2019 marks the 75th anniversary of\u00a0one of the most infamous conflicts in\u00a0our history. The bravery that so many\u00a0young Canadians exhibited during that\u00a0fateful summer still touches our lives,\u00a0and Explorica will be commemorating\u00a0their sacrifice throughout the 2019 school\u00a0year with a collection of tours specifically\u00a0focused on D-Day.<\/p>\n
![\"dday\"](\"http:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DDay.jpg\")
On June 6, 1944, a massive Allied force\u00a0crossed the English Channel to engage\u00a0in Operation Overlord on the coast\u00a0of Normandy. There were five landing\u00a0zones, given special code names that have\u00a0become forever ingrained in the identity\u00a0of the region: Juno Beach (Canada);\u00a0Gold Beach (United Kingdom); Sword\u00a0Beach (United Kingdom); Utah Beach\u00a0(United States) and Omaha Beach\u00a0(United States).<\/p>\n
The mission of the 450+ Canadian paratroopers\u00a0and the some 14,000 Canadian\u00a0troops who joined the firefight on Juno\u00a0beach was to establish a beachhead\u00a0along an eight-kilometre stretch fronting\u00a0the villages of Courseulles-sur-Mer,\u00a0Berni\u00e8res-sur-Mer, and Saint Aubinsur-\u00a0Mer. Once secure, the troops would\u00a0push inland to capture the city of Caen,\u00a0an important communications centre\u00a0for the Germans. The brutal battle for\u00a0Caen dragged on for several weeks, but\u00a0with so many German divisions focused\u00a0on holding the city, the U.S. forces were\u00a0eventually able to break through the\u00a0sparse defences to the south, and moving\u00a0east, threatened to encircle the German\u00a0forces in Normandy from behind.<\/p>\n
In mid-August, Canadians played an\u00a0important role in closing the \u201cFalaise\u00a0Gap\u201d as the Germans finally retreated\u00a0in the face of the Allied offensive. Two\u00a0days later, on August 25, 1944, Paris was\u00a0liberated by the Allies, officially bringing\u00a0the Normandy campaign to a close.<\/p>\n
Canadian forces suffered the most\u00a0casualties of any division in the\u00a0Commonwealth Army Group, and more\u00a0than 5,000 Canadian soldiers were laid\u00a0to rest in the region.<\/p>\n
Our D-Day tours help you honour this\u00a0legacy of selfless bravery. Stand in the\u00a0bunkers on Juno Beach and hear the\u00a0waves crashing just as our soldiers did 75\u00a0years ago. Attend a Last Post Ceremony\u00a0at Menin Gate in Flanders. Travel to\u00a0Paris and pay homage at the tomb of\u00a0the unknown soldier under the Arc de\u00a0Triomphe.<\/p>\n
Lest we forget. 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of\u00a0one of the most infamous conflicts in\u00a0our history. The bravery that so many\u00a0young Canadians exhibited during that\u00a0fateful summer still touches our lives,\u00a0and Explorica will be commemorating\u00a0their sacrifice throughout the 2019 school\u00a0year with a collection of tours specifically\u00a0focused on D-Day. On June 6, 1944, a massive Allied force\u00a0crossed the English Channel Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[81,331,332,209,378,382,238,58,60,40,75,384,59,128,377],"class_list":["post-3282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-explorica-news","tag-canada","tag-canadian-history","tag-canadian-history-tours","tag-canadian-war-history","tag-commemorative-tours","tag-d-day","tag-educational-tours","tag-educational-travel","tag-explorica","tag-france","tag-history","tag-juno-beach-centre","tag-student-tours","tag-student-travel","tag-war-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3282"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3301,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282\/revisions\/3301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em>
\nExperience D-Day with your students on an Explorica tour:<\/b>
\nD-Day<\/span> London & France
\nD-Day<\/span> Netherlands and France
\nD-Day<\/span> Paris, Vimy & Normandy<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"