Overlord - Operation Neptune, D-Day, Parts 1 - 6

The following story was recently presented on my other world-renowned blog, '1000 Men, 1000 Stories', home to stories, videos, audio files, and photographs that relate to Canadian men who served in RCNVR and Combined Operations during WW2. Eye witness accounts are a standard feature of the website.

OVERLORD, D-DAY

OPERATION NEPTUNE, June 6, 1944

By Clayton Marks, RCNVR and Combined Operations

Historical photographs show the true scale of the D-Day landings, during which

some 156,000 Allied troops landed on five beaches along the Normandy coast.

Photo Credit - Imperial War Museum

Introduction - The following story (presented here in six parts) can be found in Combined Operations by Clayton Marks of London, Ontario. The book was printed in 1993 (approx.), is extremely difficult to find, but is nonetheless a pivotal book in explaining the role of the hundreds of Canadians who volunteered for hazardous duties overseas in the Combined Operations organization.

Shortly after Combined Operations was printed and distributed, e.g., at Navy or Combined Operations' reunions, two other related texts were inspired, full of stories written by Canadian volunteers and veterans of the Combined Ops organization. Two volumes of stories are entitled St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945, are extremely difficult to find, but can be borrowed from or viewed at some libraries and museums (e.g., Toronto Public Library, Ottawa War Museum) , and can be viewed online, story by story, at St. Nazaire to Singapore.

 OVERLORD, D-DAY - OPERATION NEPTUNE, Parts 1 - 6

NEPTUNE Part 1 - Assembly of Fighting Vessels

NEPTUNE Part 2 - Mighty Resources

NEPTUNE Part 3 - Canadian Ships Take Their Stations

NEPTUNE Part 4 - Canadian Landing Craft Hit the Beaches

NEPTUNE Part 5 - Canadians Wait for More Work

NEPTUNE Part 6 - The Hardest Worked Craft

Photo credit - From The Canadians at War, 1939/45

Please link to Story: Canada's Early Days in Combined Ops