Newfoundland Quarterly – June 1944

Review of the War – W. J. Browne

Allies Invade France

On Tuesday morning, June 6th, the Allied forces which had been preparing to invade France for a long time, were brought over to the coast of France and made a landing on the beaches to the west of Le Havre. The landing seems to have been carried out after elaborate preparations had been made. Thousands of ships with barges came across the Channel the night before and landed at low tide. The Germans had mined the shores for many miles so that a landing could not be effected without many casualties. These obstacles and giant pillboxes above the beaches did not halt our troops, who fought vigorously to establish a sizeable bridgehead. Thousands of troops were dropped behind the Germans by parachute and there was talk of glider troops flown across. These parachute troops must have suffered severe casualties but they must also have been able to create sufficient uncertainty for the enemy to enable our troops to take their first objectives by frontal assault.

After six days fighting our troops now have about fifty miles of coast along the northern side of the Cherbourg peninsula. The chief immediate object seems to be the capture of the harbour of Cherbourg. With this in our hands we would have a place where we could land supplies and men with ease. Landing troops and supplies on the beaches of the English Channel in a choppy sea has been very difficult and must have caused much delay and confusion. The most notable place captured is the famous town of Bayeux a few miles from the shore. Nowhere are our troops more than seven miles from the beaches and they are being resisted by German armoured units. It appears as if a serious attempt will be made by the Germans during the course of the next few days to drive our troops back into the sea. This is not likely to succeed if we judge by our successes at Sicily and Anzio. But it must be remembered that the Germans have been four years in possession of France and only a year in possession of Italy. In France they have prepared with care against this day. It will soon be seen that they have prepared in vain. Yet they must have here vast numbers of men and armoured vehicles to repel our attacks. What they cannot have now is the morale that they had four years ago. The Germans seem very old now and weakening all the time.

Note — Since the above was written… In Normandy the great port of Cherbourg has been captured… — W. J. B.

“Increasingly hard battles…”

D-Day did it

The Allies succeeded. D-Day is considered to be the beginning of the end of the war. Eleven months later, Germany surrendered. Four months after that, so too did Japan. Six years of world war was over.

Throughout those years, W. J. Browne gave a synopsis of what was happening in the war in a few pages of almost every issue of the Newfoundland Quarterly. Indeed remarkable.

W. J. was, I think, William Joseph Browne (1897-1989). He was a St. John’s lawyer, judge and member of the Newfoundland House of Assembly and, after Confederation, the Canadian House of Commons. His autobiography, Eight-four years a Newfoundlander, was published in 1981.

Canadian units, including the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, landed on the beaches on D-Day. The landings marked the beginning of the Battle of Normandy, which continued through to late August. The 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery was part of that. I learned about their story in an article by Dr. Paul Collins.

• The full Review of the War by W. J. Browne, June 1944 is in NQ 44:1 (pdf pp. 7-9)