Storming Juno Page #4

anyone who tried to stop us.

Ow!

McGinnis, go!

Run them down.

AAGHH!

Gunfire

(Screams)

I entered the bunker and

found myself underground.

Explosion

The Germans had built a

secret network of tunnels.

To move men and supplies.

Explosions

Explosions

Explosions

Gunshot

They were close.

But I didn't know where,

or how many.

The beach invasion is underway,

and thousands of paratroopers

have already dropped

into occupied France.

Thousands more are

headed our way.

To protect the drop zone, we

have to take out that main gun.

I found a way in.

Where?

There's a small gap between

the wire and the north wall.

You can only see

it from the roof.

Okay.

I'm listening.

Why don't you send

Mallon to the roof.

He can tell the boys to fire

while you and I crawl up.

You bloody nuts?

Even if we get

past that pillbox,

how we gonna

take out the 75?

We have to get close,

fire flat like a bazooka.

(Laughs)

It's only a matter of time till

German reinforcements show up.

I only have five rounds.

We have to get close.

We hit'em point-blank.

It'll work.

Let's do it.

Ross, you fire on

Mallon's signal.

Let's go.

Alright.

As the battle raged overhead,

I could hear the enemy.

(German in background)

Nein! Dis en ein d'cessant.

(German voices)

(MISCELLANEOUS TALK)

[GERMAN OFFICER]

SPEAKING IN GERMAN

We had taken

the command post,

above ground,

everything had gone quiet.

I figured either my men

had taken the beach,

or they were dead.

MacPhee and I made our

way to the stone wall.

This would be our only chance

to take out the main gun.

From the roof,

Mallon would give the

signal for our guys to open up.

Gunfire

We snaked along the path

through the minefield.

Toward their gun.

We needed to get the mortar

close enough

to fire it point blank.

We couldn't afford to miss.

We gotta get out front.

Brace on the tree.

Ready?

Go!

Explosion

Gunfire

Gunfire

Ready!

Explosion

Explosion

Don't shoot.

We surrender.

Drop your weapons.

We surrender.

The German garrison at

Varaville had us outnumbered.

but we took out their gun,

Hands up, hands up, hands up.

we captured more than

eighty prisoners.

We radioed the

code word, 'Blood'.

It meant 'C' Company, the first

Canadian parachute battalion

had completed the mission.

Bitte! Bitte! Bitte!

[speaks in German]

We surrender.

Our tank made it

off the beach.

And into town.

The fighting was

street to street.

House to house.

Dirty fighting.

The place was

crawling with snipers.

Gunshots

We hated snipers.

You caught one, you

didn't take prisoners.

We made it through town

supporting the infantry.

Then headed to our

next objective.

We stopped in the

French countryside.

You could hear the

war in the distance.

But here,

everything was calm.

Three, this is three,

three alpha over.

Three, this is three,

three alpha over.

For a few minutes the war

seemed a long way a way.

Nice eh?

Sarge!

The C.O. Wants us to rendezvous

at a crossroads,

a mile up-road.

One other thing, our

troop, number three troupe,

we're the only ones left.

Let's saddle up.

Out of all the tanks

in our squadron,

we were

the only troupe left.

McGinnis!

Start us up.

On our way to

the rendezvous we learned

that snipers had killed

a number of our comrades.

Friends of mine

from the same unit.

Gunshot

Sniper.

See anything?

Farmhouse.

Second floor!

There's movement

in the window.

McGinnis.

Take us in.

It's just a sniper.

That bastard just shot at me.

Nells!

One round HE.

Nells could radio it in.

Let the infantry deal with it.

I said take us in.

That is a Goddamned Order!

Maybe I wasn't rational.

Maybe I was angry.

So we went in.

Hit the farmhouse.

Load one round HE.

We're loaded.

Fire!

Sir!

FIRE!

SIR!

What the hell are

you waiting for?

There's people-

Civilians

I'll do it myself!

Gun shot

Monsieur!

Monsieur!

[yelling in french]

Gunfire

Sarge,

we gotta go.

Leo!

This sniper, she was

just nineteen years old.

Her German fiance had

been killed that morning.

I had done my best

to protect my men.

To make our objective.

And to come through

in one piece.

But the victory, well,

comes at a price.

What happened, Sarge?

Did you get'im?

Hey.

What happened?

Driver.

Let's go.

We had broken through

the first line

of German defense

on Juno beach.

Hitler's Atlantic wall

was finally breached.

For many of the German

prisoners, we captured,

their war was over.

But for many of my men,

they had lost so much more.

In there, move.

Sit!

(Speaking German)

On your knees!

(Speaking German)

You goddamned

sonovabitches!

Canesmen!

These basterds!

Canesmen!

They killed Apple.

ARGH!

Easy.

Easy brother.

(Sobbing)

He was just a kid.

He was just a kid.

Lieutenant Grayson.

He took this bunker by himself.

You shoulda seen'im I-

Sarge and I were

just along for the ride.

You shoulda seen it.

All by himself.

By mid-morning,

The Regina Rifles,

with support from the tanks

of the first Tsares

became the first allied unit to

secure a beach head on D-Day.

Many of the men,

many of my friends,

paid for the victory

with their lives.

Of the one hundred and

ten men of 'A' Company,

only seventeen of us

made it off Juno Beach.

Sir.

Lieutenant Grayson!

What now?

Get the men,

let's go.

Yes sir.

This footage of Canadian

troops storming Juno,

was amongst the first images

of D-Day seen around the world.

On that day our troops pushed

further into France

than any other allied Army.

The battle of

Normandy had just begun,

but within a year,

Hitler would be defeated.

Of the sixteen thousand

Canadians who landed on D-Day,

almost one thousand men

were killed or wounded.

Sometimes I wake my

wife up with my talk.

[laughing]

So she tells me in the morning,

but yeah I dream a lot.

I talked to a fella

this morning down there.

Same thing,

it never leaves us.

I can close my eyes and,

and just see pictures.

I've tried to forget and

it's been over

sixty years so

a few things fade away,

but then something happens or

questions are asked that ah,

relive the situation.

Some terrible things

way back in there.

That we just

don't talk about.

I don't know, just

a feeling I have,

that I was supposed

to be there.

And I was.

Well I'm glad

I was there, but

I don't want to go back.

Where do I start you know?

I gotta start thinking back.

Y-you come up with that saying,

it's hard to remember which,

what you,

tried to forget.

[laughing]

I took part of

the biggest Armada

that ever sailed the sea.

Ah, you could almost

walk to f-France.

Jump from one piece of

equipment to another.

I was ah,

section leader,

and I was in 'B' Company...

...And it was with,

I had twelve platoon.

And ah,

that's twelve men,

you were just like a,

their Father or p-pretty well,

it was quite a responsibility.

You know the big

adventure for us?

To leave

home...

a-and be out

on our own

really in

a sense.

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