June 6 was the 65th commemoration of the D-Day invasion that led to the liberation of France, defeat of Hitler's Third Reich and the threat of the Axis Power's Fascist domination.Prime Minister HARPER was in France participating in the Juno Beach Commemorative Event and it was reported on by a number of news media. I watched CTV's coverage and was confused by the reporters claim that 9,000 men were "buried" at Omaha Beach - half that landed" as a remarkably dreadful combat statistic that didn't seem right for some reason. So I did a bit searching on Wikipedia.
In the Wikipedia entry for "Juno" beach which was jointly assaulted by the Canadians and the Brits (who were in command). The Joint British/Canadians brigades totaled 21,200 soldiers+support. Air & Sea bombardment began in early hours (0430h) of June 6. The beach assault was launched at 0730h - a bit later than planned due to the poor weather and pitching seas. There was no reliable tally of casualties directly on the beach, but it was considered well defended against attack - for example the tankwalls were twice the height of Omaha beach (themselves reported to be 4-12ft high) and heavily mined. By the end of D-Day total casualties were 1,075 men (335 dead, 740 wounded) =5%.
On Omaha Beach the Americans invasion force was larger at 43,250 men, matched to the larger beach (8km wide) and the assault ran into many difficulties from the start as the landing of men and tanks was hindered by poor weather and sea conditions. Also, Omaha was very well defended - perhaps the best of all. The various beach assault troops were caught in brutal cross-fire and despite finding exits from the beach, got bunched up so that only two points were strong enough to be secured. (The recent film "Saving Private Ryan" apparently was a reasonable representation of what truely happened.) Total casualties 4,500 =10% German losses were also significant at 1,200 or 20%. At one point early in the invasion, American General Bradley was said to have considered abandoning Omaha since his tanks were not getting off the beach. By the end of the day only 5 of 48 tanks landed were still operational. But perhaps because of the German confidence in their defenses on Omaha, little else was in place only a kilometer or 2 behind them. So, once the Americans established a beachhead, they were able to quickly make gains in to the countryside. Ultimately, this led them to contribute to the Liberation of Paris on August 19, 1944.
On Omaha Beach the Americans invasion force was larger at 43,250 men, matched to the larger beach (8km wide) and the assault ran into many difficulties from the start as the landing of men and tanks was hindered by poor weather and sea conditions. Also, Omaha was very well defended - perhaps the best of all. The various beach assault troops were caught in brutal cross-fire and despite finding exits from the beach, got bunched up so that only two points were strong enough to be secured. (The recent film "Saving Private Ryan" apparently was a reasonable representation of what truely happened.) Total casualties 4,500 =10% German losses were also significant at 1,200 or 20%. At one point early in the invasion, American General Bradley was said to have considered abandoning Omaha since his tanks were not getting off the beach. By the end of the day only 5 of 48 tanks landed were still operational. But perhaps because of the German confidence in their defenses on Omaha, little else was in place only a kilometer or 2 behind them. So, once the Americans established a beachhead, they were able to quickly make gains in to the countryside. Ultimately, this led them to contribute to the Liberation of Paris on August 19, 1944.
The other invasion beaches Utah (American), Sword and Gold (British) sustained losses but they were much less. In the case of Utah Beach, there were only 200 casualties out of an invasion forces of 32,000. At Sword Beach casualties were 630 men from an invasion force of 28,800 - but the British army met serious resistance from General Rommel's German Panzer divisions and did not manage to secure any strategic advances off the beach for a few weeks. At Gold Beach, the British successfully landed and swept behind enemy lines with light casualties of only 400 men from an invasion force of 25,000. They joined up with the Canadians from Juno and successfully drove inland to take Caen within a few days.
So where that 9,000 men buried on Omaha Beach statistic came from I don't know, but it does not seem to be strictly correct.
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