On June 6th, 1944, Allied forces invaded Normandy at five beaches. While the British came ashore at Gold and Sword Beaches, and the Americans landed at Utah and Omaha Beaches, the Canadians landed at Juno Beach. D-Day became one of history's turning points.
Panels show different moments of that day.
Two works of art are here. At top is Invasion Pattern Normandy, by Eric Aldwinkle, showing a Canadian Mustang flying over Juno Beach. The patterns on the wings are invasion stripes meant to identify it to other Allied air forces. At bottom is a story in and of itself. D-Day: The Assault is by Orville Fisher, a commissioned war artist who had the singular distinction of being the only war artist to land on the beaches of Normandy that first day, coming ashore with the 3rd Canadian division. His landing craft came to a halt off shore, and Fisher quickly realized that his art gear would weigh him down in the water. He jettisoned most of it, coming ashore with waterproof pads and pencils, beginning to draw what he was seeing around him while the battle raged on. His drawings would be the basis of his paintings.
Here we have some of the German weaponry of the Normandy campaign.
And some of the hand weaponry of both sides.
As was the case with other Allied forces pouring into Normandy on D-Day and in the weeks that followed, the Canadians found a fierce enemy facing them.