In
the Second World War, the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment played a critical role in the D-Day
invasion and the successful defeat of the German army inland. They fought on the beaches of Normandy,
alongside other Canadian regiments, and took on the German Panzer divisions in the battle for the airfields at
Carpiquet.
Finding records of individuals who fought in
the Second World War is more complicated than digging up archival
materials. Many of those who fought, and
their direct descendants, still live, so their records remain private. The information we have is based on first-
and second-hand recollections. What we
know with certainty is that the men who went into battle knew that two of five
of them would come out the other side:
they were brave souls who fought to liberate Europe from Nazi
oppression, and our family should be proud that William Henry Hayward,
Lieutenant of the North Shores, was among those who took on that terrible task.
Conscription is compulsory military service,
and was a subject hotly debated in Canada during WWII. After WWI, when French
Canadians roundly criticized the government for conscription, the government
committed to not turn to this method again to find volunteers for war. Many Canadians who wanted to fight overseas in the earliest days of WWII enrolled with the British armed forces.
The public demand for fighters, however, became stronger as the war
progressed. Eventually the government
passed the National Resources Mobilization
Act in 1940. It still did not
require eligible men to fight overseas, but registered them for home defence
duties.
Public outcry grew stronger after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Canadians wanted a presence in the war
overseas. The only way the Canadian
government could turn to conscription and away from their post-WWI promise was, they felt, through a plebiscite. It was the
Canadian people who voted 64% in favour of conscription.
However, Canadians had already volunteered in the hundreds of thousands
for overseas service, so there was no need to turn to the draft.
Certain employment occupations were exempted
from service, among those business owners, upon whom the continued health of the
Canadian economy depended. One such
person was William Henry Hayward Jr., who worked in his father’s business, Hayward and Warwick. It was a successful Saint
John business, with strong ties to England, so supported both the English and
Canadian economies.
Canadians had been watching for years as the
casualties overseas continued to grow in numbers that seemed unfathomable. Nazi atrocities were not yet known to the
extent that we know them today, but there was common knowledge that they were
targeting cultures, religions and peoples and there was something sinister at
play. Young men in Canada wanted to
fight alongside their British brethren.
In 1940-1941, Germany made a play against the British people intended to
demoralize them, but it had the opposite effect. The Blitz would kill 43,000 civilians over
eight months, and would galvanize the British and their allies in a way they couldn’t
have imagined.
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| Lt. William Henry "Bill" Hayward |
We can’t know precisely why William Henry, or
Bill as he was known, decided to join up with the North Shores in 1942, perhaps
it was the Blitz which was the last straw. You would have to have been very
brave to volunteer at this point. Those
watching the fighting from across the Atlantic would have heard rumours of Nazi
horrors, and they would have known the numbers of Canadians who had already
died to free the continent from the German grip. They would have also known that the only
thing it would take to liberate Europe was men, and more men, who were willing
to fight and die for this cause. Bill signed up with the knowledge that his
training would be destined to send him overseas where so many had already perished.
Training the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment
Since 1939, Woodstock had been home to the
North Shores, where the infantry was trained for coastal defence. By the Fall
of 1940, the North Shores moved to Camp Aldershot in Sussex to train with other regiments. Camp Aldershot is where Bill received his officer training. The North Shore Regiment was organized as part of the 8th
infantry brigade along with the Queen’s Own Rifles (from Toronto), Le Régiment
de la Chaudière (Quebec), and members from Royal Canadian Army Service Corps
and the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The 8th brigade was part of the 3rd
infantry division.
In July 1941, the North Shores were given the
notice that they were going to join the fight overseas. They would participate in a scheme called
“Tiger” and training for that mission involved night marches, cipher work,
weapons firing and map reading. They arrived in Liverpool to the sight of ships
partly submerged and a severely damaged waterfront. This was the first sight of the war for the
North Shores, and it must have been quite a rude awakening. You may know what you are getting into, but until
you see the evidence it would be hard to imagine the extent of the damage that
war can wreak.
More intense training took place through
August and September in England where the season was unusual warm and
bright. In the Fall, however, the
weather turned to fog and cold as the training continued. The army had been divided into its fighting
units by this time, and the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, along with
the rest of the 8th brigade, became part of the First Canadian Army.
Exercises for the brigade continued through
1942: marches and staged attacks taking place at night, in the daytime, in
rain, snow, wind, and through rivers and mud.
In August, the raid on Dieppe marked the beginning of the Canadian
army’s engagement in the European war.
More than 900 of the 4,963 Canadian soldiers were killed, and many
others wounded or taken prisoner. The
lessons learned at Dieppe were diabolically harsh, but would help ensure that
Operation Overlord – the allied attack on D-Day – would succeed. The 3rd
Canadian Infantry Division was told in September that they would have the
honour of conducting the next operation.
At the end of the year, Lieutenant William
Henry “Bill” Hayward, joined the Regiment after his officer training came to an end back in Sussex. He, and a number of other officers, had to
learn the ropes quickly in order to be effective during the intense
training. At this point, everyone knew
what they were training for, and the potential devastating consequences. The training took on a different flavour as
they exercised in full battle gear, practiced assaults on beaches, breaching
defensive positions, overcoming wire entanglements, and beating off attacks.
In October 1943 the North Shore was dealt a
terrible blow when a number of men were transferred to the 1st
Canadian Division in Italy. They were
all lost to the fighting. The anxiety and fear of what was to come must have been overwhelming. The North Shores trained hard, because this is what would protect them in the battles to come.
Lt. Bill Hayward was assigned the anti-tank
platoon and likely took part in a number of specialized exercises including
“Can Opener” to coordinate the training of anti-tank platoons. In February the platoon would have joined a
number of other specialized platoons from the army to learn the capabilities of
the German Panzer divisions.
The North Shores had won many honours
throughout their training. They were a
proud regiment - and bold. By the time
Operation Overlord was launched on June 6, 1944, the North Shore Regiment was
ready.
Operation Overlord
After four years of hard training, the North
Shores were moved into action. The victorious D-Day
attack on Juno Beach came with a tremendous loss of life. The first soldiers to unload from their
launches were told that they had to survive the first 15 minutes as many would
be shot as they disembarked. Soldiers
were told to get to the beach! Go forward! Don’t look back! Don’t help your
comrades who fall! Just move! Move!
Move! (the original footage here is that of the North Shore Regiment landing after the beach had been taken)
Lt. Hayward was not to land with the first
attack. He had to wait for Juno beach
(the site of the Canadian attack) to be taken before he could unload his heavy
equipment at Courseulles-sur-Mer as a reinforcement. He would move with the rest of the reinforcements to Banville to await orders. The reinforcements would have passed hundreds
of bodies and debris as they made their way inland, witnessing the smoke and
explosions of the battle in the distance.
While making their way from the beach to Banville, the reinforcements
passed a young man from the Division’s Winnipeg Rifles whose corpse had been
covered in flowers by the locals. They
were told the following day to proceed to Chaudiere.
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| Prisoners taken by the North Shores |
Meantime, the rest of the North Shores made
their way to Tailleville, having taken St. Aubin-sur-Mer, and then to their
next objective. Three-quarters of "A" company was gone, including their commander.
The troops set to clearing the woods amongst heavy fighting and trying
to maintain morale despite their heavy losses.
The North Shores continued inland attacking enemy gun positions and
tanks. “There never was the like of
those North Shore men for sheer guts and durability,” Major Bill Harvey
wrote. The first phase of Operation Overlord
was declared complete the night of June 11.
Operation Windsor
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| Operation Windsor |
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| Briefing the Canadian troops at Carpiquet |
Next began Operation Windsor – the effort to
take Caen from the enemy. The North
Shores, along with the rest of the 8th infantry brigade, were to take
the town of Carpiquet and the airfield. The
beach-head to Carpiquet was a mere 24 kilometres, but the journey and the
fighting lasted a month until Carpiquet was in allied hands. This was the battle in which Lt. Hayward was
fully engaged. Here, the North Shores
came up against the resistance of the heavily armed and reportedly fanatical 1st
Battalion of the 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, as well as
strong concrete positions built by the Luftwaffe. The battle for Carpiquet began on July 4,
1944.
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| Canadian troops at Carpiquet airfield |
The North Shores were able to get to their
objective by 0632 and set to cleaning out the village of German troops while
under heavy shellfire. Their victory was
at great loss. The North Shores that day
had their heaviest single day losses of the entire campaign: 132 casualties of
which 46 were fatal. It was during this battle
that Lt. Bill Hayward was wounded and evacuated to England. The North Shores received the Battle Honour “Carpiquet”
for their participation in this action.
A tribute to the North Shores stands in Carpiquet as a memory of the
Regiment’s commitment, bravery and loss.
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| Battle Honour "Carpiquet" |
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| Monument at Carpiquet |
Lt. Bill Hayward returned to the North Shore Regiment after he had recuperated to assist with the allied advance through Europe, with battles in France and
Belgium, and the liberation of Zutphen in Holland. The battles were all fiercely fought in horrid
conditions, including flooded fields and bombarded cities. Lt. Bill Hayward at some point in the fighting
was promoted to Captain, and was there when the North Shores ended their
campaign in Aurich, Germany upon the declaration of the cease fire on May 8,
1945.
The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment had
lost 380 men in their fighting in Europe and another 850 were wounded. The Regiment was finally able to return home
to Saint John on December 29, via Halifax.
A special North Shore edition of the Saint John Telegraph Journal published on the 29th reported:
They can claim combat records that will endure for all time, to furnish
stories to be told to breathless audiences and retold to coming generations of
New Brunswickers, glad tales, sad tales, heart-warming tales and heart-breaking
tales, too, for military deeds are not done without grave losses, and many a
brave New Brunswick lad lies over there sleeping his last sleep among comrades
who suffered and died with him.
Sources:
Background
and photo of Lt. Bill Hayward from his son Mark
Some census
information
Image of
Carpiquet battle with the regiments along with a number of the photos used in
this article: http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/history/battlehonours/northwesteurope/carpiquet.htm
D-Day
operation - Includes photos of beach where North Shores landed: http://www.gnb.ca/0007/Heritage/Regiment/chp7a.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Shore_(New_Brunswick)_Regiment
Carpiquet memorial: http://www.normandie44lamemoire.com/carpiquet-3/ https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/CA/Victory/Victory-7.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Windsor#Canadian_assault_on_Carpiquet.2C_4_July
Films, Footage and images:
Storming
Juno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7H_v27BamI
Actual
Footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7sxHaGVi6E
Date : 6
juin 1944 - June 6th, 1944
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/photo/145/normandy-caen-carpiquet/
http://www.canadaatwar.ca/photo/145/normandy-caen-carpiquet/
http://histomil.com/viewtopic.php?t=3918&start=1470
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAnox_kbNvc
one year after – battle Normandy shots of carpiquet – move to falaise gap
This one has
the film of the landing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fYcWM4JtmE
5:15 –
scenes from Carpiquet and Caen; falaise 6:22
Carpiquet
Canadian troops: http://histomil.com/viewtopic.php?f=338&t=3918&p=73439&hilit=carpiquet#p73439
Photo
présentée dans le livre : La Normandie en flammes
de Jacques Henry, Editions Charles Corlet, 1984.
Archives publiques du Canada
Blockhaus encore visible le long de la route de Caumont devant l'aérogare de Carpiquet. Le sol a été nivellé jusqu'au béton. Seule la partie supérieure sort du sol.
de Jacques Henry, Editions Charles Corlet, 1984.
Archives publiques du Canada
Blockhaus encore visible le long de la route de Caumont devant l'aérogare de Carpiquet. Le sol a été nivellé jusqu'au béton. Seule la partie supérieure sort du sol.
North shore
regiment emblem: http://www.gnb.ca/0007/Heritage/Regiment/chp6b.htm
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