Why did they put the Canadians in between two British Divisions? That seems like it would make command and logistics needlessly complicated.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to position them in between the British and the US?
Why did they do that?
Because Commonwealth and UK forces used the same equipment and were under the same command. No real difference, operationally, unlike US forces.
From wiki:
The I Corps was commanded by John Crocker, who was controlling the landings at both Juno and Sword where other units from I Corps were landing.
Well it seems to me that they decided that Juno beach was the right place , in terms of size and defence and expected losses in taking it, for this lot to the land… Basically they had a size 11 beach and this lot total up to size 11. so it was a match and they sent this lot to Juno…
The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division reinforced by the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade landed in two brigade groups:
- 7th Brigade consisting of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Regina Rifles, and Canadian Scottish regiments
- 8th Brigade consisting of the North Shore Regiment, Queen’s Own Rifles, and Le Régiment de la Chaudière
LCT loaded with infantry destined for Juno beach.Each Brigade group was comprised of 3 infantry battalions (regiments), and supported by an armoured regiment, 2 artillery field regiments, combat engineer companies and extra units such as Armoured Vehicles, Royal Engineers (AVRE’s). The Fort Garry Horse tanks (10th Armoured Regiment) supported the 7th brigade landing on the left and the1st Hussars tanks (6th Armoured Regiment) supported the landing on the right.
The 9th Brigade consisting of the Highland Light Infantry, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, and North Nova Scotia Highlanders regiments landed later in the morning and advanced through the lead brigades. The Sherbrooke Fusiliers tanks (27th Armoured Regiment) provided tank support
.
The initial assault was the responsibility of four regiments with two additional companies supporting the flanks:
- North Shore Regiment on the left at St. Aubin (Nan Red beach)
- Queen’s Own Rifles in the centre at Bernières (Nan White beach)
- Regina Rifles at Courseulles (Nan Green beach)
- Royal Winnipeg Rifles on the western edge of Courseulles (Mike Red and Mike Green beaches)
- a company of the Canadian Scottish secured the right flank
- a company of British, Royal Marine Commandos secured the left flank
… As you can see, the beach was the right size for the initial four regiments to take it, and the rest of the Canadians to drive into later on in the day.
It was more important to keep the Canadians on the same beach than to not split the British contingent… the different british contigents were obviously assigned to different areas, what do they care about what happens in some other area, they only care about what is directly in front, have the Deutch been neutralised ? has the way been cleared, are we safe to proceed ? Some spread , wandering , or on purpose invasion of some other area, occurred, of course, but so what , they regrouped as the day progressed.
Other beaches, eg a size 13 butt or beach got a size thirteen boot and a size 10 butt got a size 10 boot… thats all that matters.
And they were supplied the same as well- the only differences were essentially where the troops were from.