The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) was easily one of Canada’s top contributions to victory in the Second World War. Part of the wider Empire Air Training Plan, in Canada, the BCATP laid the foundations for the training of over 131,500 aircrew (nearly 73,000 with the RCAF) and 80,000 ground crew between October 1940...

Juno Beach and Beyond

Sprog: Rookie Aircrew with Malcolm Kelly

In June 1940, France fell to Nazi control and preparations began for the Battle of Britain. The Canadian government deployed soldiers overseas – to Iceland! The Canadian authorities labelled these troops “Z” Force. Eventually, three Canadian battalions served in Iceland under the leadership of Brigadier Lionel F. Page. These were the Royal Regiment of Canada,...

“Z” Force to Iceland with Steven Bright

Laden with two 500-pound bombs and adorned with black and white invasion stripes, a model of Harry Hardy’s Hawker Typhoon IB “Pulverizer II” hangs proudly in the “Road to Victory” room at the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France. There is a certain fierceness in its profile, especially looking up into the four-bladed propeller, four...

Rebroadcast: The Typhoon Project with Anne Gafiuk and Harry Hardy

Order a copy of Seven Days in Hell: Canada’s Battle for Normandy and the Rise of the Black Watch Snipers by David O’Keefe through our online shop and receive a 15% discount using the code BLACKWATCH at checkout. Offer valid until August 31, 2021.  Three miles or so south of Caen the present-day tourist, driving...

Rebroadcast: A Question of Honour with David O’Keefe

In 1959 author Cornelius Ryan began research for his book “The Longest Day”. In doing so he put out advertisements to countries of the Allied nations of the Second World War, looking for first-hand accounts of D-Day. More than 100 Canadians responded, as well as soldiers from Allied nations serving on the Canadian sector at...

Special – The Longest Day with Project ’44

New Brunswick is one of Canada’s smallest provinces, yet it has always played a prominent role in Canadian military history. Many will be aware of the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment’s efforts on D-Day. Less well known is the story of Ripples Internment Camp (Camp B), located about 30 kilometres from Fredericton, the provincial capital....

Internment Camp B: Political Prisoners with Andrew Theobald

Internment Camp B: Jewish Refugees with Andrew Theobald

It’s a familiar scene in old newsreel footage and modern recreations of the Second World War like ‘Band of Brothers’: Allied troops in Europe advance through a town that just moments before was occupied and abandoned by fleeing German troops. The English-speaking soldiers are met by throngs of civilians waving flags and celebrating their newly...

Canadian Army Civil Affairs with David Borys

The Canadian Army in Northwest Europe was the largest field force ever assembled by Canada. Between late summer 1944 and spring 1945, Canadian troops liberated great swaths of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They also joined with other Allied troops in the invasion of Nazi Germany from the west. Casualties were heavy, and the military...

Canadian Army Logistics with Arthur Gullachsen

The road to the Second World War in Europe is well documented. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933 and proceeded to rearm Germany. These actions challenged the Treaty of Versailles that concluded the First World War. On March 7, 1936 German troops occupied the Rhineland, a demilitarized sector in western Germany....

Mackenzie King in Hitler’s Germany with Robert Teigrob

Dieppe is a fishing port on the Normandy coast built along a long cliff overlooking the English Channel. On 19 August 1942, Canadian, British, American, and Free French troops staged a raid against the German-occupied town and nearby seaside villages. The result was a disaster. In one morning, 3,367 Canadian soldiers were killed, wounded, or...

The Dieppe Enigma with David O’Keefe

Remembrance doesn’t stop for a pandemic. We can still wear poppies and visit cenotaphs or war memorials on our own time. We can watch the national ceremony on TV or by live steam and we can still observe two minutes of silence at 11am. Remembrance is personal. We can all stop to reflect and remember...

Rebroadcast: Remembrance Day 1944 with Matthew Halton

2020 has been a challenging year. Amid the pandemic, the deaths of African-Americans like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement led to the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement across the world. In Canada, these events have forced our society to reflect inwardly on our treatment of Black Canadians, both in...

Black Canadian Veterans with Kathy Grant

Anyone who has visited the Juno Beach Centre has likely had an encounter with one of our Canadian student guides. Our founding veterans wanted to ensure that all visitors receive a friendly Canadian greeting when they walk into the museum. These veterans were mainly in their late teens or early 20s when they stepped onto...

Passing the Torch with Juno Beach Centre Guides

In the summer of 1998, the epic war film Saving Private Ryan was in theatres. Its portrayal of the American landings at Omaha Beach on D-Day hooked audiences for a story underlining American exceptionalism in the “good” war. In reflection, one Canadian journalist asked what the film would have been like had Canadians made it...

The Fight for History with Tim Cook

Juno Beach and Beyond is Canada's first Second World War podcast. Discover Canadian stories from the war that changed the world.

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Juno Beach and Beyond

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