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North Shore RegimentThe North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment landed at 'Nan Red' beach near St. Aubin at 8:10. Assault engineers and DD tanks of 'C' Squadron, Fort Garry Horse accompanied the regiment. The 14th and 19th field Regiments, Royal Canadian Artillery fired a steady barrage onto the beaches with their 105mm guns, beginning at 7:39 and lasting for thirty minutes.
Lt. 'Bones' McCann: "We found that the guns and emplacement that were to have been put out of business by the air force were intact and very much in use. Also that Jerry had a beautiful underground system of communicating with his pillboxes. Now came the test. Things weren't going as planned and unless we captured those heavy guns Jerry was potting landing craft with, things were going to get worse. And worse they got, for there we were with nothing heavier than Brens with which to attack heavily fortified enemy posts." The Fort Garry Horse DD tanks arrived within minutes of the infantry
and fired steadily from their beach positions. They awaited the Armoured
Vehicles, Royal Engineers (AVRE's) to clear a beach exit through a minefield
but gave up waiting and pushed on through the minefield loosing three
tanks in the process. The remaining 13 tanks worked closely with the infantry
and St Aubin was soon under control except for the strong-point. 'A' company landed on the right and came under machine gun fire, mortar fire and 88mm air burst. They sustained casualties but broke through and cleared their portion of the beachhead. They entered the western edge of St.Aubin and began clearing the houses in the village. They had to use extreme caution after they encountered a house that been booby-trapped. They obtained their initial objective along the coast road at 0948 hours and then joined up with the Queens Own Rifles on the right.
Lieutenant-Colonel Don Buell described the hard morning's fighting: "Word came by my signaller that A Company had taken its objectives but in doing had suffered 25 casualties. B Company reported they required much more time to complete their task and subdue the strong-point. However, they had completed clearing their portion of the village. D Company reported that they had cleared the remainder of St. Aubin but had some difficulty at isolated spots."
By 2200 hours the North Shores were in a tidy defensive position. 'B' Company was positioned on the east and south of St. Aubin. 'D' Company was moved up to Tailleville on the east flank, 'A' Company stayed in the southern edge of the village and 'C' Company in the center. The North Shores suffered 125 casualties on June 6.
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