First World War , inspecting the
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry guard of honour, September 1917. The 3rd Canadian Division was formed in France in December 1915 under the command of Major-General
Malcolm Mercer. Its members served in
France and Flanders until
Armistice Day. While with the 3rd Division at
Ypres, Mercer became the highest-ranking Canadian officer killed in action during the war. On the same day, Brigadier
Victor Williams, commanding the 8th Infantry Brigade, became the highest-ranking Canadian officer captured in the war, also at the
Battle of Mount Sorrel. Mercer was replaced by
Louis Lipsett, who commanded the division until September 1918, shortly before he too was killed in action on 14 October 1918, while commander of
British 4th Division. Major-General
Frederick Loomis closed out the war as the commander.
Battles and engagements on the Western Front 1916: •
Battle of Mount Sorrel – 2–13 June •
Battle of Flers-Courcelette – 15–22 September •
Battle of Morval – 25 September •
Battle of Thiepval – 26–28 September •
Battle of Le Transloy – 1–18 October •
Battle of the Ancre Heights – 1–11 October
1917: •
Battle of Vimy Ridge – 9–14 April •
Attack on La Coulotte – 23 April •
Third Battle of the Scarpe – 3–4 May •
Affairs South of the Souchez River – 3–25 June •
Capture of Avion – 26–29 June •
Battle of Hill 70 – 15–25 August •
Second Battle of Passchendaele 26 October – 10 November
Juno Beach, D Day s personnel land at 'Nan White' Beach at
Bernières-sur-Mer , take cover behind steel girders and logs guarding the approach to the German strongpoint WN-27 in
Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944. Juno Beach was wide and stretched on either side of Courseulles-sur-Mer. It lay between Sword and Gold beaches which were the responsibility of British Army forces. The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, with the
2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade under command, landed in two
brigade groups, the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade and the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade. Each brigade had three infantry battalions and an armoured regiment in support, two artillery field regiments, combat engineer companies and specialist units of the British
79th Armoured Division. The
10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse) tanks supported the 7th Brigade landing on the left and the
6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) tanks supported the landing on the right. The division had been assigned extra artillery and anti-tank units doubling its artillery component. The 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade was kept in reserve and landed later that day and advanced through the lead brigades. The
27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment) provided tank support. The initial assault was carried out by: • 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) Canadian air, land and sea forces suffered approximately 950 casualties on D-Day, the majority being soldiers of the 3rd Canadian Division, of 21,400 troops landed on Juno beach that day. However, this troop was forced to pull back because they had passed the supporting infantry. By the end of D-Day, the division had penetrated farther into France than any other Allied force, though counter-attacks by elements of two German armoured divisions prevented further major gains for four weeks. None of the assault divisions, including 3rd Canadian Division, had managed to secure their D-Day objectives, which lay inland, although the Canadians came closer than any other Allied formation. Indeed, The Queen's Own Rifles of the 8th Brigade were the only Allied battalion to capture their D-Day objective. By the end of the next day, the Canadian forces had linked up with the British forces that had landed at
Sword Beach.
Time line Juno Beach • 6 June 1944 • 05:35 German shore batteries open fire; Allied naval forces, now massed along entire Normandy coast, begin bombardment. • 06:30 Assault on beaches starts. 3rd Canadian Division landing on Juno made more difficult by strong current. Delay allows Germans to mount strong defence. Objective: advance inland and join troops from British beaches. • 07:00 German radio broadcasts first report of landing. • 08:30
48 Commando lands at St Aubin, Juno Beach and heads east. Beach clearance difficult due to high tides and rough seas. • 09:00 General Eisenhower issues communiqué announcing start of invasion. • 09:35 Canadian 8th Brigade liberates Bernières. • 11:12 After fierce fire fight, 7th Brigade secures Juno exit at Courseulles. But congestion as Canadian 9th Brigade arrives. • 11:20 Canadians capture Tailleville, Banville and St Croix. • 12:00 As Winston Churchill reports landings to House of Commons, Further landings on Juno. Langrune captured by Juno troops. • 13:35 German 352nd Division wrongly advises HQ that Allied assault repulsed. Message not corrected until 18.00. • 14:15 All Canadian 3rd Division now ashore on Juno. Rapid advances start: troops link with those from Gold. • 18:00 3rd Canadian Div, North Nova Scotia Highlanders reach inland. 1st Hussar tanks cross Caen-Bayeux railway, inland. Canadian Scottish link with 50th Division at Creully. • 20:00 Canadians from Juno Beach reach Villons les Buissons, inland. Attack by 21st Panzers reach coast between Sword and Juno at Luc-sur-Mer. • 22:00 Rommel returns to HQ from Germany. Montgomery sails for France. Juno Beach: 21,400 troops landed, with fewer than 1,000 casualties. Aim of capturing Carpiquet airfield not achieved. No link yet with Sword forces. in 1945.
Fighting in Normandy The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division served extensively in the
Battle of Normandy as a component firstly of
I British Corps and later under the command of
II Canadian Corps. On
D-Day+1, units of the division became the first among the Allies to secure their D-Day objectives. The villages of Authie and Carpiquet both saw heavy fighting between the Canadians and German defenders of the
12th SS Panzer Division. Over the course of five days, the 12th SS launched a series of counter-attacks in an attempt to crush the Canadian bridgehead and throw them back into the sea. The attacks cost the 12th a third of their armoured strength and they were forced to retire in the face of stubborn resistance, Allied naval gunfire and aerial superiority. On 4 July 1944, the 3rd Canadian Division, along with the British
3rd and
59th Infantry Divisions and supported by elements of the 79th Armoured Division launched
Operation Windsor, capturing the Carpiquet Airfield and the surrounding areas from the 12th SS after several hours of confused and hard fighting. On 8 July, the 3rd Canadian Division participated in
Operation Charnwood, the British Second Army's final advance on the northern parts of Caen. Once again the Canadians excelled and captured all their objectives after suffering, once again, heavy casualties. On 18 July,
Operation Atlantic was launched, the Canadian advance that would coincide with
Operation Goodwood, happening further east by British forces in the area south of Caen. The
2nd and 3rd Canadian divisions, supported by integral armour support, advanced towards Caen, one of the objectives being the village of Colombelles and the surrounding hills. This village and the surrounding area was defended by the battle-proven
21st Panzer Division. After several hours of confused fighting on the 18th and the 19th, the Germans were forced back from the outskirts of the town and pushed back over the river Orne. The 3rd Canadian Division continued the advance on the 20th and the lead units came under heavy machine-gun and small arms fire from a chateau close to Colombelles. The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, with support from the
17th Duke of York's Royal Canadian Hussars, pushed forward once again despite heavy casualties and captured the heavily fortified village of Gibberville. The rest of the 3rd Division captured Colombelles through the course of the day. The Canadians were then faced with the formidable German defensive positions on the Verrières Ridge, where the SS troops had created excellent field fortifications, deployed hundreds of field artillery pieces, including
Nebelwerfers, and dug numerous trenches and foxholes for defence. The 2nd Canadian division's 4th and 6th brigades assaulted the ridge, but suffered heavy losses and were forced to fall back. The attack went in during heavy rain, which turned the ground to mud and bogged down the Canadian armoured support and kept the Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber support from the
Royal Air Force from showing up. After the failed attack, troops from both the 2nd and 12th SS Panzer Division counter-attacked; it was only with support from the 3rd Canadian Division's 8th Brigade that they managed to beat the Germans back. , southern England, by men of the 3rd Canadian Division. It is now maintained as a war memorial by local people and the UK
Forestry Commission. The bronze plate at the foot of the cross is inscribed "On this site a cross was erected to the glory of God on 1944. Services were held here until D-Day by men of the 3rd Canadian Division RCASC." Meanwhile, the British 3rd Infantry Division faced considerable resistance and advanced only with great cost of life. Tiger tanks from the
schwere Panzerabteilung 503 ("503rd Heavy Armour Battalion") caused ferocious losses among the British armour support. The
7th Armoured Division,
11th Armoured Division and
Guards Armoured Division faced opposition from the 1st and 12th SS Panzer divisions and suffered heavy losses. The offensive continued for two more days before the Allied offensive ground to a halt in face of stiffening German resistance. The German
Panzer divisions in the area had been bled completely dry, losing a staggering number of tanks and men, which could not be easily replaced. Two days later, on 25 July, the
United States First Army launched
Operation Cobra, since there were no German panzer divisions to stop them as nearly all of the available panzer units had been sent to stop the British/Canadian advance. The 3rd Canadian Division and the other units involved in the offensive were allowed to catch their breath and they dug in, expecting a German counter-attack which never came. On 5 September, 3rd Canadian overran the
Fortress of Mimoyecques, revealing the infrastructure for the unknown
V-3 cannon destroyed by the
Tallboy bombs in July. Between 17 and 22 September 1944, 3rd Canadian were intimately involved in the liberation of
Boulogne-sur-Mer, during which a French civilian guided the Canadians to a "secret passage" leading into the walled old town and by-passing the German defenders.
Recent history (1990–present) In the early 1990s
Land Force Western Area (LFWA) was established as one of four area commands of the
Canadian Army. LFWA was responsible for all Regular and Reserve Army formations in
Manitoba,
Saskatchewan,
Alberta and
British Columbia. The line formations of LFWA included
1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group,
38 Canadian Brigade Group,
39 Canadian Brigade Group, and
41 Canadian Brigade Group. In addition to the brigades, LFWA was also composed of 1 Area Support Group and its bases,
4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group of the
Canadian Rangers, and the Western Area Training Centre. LFWA contributed extensively to domestic operations at home, and on missions abroad in locales such as the
Balkans and
Afghanistan for over two decades. On 6 June 2014, on the 70th anniversary of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division's
D-Day landing in Normandy, LFWA became 3rd Canadian Division. On the same day, 3 Cdn Div was permanently bestowed the French Grey designation patch. == Structure ==