Juno Beach: Canada’s D-Day Victory: June 6, 1944
By dawn of June 6, 1944, the rough seas facing three small resort towns in Normandy bristled with an immense armada. More than 6,500 ships prepared to disembark Allied troops in a do-or-die effort: D-Day. The 14,500 Canadians among them were to take “Juno Beach,” a five-mile-long stretch protected by a seawall, barbed wire, underwater obstacles, hundreds of mines and heavily armed German forces inside concrete bunkers, fortified houses, and trenches.
This book recreates this pivotal day of World War II, from planning through attack. Falling through a black night, praying to land on target were the newly trained Canadian paratroopers, among the first Allies on French soil. Canadian soldiers, most untested in battle, crossed the English Channel during a night storm and ran off landing craft into a deadly sea. Juno Beach is their story, shared at last in the rich detail their achievement deserves.
Published by Douglas & McIntyre, 2004: 414 pages.
Awards:
Editor’s Choice Award Winner for 2004 by Stone and Stone World War II Books.
2005 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Finalist
Reviews:
Quill & Quire
destined to become the defining popular history of Canada’s D-Day battle. No other battle narrative comes close to the breadth and depth of detail, nor the clarity of presentation.
Ottawa Citizen
a fine literary accomplishment. Zuehlke successfully recreates that fateful day.
Edmonton Journal
An exciting and moving narrative.. It is distinctive in elevating the Canadians from footnote status to tell their own story.
