Caen , july 1944. Dad is second from right with white gun holster .


Caen

German soldiers inspect one of the Canadian Churchill tanks that penetrated the town of Dieppe during the disastrous raid in August 1942.  This tank was lucky to get off the beach as the cobble stones on the beach quickly tore the tank treds off the Canadian tanks when they tried to manuver.  This tank was from The Calgary Tank Regiment.  Most of the tank drivers at that time were prairie farm boys used to manuvering a tractor so were naturals for tanks.  Note the extended exhaust pipes on the back of the tank, this prevented the engine from being flooded on the run in from the landing craft.  Hopefully Bert put up a good fight before he went down.

Canadian tank being inspected by Germans

Cycling is not very dangerous today but it was a different scene in 1944 when the Canadians fought their way up this street.