It has been five years since World War II began.
Allied forces had had enough of the Nazi threat and decided to act through a joint strategic
operation consisting of 39 military divisions composed of American, British, French, Polish,
and Canadian troops.
On June 1944, the Normandy landings occurred, codenamed Operation Neptune and known presently
as D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history.
The Normandy coast's target 50-mile stretch was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha,
Gold, Sword, and Juno, which was the responsibility of the First Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian
Navy.
On the night before the landings, Corporal Dan Hartigan of the 1st Canadian Parachute
Battalion C Company flies over the English channel in an air bomber around 10:30pm with
his team toward the beaches of Normandy.
Below them is Lieutenant Bill Grayson of the 3rd Canadian Division's 7th Platoon A Company,
onboard the HMCS Prince David.
He has been traveling for 3 days with his troops, mainly comprised of young volunteers
from Saskatchewan who have yet to experience war.
The men enjoy their downtime playing games and reading letters from loved ones.
Elsewhere, Montreal native Tank Sergeant Leo Gariepy of the Canadian 6th Army Regiment's
1st Hussars keeps his men high-spirited as they travel to French waters.
They are transporting their top secret weapon to fight the Germans, an improvised Sherman
tank (codenamed Bucephale) equipped with a duplex drive and designed to float in the
water.
Later in the night, the paratroopers ready themselves for their surprise drop fifteen
miles from the coast, with their mission disguised as a routine bombing run.
Despite the terror in their eyes, Cpl.
Hartigan and his men listen to their commanding officer's instructions to ensure they safely
land behind enemy lines.
An hour passes as Grayson and his officers discuss their secret landing zone, a tiny
fishing commune in France called Courseulles-sur-Mer.
Based on intelligence reports, Juno Beach is manned by 8,000 German soldiers from the
716th division, one of the most heavily fortified sectors of Adolf Hitler's Atlantic Wall defensive.
The soldiers must stay alive and push through within fifteen minutes after landing.
Simultaneously, the Canadian paratroopers of C Company exit the plane and drop toward
the beach.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Gariepy evaluates the plan to drop their tanks into the sea two
miles offshore and arrive just before the Canadian infantry.
Later, Cpl.
Hartigan lands safely just outside the designated rally point.
He must rejoin his unit to secure the drop zone, launching a surprise attack on a German
garrison in Varaville.
Suddenly, bombs drop from the air, injuring him badly, but the Corporal shakes it off.
Luckily, his fellow soldier, Mallon, finds him, and they continue the journey on foot.
At dawn, A Company is debriefed by Lieutenant Grayson about their plan of attack once they
arrive at Juno Beach, with the final order to move forward without stopping and to leave
any wounded soldier under the supervision of medics.
Elsewhere, Sergeant Gariepy pleads with the Major to launch the tanks despite the Navy's
concern that the seas are too rough and the chances of survival are low.
Later, while a videographer documents the proceedings, A Company is given the order
to cast out with their boats after a final benediction with a priest.
After each ship is filled with a platoon of 36 men, they head for the beach just as the
Navy stops the bombardment.
Simultaneously, the 1st Hussars climb inside their respective tanks, 19 vehicles launching
more than two miles offshore.
While the first infantry assault wave heads for the beach, more airborne units rush to
secure objectives to prevent a German counterattack against the Canadian forces on land.
After spending the night dodging enemy German patrol units, Cpl.
Despite arriving in town a little later than expected, Hartigan and Mallon carry on to
the objective at the German garrison in Varaville.
Their rendezvous with the unit is interrupted by enemy troops who ambush them outside an
abandoned manor.
Hartigan discovers from Sergeant McPhee that their commanding officer, Major McCloud, was
killed while scouting by the Germans' pillbox hidden near the wall, leaving the 17 surviving
officers pinned down.
Knowing that the Germans have converted the establishment into temporary barracks, he
sneaks past the artillery to find a way to the rooftop.
Surveying the floors, he finds that the beds are still warm, indicating the Germans recently
fled, thinking McCloud and his party would outnumber their unit.
He becomes horrified to see the corpses of the Major and his men burned to a crisp because
of the heavy artillery.
Stepping out of the bedroom window, he crawls his way through the rooftop, knowing the Germans
are keeping watch.
He looks at their heavy gun, a 75mm artillery piece surrounded by minefields with a hidden
path leading to the pillbox.
Using his binoculars, he locates a way to pass through by going underneath the wall,
getting him closer to the gun.
Elsewhere, Sergeant Gariepy and his men experience rough waves, causing a leak inside their tank.
Still, he calmly tells his men to hold firm and push their tank at full throttle, hoping
they will make it on land and avoid sinking.
A few clicks away from NAN Green, Grayson fears the worst as the fleet is running late,
though the company discovers their landing zone is still untouched, giving them a chance
to storm the beach.
As they draw closer and lower the ramps, the German soldiers hiding in the pillboxes prepare
to fire.
Though not close enough to the shore, Sections One and Two charges out of the boats and into
the battlefield, but many are killed instantly.
Medics scramble in the water as they help the injured while mortar fire rains down on
the platoon.
Lieutenant Grayson watches in horror as most of his troops fall within five minutes of
their assault.
To avoid enemy fire, he orders his troops to follow through the sandy trenches and retaliate
while hiding behind the sandbags in the dugouts.
Though they blow out the barbed wire fence to make an opening, they remain exposed to
enemy fire due to the lack of reinforcements.
Fortunately, the Bucephale tank arrives.
Sergeant Gariepy orders his men to charge straight through the frontline and target
the enemy pillbox, with Grayson and the surviving platoon providing cover fire.
This effort proves difficult as next to the pillbox is a fortified bunker hiding the Germans'
counteroffensive measure, a heavy weapon designed to decimate any land vehicle, including tanks.
During the exchange of artillery fire, Grayson tries to get close to the pillbox to shoot
down the gunners.
Fortunately, the Bucephale tank destroys the enemy hideout before they target the infantry.
Grayson carefully cuts through the grass to sneak attack the remaining German guards near
the bunker.
As soon as he gets close enough to the opening, he throws a grenade, killing the occupants,
except one who throws a bomb on his feet, only for Grayson to throw it back into the
bunker.
The brave soldier opens the hatch and climbs underground.
Above ground, Sergeant Gariepy's tank takes out the rest of the enemy patrols.
Shortly after Grayson descends, he carefully surveys the Germans' underground tunnel network,
unaware of the dangers awaiting him.
While this is happening, thousands more Allied paratroopers drop on the beaches of Normandy,
with each division launching an offensive.
To ensure the success of the incoming airdrops, Hartigan reports his discovery of the open
gap at Varaville Gatehouse and requests Sergeant McPhee to send Mallow to the rooftop to signal
a firing squad to distract the guards while they crawl underneath.
The Sergeant is initially dubious of the plan but goes along with it when Hartigan tells
him they can eliminate the gunner at a very close range while sneaking.
Simultaneously, Grayson overhears some German soldiers in the next room as they scramble
to alert their forces on the radio.
He bravely enters and readies his grenade to kill everyone until his two comrades arrive
and provide support, allowing him to take over the command center.
Around 8:35am, Sergeant McPhee and Hartigan crawl under the stone wall while Mallow signals
the platoon to open fire.
After getting past the barricades and barbed wire, they leave through the open steel gate
and carefully snake through the minefield.
The pair stop and hide against the trees as they ready their limited ammunition for the
surprise attack.
They fire the flak onto the gunners caught off-guard from the blast while destroying
the anti-aircraft gun.
With no additional support to aid them, the Germander commander raises his arms, surrendering
himself and his platoon to the Canadians.
Their outstanding plan helped capture more than 80 prisoners.
Soon after, they radioed to the command center using the code word, 'Blood,' which means
C Company, the first Canadian parachute battalion, completed the mission.
Meanwhile, at Juno Beach, Sergeant Gariepy and the troops drive the Bucephale tank into
town and search from house to house for German soldiers.
They soon discover the area crawling with snipers.
Still, they quickly eliminate them, allowing ground forces to pass through unharmed and
proceed with the raid.
Later, as dusk draws near, Gariepy and his men rest in the French countryside while enjoying
the peace and calm in the area.
While they relax and smoke, they continually hear the sounds of heavy fire on the beach
from a distance.
Shortly after, their commanding officer radios the unit, ordering them to rendezvous a mile
up-road to a crossroads while informing them they are the only surviving tank troupe of
the 1st Hussars squadron.
Though saddened by the revelation, Gariepy orders the men to continue the mission.
On the way to the rendezvous point, he learns that snipers had recently eliminated many
fellow Canadian troopers from the same unit.
Suddenly, while the Sergeant peeks out of the tank to locate their path, an unseen sniper
fires a bullet at him.
One of the soldiers, McGinnis, spots the enemy soldier hiding on the second floor of an abandoned
farmhouse across the field.
Driven by rage, the Sergeant orders the men to approach the house and blast through, even
though infantry can quickly be called to hunt down the sniper.
Gariepy orders to fire with the missile loaded, but McGinnis alerts him of a female civilian
exiting the home.
Suddenly, the Sergeant sees a gun pointing at the tank from the window sill and rushes
inside the farmhouse, despite the woman's plea not to enter.
He enters the bedroom and kills the sniper, only to find out she is a 19-year-old German
girl taking vengeance for the killing of her fiancée earlier in the day.
Sergeant Gariepy leaves the house filled with remorse, knowing he must make tough choices
to protect his men above anything else.
He returns to the tank but says nothing as his comrades inquire about the sniper.
At Sector Nan Green of Juno Beach, the infantry successfully clears the area of German soldiers
at the cost of many fallen Canadian troops.
Later, as C Company herds the captured Nazi soldiers outside the bunker, one of the soldiers,
Canesmen, grows angry when he sees two captives smiling and enjoying a cigarette.
A fellow officer calms him down before he attempts to shoot.
Meanwhile, Grayson is recognized for his bravery in intercepting the bunker.
He remarks that the Regina Rifles, with support from the tanks of the 1st Hussars, became
the first allied unit to secure a beach by force on D-Day.
Of the 110 soldiers in A Company, only 17 survived the siege.
Later, Lieutenant Grayson continues on the objective after inspecting the corpses of
his fallen brethren on the beach.
For the rest of the day, on June 6th, 1944, the Canadian troops pushed further into France
than any other allied Army.
Almost one thousand men were killed or wounded of the sixteen thousand Canadians who landed
on D-Day.
Though soldiers like Louis 'Apple' Brunning, Harvey 'Chief' Dreaver, and Sergeant McPhee
were killed in action as the war subsided, Hartigan, Gariepy, and Grayson survived and
lived to tell their story of Canada's role in World War II, along with other veterans
in the Canadian Army.