise part of the squadron which had succeeded in landing on his section of the beach.⁵

The Royal Engineer support came from two teams of the 26th Assault Squadron and Sherman Crab Flail tanks from the 22nd Dragoons, both from 79th (Armoured) Division. Both teams landed near No. 2 Team’s exit, a small lane running from just beyond the beach towards the Arromanches – Courseulles road. The Sherman Crabs cleared a lane through the minefields over the dunes, and one tank commanded by Lieutenant P.D. Barraclough pushed on in line with the exit lane. The field here and part of the lane were cut by water-filled bomb craters from the pre-D-Day bombardment. Much of the field was flooded and the tank soon foundered and sank in the mud, immobile. Barraclough did not abandon the vehicle, and used it to support the advance of the infantry, at one point shattering the church tower of Graye-sur-Mer, which was being used by the Germans as an observation tower.

Canadian LCI bringing in the follow-up waves.

A Churchill AVRE with a fascine fixed to the hull came up to fill in the hole and possibly rescue the bogged Sherman Crab, but it was also bogged in the lane after ditching the fascine. The crew then bailed out and was hit by mortar fire, several of them being killed. Another fascine was bulldozed into the craters and a Churchill Bridgelayer tank, commanded by Captain R.J. Hewitt, pushed the AVRE in the hole and placed a bridge across it, opening the exit lane. After the war the bridge was removed but the tank covered over; it remained here until 1976 when a Royal Engineer team excavated it.

Major Anthony Younger commanded the assault teams on Mike Beach.

His AVRE carried a mine clearing plough which necessitated him steering it through the mined beach obstacles with his head exposed. A mortar shell landing on the turret destroyed his wireless communications and burst his ear drums. His communications gone Major Younger dismounted from his AVRE and proceeded to direct the operations of his squadron on foot in advance of the dunes behind which groups of assaulting companies were still held by mortar and sporadic MG and rifle fire. He arranged covering fire from the dunes with CO 6^th Armoured Regiment and then organised and supervised his own men and elements of Beach Group RE . . . He then went forward on foot into Courseulles to the bridges which were mined and prepared for demolition. He organised the removal of mines from the arc bridges and then personally with the assistance of a Canadian cleared the demolition charges from the others and swung it across the lock, thus completing a lateral [opening] between the two assaulting battalions of his Brigade.⁶

With Mike Beach secure, the tanks moving inland along the exit roads and engineer tasks in hand, the fight now moved beyond the beachhead and inland to the villages towards the Bayeux road. In the immediate vicinity were two small villages, Graye-sur-Mer close to Courseulles and a hamlet dominated by a chateau, La Valette. The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, in the vanguard of the assault on Mike Beach, now went forward and with Royal Canadian Engineers began to clear the minefields between La Valette and Graye. With this clear they moved on to the villages of Ste-Croix and Banville, which were taken by ‘A’ Company. From here the remnants of ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies pushed on to Tierceville and Creully.

Creully was a large settlement sitting on high ground, the approaches to it cut by the Seulles River which meant taking several bridges to get into the village. Lieutenant John Mitchell was in the leading platoon of ‘D’ Company and south of Tierceville reached one such bridge.

Approaching Creully from the left Lt Mitchell was crossing the river Seulles when he came under terrific cross-fire from two enemy machine-guns on the opposite bank in the woods. The officer managed to cross the river but two men of the leading section were hit, causing the remainder to go to ground. Lieutenant Mitchell was, at this time, wounded in the hand. Returning to the north bank of the river through a hail of fire, Lieutenant Mitchell managed to summon a troop from 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment to his aid, gathered his platoon and charged across the bridge against the MG positions. Lieutenant Mitchell’s gallantry, prompt action and cool disregard for his personal safety in neutralising the enemy position contributed immeasurably toward maintaining the vital impetus of the advance and in gaining the company’s portion of the battalion objective.⁷

For his bravery Mitchell was awarded a Military Cross and this action brought the Royal Winnipeg Rifles’ D-Day engagement to an end.

Back at the beach earlier that day, behind the Royal Winnipegs had been the 1st Bn Canadian Scottish. Landing in 3ft of water, they had helped clear some of the positions towards Love Beach,

We left our landing craft when we found we had to wade ashore . . . close to the obstacles. At first there was no enemy fire, but as we moved forward, enemy mortars began to drop amongst us, and machine gun fire was coming from the left flank . . . 13 Platoon moved west along the beach to their objective to find, thanks to the Royal Navy, the pillbox had been knocked out. They now moved inland towards the chateau clearing snipers who were giving trouble.⁸

The chateau was in the hamlet of La Valette and dominated it. A huge main building was flanked by numerous outhouses and stables, and all were defended. Sections began the task of clearing it. One squad took ten Germans prisoner; another found a frightened French family looking on in fear and amazement at the battle that raged around them. Lieutenant Schelderup’s platoon captured a German MG42 position at the chateau and some parked trucks were fired upon; the trucks caught fire and as the men passed them to move on it was found one was full of ammunition and exploded, killing Privates Fahnri and Evans.⁹

From here the Canadian Scottish pushed further inland.

The Canadian Scottish, on the right flank of the beachhead, reached their intermediate objective about 16.30 hours. Here they paused only briefly before pushing on deeper, suffering more casualties from enemy mortar and machine-gun positions that had not been touched by the shore bombardment. By dusk they were six miles inland from the sea . . . of all the infantry battalions of the 2^nd British Army landing [on D-Day] the Canadian Scottish in its present positions had gone farthest through the enemy’s defences . . . During this march, Captain W.H.V. Matthews organised a party of men to search barns and buildings en route, flushing out a large number of German stragglers and others, and making the route safer for those coming behind.¹⁰

Later Captain William Matthews would be decorated for bravery with the Military Cross for his actions on D-Day and the first few days in Normandy. The battalion had meanwhile advanced from the chateau at Vaux into the village of Ste-Croix-sur-Mer, and then crossed the next river valley at Colombiers-sur-Seulles. In this phase they met little resistance but they encountered many dead and wounded, indicating the Germans were present somewhere. A German headquarters was overrun in the village and an enterprising sergeant liberated a fine-looking typewriter which was used by the battalion for the remainder of their work. Here the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel P.N. Cabeldu, requested to push on to his final objective, but he was so far ahead of the rest of the Canadian units that his brigadier told him to dig in around the hamlet of Pierrepoint, south of the Seulles River. By midnight the battalion was dug in, patrols were out and the advance of the units from Mike Beach had for now come to an end.

Walk 6: The Mike Beach Sector

The Juno Centre.

STARTING POINT: Juno Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer

GPS: 49°20′11.2″N, 0°27′39.0″W

DURATION: 7.29km/4.5 miles

Park your vehicle in the car park of the Juno Centre. Start with a visit to the centre, which tells the story of the Canadian involvement in the Second World War, focusing on their role in Normandy and North-West Europe. A good hour is needed here. On leaving the centre take time to look at the personal memorials to Canadian soldiers before walking towards the sand dunes. Immediately visible is a large German command bunker. This was the observation and command centre for the German defences on Mike Beach. In 1944 this bunker was right on the seafront but the layout of the beach has changed slightly in seventy years and the dunes now obscure the view this observation bunker once had. It was linked by radio and telephone to artillery batteries beyond the beach and connected to the other bunkers by a system of tunnels. Part of the bunker can now be explored and there are plans to open up some of the tunnels.

In the summer of 2011 a dig was carried out on some of the German tunnels at Mike Beach, exposing them for the first time in more than fifty years. It is hoped that eventually they will be open to the public.

German bunker on the extreme left flank of Mike Beach overlooking the Seulles River.

From here walk to the right to the extreme left flank of Mike Beach overlooking the mouth of the Seulles River. There is another large bunker here, and this housed an anti-tank gun that could fire right down the beach in 1944. Unusually, it was neutralised in the pre-D-Day bombardment. From the bunker walk down onto the beach and walk west along the foot of the dunes. After about 500 metres there is a gap in the dunes on the left, follow this to another bunker, now on its side. This is Cosy’s Bunker, named after Lieutenant W.F. ‘Cosy’ Aitken, who commanded number 10 platoon of B Company Royal Winnipeg Rifles. His men stormed and took the bunker but suffered heavy losses – 78 per cent casualties – in doing so.

Cosy’s Bunker.

Churchill AVRE ‘1 Charlie’ now overlooking the spot where it fought on D-Day.

Go back to the beach and walk along to the next exit in the dunes. There is a Normandy memorial here. Walk past this down to the tank visible ahead. This is an example of a Churchill AVRE used by all the Royal Engineer Assault Regiments on D-Day. With a crew of four, it was equipped with a Petard mortar capable of destroying hard targets like sea walls and bunkers. The tank could also carry a variety of bridging equipment from drop bridges to fascines. This particular example was used here on D-Day by the 26th Assault Regiment when it was knocked out and pushed into a bomb crater. Another AVRE placed a bridge across it so traffic could pass, and after the war the hole it was in was just filled in, entombing the tank. It remained here until 1976 when a British Army team excavated the tank. It was later restored and then put on display here.

Return to the beach and then walk along the remaining stretch of Mike Beach. In doing so you have walked the area where the Royal Winnipeg Rifles came ashore supported by the 1st Hussars (Sherman DDs), and at this far end, where the Canadian Scottish landed. Continue past the first exit where a caravan camp is located to a second exit. Before leaving you can walk to a bunker visible ahead. This contained an anti-tank gun and was neutralised by naval gunfire on D-Day. Leave the beach by the exit, and follow the minor road to the D514. Here go straight across and follow the road into the wooded area of the hamlet of Vaux. At the next junction turn left on the D112B and continue to the high ground above Vaux chateau, which is now to your left. This was ground fought over by the Canadian Scottish as they pushed inland on D-Day and was where they ran into a German convoy parked up which when fired upon exploded, killing several men.

At a water tower on the left, turn left down a track and follow it along the edge of the chateau wall until the modern entrance to the chateau is reached. This is now a building owned by the local municipality and is not open to the public, but can be seen at this point. From the entrance go east on Rue du Chateau de Vaux to where it rejoins the D112B and turn left following the road into Graye-sur-Mer. In the village follow the Rue Grande and take the third left into Rue du Carrefour. This will lead you to the church. Stop. This eleventh-century church was used as a German observation post (OP) on D-Day as the beach defences were overrun by the Canadians. At one point snipers operated from here until the church tower was fired on from Shermans coming over the dunes, destroying the main tower, which today is a later replacement. The church is normally open and inside is a plaque from the village in memory of the Canadians who liberated the village on 6 June.

From the church follow a minor road leading to the D112C (Avenue du General de Gaulle) and turn right onto it following it back towards the beach. Where it reaches the D514 go straight across onto Voie des Francais Libres taking you back to the Churchill AVRE. Continue past the tank. In the dunes on the left is a large Cross of Lorraine which can be visited; here General de Gaulle landed on 14 June and went inland to Bayeux to make his first radio broadcast on French soil. Continue back to the Juno Centre and your vehicle.

The church in Graye-sur-Mer, a sniper’s nest on D-Day, until the church tower was fired on from Shermans coming over the dunes and destroyed.