“C” Company of the 1st Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment was attached to the Royal Winnipeg Rifles for the assault phase on Mike Green Sector on D-Day. The rest of the battalion, under the command of Lt.-Col. F. N. Cabeldu, was the infantry reserve for 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade.
“C” Company, commanded by Major D. G. Crofton, landed on the extreme right (west) of the entire assault at Juno Beach. They were tasked with taking out a pillbox where Mike and Love sectors met. They landed at 0750 Hours and faced slight opposition. When approaching the assigned pillbox, as the Canadian official history of the Normandy campaign noted, they found that ” thanks to the Royal Navy—the pill-box was no more.”
The rest of the Canadian Scottish landed in Mike sector around 0830 Hours. They came under mortar fire on the beach, while “B” Company’s exit was blocked by landmines that were eventually cleared. “A” Company took fire on the beach but still found their exit and made it off the beach. “D” Company used folding bicycles to exit the beach, using “A” Company’s exit, across an open field. They faced machine-gun fire but where still able to secure two bridges over the Seulles River.
“C” Company rejoined the Canadian Scottish when they met the rest of the battalion on the advance toward Sainte-Croix-sur-Mer. The battalion suffered a considerable number of casualties from machine-gun fire during the advance. After clearing snipers in Sainte-Croix, the battalion continued its advance through Colombiers-sur-Seulles, passing through The Royal Winnipeg Rifles.
The Canadian Scottish faced little to no opposition as they advanced to Pierrepont, where they dug in for the night. They suffered 22 killed and 61 wounded on D Day and brought roughly 500 troops ashore on June 6th, 1944.
Roll of Honour
ANGLIN JAMES ALBERT EDWARD
BOOTHBY EDWIN D.
CAMERON RONALD VELDON
COOPER ROBERT NEVILLE
DAVID WILFRED HAROLD
ECKMAN AUGUST JOHN
EVANS CLAYTON HAROLD
FAHRNI WALTER ERNEST
FINNIE ANDREW JAMES
GARCIA VICTOR RUSSELL DOUGLAS
HUSER SIGURD NORMAN
JENKINSON LESLIE D.
LEWIS WILLIAM BRUCE
MacPHERSON NEIL JAMES
McCORMACK ADOLPH
McLAUGHLIN WILLFORD LEROY
OSBORNE LAWRENCE
PARR JOHN WILLIAM WILTON
RADCLIFF FRANCIS GORDON
RITCHIE WILLIAM GEORGE
STEWART JOHN E.
THIEME JOHN PERCY
Research and writing by Brad St.Croix, PhD