On D-Day, the Royal Canadian Artillery of the 3rd Canadian Division included four Field Artillery Regiments, one Anti-Tank Regiment, and one Anti-Aircraft Regiment.
Before the infantry landed on the beach on D-Day, all artillery launched a saturation barrage against the German defences. Destroyers pounded the beaches with their guns, large landing crafts fired their 4.7-inch guns and Landing Craft Tanks fired rocket rounds. The 4 Field Artillery Regiments of the Royal Canadian Artillery, comprised of 96 M7 Priests with 105-mm guns, were aboard 24 LCT Landing Craft. The Field Regiments had their M7 Priests strapped to the deck of the landing craft, and went in firing towards the beaches as naval guns pounded the beaches. The 12th Field Regiment commenced fire from the LCTs on a fortified position in Courseulles-sur-Mer. At 0655, the 13th Field Regiment attacked another position west of the cliff. At 0744, the 14th Regiment fired on a fortified position at Bernières-sur-Mer and at 0739 the 19th Regiment attacked a similar post in Saint-Aubin. For 30 minutes they fired a steady barrage onto the beaches above the heads of the infantry approaching the shore in their LCAs.
The Royal Canadian Artillery field regiments with their self-propelled M7 Priests landed on the 7th Brigade front at about 0900. Delays in opening exits from the beaches prevented the field artillery from moving inland as soon as had been planned. Lt.-Col. Webb brought the guns of the 12th Field Regiment ashore and put them into action on the beach. The artillery was deployed side by side amid the confusion of men and vehicles, and then opened fire in support of the advancing infantry. At 1700 Hours the regiment moved to its planned gun area codenamed “MARY”, between Ste. Croix and Banville. They halted there for the evening and waited to support the infantry attacks inland. The 12th Field Regiment suffered 1 killed and 7 wounded on D-Day.
Priest M7 105-mm SP Howitzer, Normandy, 14 July 1944. (LAC MIKAN No. 3224758)
The 13th Field Regiment landed later and the first battery to land established itself south of Courseulles-sur-Mer. By evening the whole regiment was in its designated position adjacent to the 12th Field Regiment between Sainte-Croix-sur-Mer and Banville. The 13th Field Regiment suffered 6 killed and 4 wounded on D Day.
On the 8th Brigade front, the self-propelled artillery of the 19th Field Regiment, R.C.A., landed at St. Aubin-sur-Mer. At 9:10 a.m. 'D' Troop of the 63rd Battery landed west of St. Aubin-sur-Mer under mortar and rifle fire on Nan Red beach and within 10 minutes they had their first gun 200 yards inland and in action providing fire support. ‘C’, 'E' and 'F' Troops followed shortly and were in action by 10 a.m. The 19th ended D-Day in positions just outside St. Aubin-sur-Mer with them being called for close fire support multiple times throughout the day as German tanks and infantry counterattacked the positions gained by Canadian infantry. The 19th Field Regiment suffered 3 soldiers killed and another 18 wounded on D-Day.
The 14th Field Regiment began to land on the beach at 0925 Hours. They took casualties from German artillery fire when the self-propelled guns moved out of Bernières and were hit by fire from an 88mm gun. By 1130 Hours, they had 18 guns in action near Bernières, just 200 yards from the beach itself. The regiment spent most of the day in action in improvised gun areas close to Bernières. In the evening the 14th Field Regiment moved forward to their planned area, codenamed JANE, on the road to Bény sur Mer. The guns of the 14th supported units from the 8th and 9th Infantry Brigades. 399 gunners of the regiment came ashore at Juno Beach on June 6th. The 14th Field Regiment suffered 10 killed and 14 wounded on D-Day.
Gunners with Priest M7 105-mm SP Howitzer, 34 Battery, 14th Field Regiment, RCA, France, 20 June 1944. (LAC PA-132866)
As the Canadian infantry battalions and armoured regiments began to move inland, Forward Observation Officers (FOO) from the regiment moved with them. The FOOs called in many important targets for the guns of the regiment to hit.
The 3rd Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment R.C.A. landed on Juno Beach. The regiment consisted of four batteries. Each battery had two troops of four 6-pounders anti-tank guns and one of four M10s (Sherman tanks with a 3-inch gun and an open turret with a 50-calibre machine gun). The regiment was responsible for coordinating the anti-tank defences of the division. The individual troops were assigned to support one of the infantry battalions where they supplemented the battalion’s own 6-pounders. The troop commander worked closely with the battalion commander and anti-tank platoon commander. On D-Day all four M10 troops were under one battery commander to provide a strong, mobile anti-tank force for the early stages of the invasion. Some of the M10s of the regiment got ashore around 0830 Hours, while the remainder of the M10s and most of the 6-pounders landed on D+1. The M-10s that did land on D-Day engaged enemy concrete pillboxes and provided covering fire for the attacking infantry battalions
The 4th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery was tasked with providing anti-aircraft fire around Courseulles and its harbour. They were equipped with the Polsten 20mm Gun and the 40mm Bofors Gun to engage low-level aircraft. On D-Day only ‘A’ and ‘C’ Troops of the 32nd Battery landed at Courseulles . ‘A’ Troop arrived on the beach at 1600 Hours and ‘C’ Troop arrived at 1830 Hours. The beach was not completely secured at that point as the regiment was shot at by snipers. Upon landing, ‘A’ Troop moved to Reviers, where it deployed its guns. ‘C’ Troop deployed at Colombiers-sur-Seulles. Both troops were defending bridges over the Seulles River. The regiment’s War Diary noted that during the first 24 hours ashore, 196 prisoners of war were taken by the unit. The troops of the regiment that landed on D-Day took no fatal casualties that day.
7th Medium Regiment, 12th Battery, 'A' Troop, fire on Germans with 5.5 inch gun, Bretteville-Le-Rabet, Normandy, 16 August 1944. (NAC PA-169331)
Canadian 6-pounder gun crew in Normandy, June 1944. (LAC MIKAN No. 4542692)