Canadian Remembrance Route in Normandy

The Canadian Remembrance Route sets out to remind present and future generations of Canada’s role in supporting Europe against German aggression in two world wars. This part of the trail concerns World War II, and is in two parts.

Operation Jubilee: the Dieppe Raid on 12 August 1942

The operation has its own museum, since 2002 in the Petit Théatre de Dieppe. Here, or at the tourist office, guided walks of the beaches and surrounding landscape (‘In the footsteps of the Raid’) are laid on to take you through the tragedy. Five miles out of town, the sharp reminder of the sacrifice is enshrined in the Commonwealth cemetery where 958 servicemen lie, 707 of whom are Canadian.

Operation Overlord, D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, 6 June – 22 August 1944

We cross the River Seine to first visit Juno Beach (the code name for the Canadian sector) at Bernières-sur-Mer for the ‘Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada House’, now known simply as Canada House, a shrine for all Canadians as the first house to be liberated and carefully preserved since! Then, on the other side of Courseulles-sur-Mer, the Juno Beach Centre and memorial park with its military equipment on display. The centre runs its own guided tours of the museum and the beach, and the German beach defences there can be visited underground (April to October). The Juno Beach Centre is the only museum created by veterans and their charities, and is particularly family-friendly.

Nearby is the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, one of two Commonwealth burial grounds devoted to Canadians. Those killed on D-Day were buried here, but most of the 2,049 Canadians who lie in this beautiful spot were killed in the month-long Battle of Caen, including those executed while prisoners of war.