The landing beach was a mile long, with headlands at both ends and
barbed wire across its entire length. At first, enemy fire was light,
letting the landing troops - Essex Scottish Regiment on Red Beach and
the Hamilton Light Infantry on White Beach - make it through a first row
of wire and toward the sea wall with only minor losses. But tanks from
the 14th Canadian Tank Battalion had not arrived ahead of the infantry
landings as planned; and once landed, they could not get any traction on
the loose beach pebbles. To make things worse, the men of the Royal
Regiment landing on Blue Beach near Puys arrived late. They were pinned
on the beach, unable to move west and take the eastern headlands before
the main assault. The Germans, now on full alert, swept the exposed
Canadian forces. Control of the Casino and surrounding pillboxes
seasawed back and forth but to no avail. Four hours after landing, the
Allied commanders were forced to call a retreat, leaving almost 60% of
the men who'd landed killed, wounded or captured! The lessons learned
from this debacle were painful, but were of considerable help in
preparations for the landings in Normandy, two years later.
