June 6th Celebration to commemorate the Canadian 3rd Divisions involvement in the 2nd World War and links with the Balmer Lawn Hotel On June 6th we will be hosting a celebration Afternoon tea to commemorate the Canadian 3rd Divisions connection to the Balmer Lawn Hotel ahead of the D’Day landings in Normandy. A commemorative plaque will be unveiled and a maple tree planted in the gardens, along with the opening of the display of the WW2 documents found under floorboards in the hotel. On 3 July 1943, the commander of 1st Canadian Army informed General H.D.G. Crerar, commanding 1st Canadian Corps, that the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division under Major General Rod Keller were selected for assault training with the objective of taking part in the Operation OVERLORD landings. The division was placed under the command of 1st British Corps in January 1944 (1st Canadian Army was not scheduled to activate in Normandy until after the beachhead was secure and expanded). A four-phase training plan was conducted to prepare the division for the assault. Phase 1 was preliminary training, with a study of the principles of combined operations and rehearsals of embarkation and disembarkation, scaling obstacles, minefield clearance, etc. These activities were conducted in late July and early August 1943. Boat drills were practiced on mock-ups at unit stations in southern England and the division and brigade staffs participated in Exercise DIPPER, a preliminary planning scheme. Heavy fire support during the landing was the emphasis of planning conferences. In August and September 1943, Phase 2 was carried out by brigade groups at the Combined Training Centres in Inverary and Castle Toward in Scotland, where they were instructed in the basic mechanics of assault landings. They had practical work in using landing craft to come ashore, with live artillery fire and smoke-laying aircraft, and training progressed from company-size schemes in dummy landing craft up to full-scale brigade exercises with artillery, engineer and all-arms support. Phase 3 was conducted in Portsmouth in conjunction with Force "J", the naval assault force which was to convey the division to Normandy (so named because the division's landing area was code-named JUNO). Force "J" had been the naval force assembled for the Dieppe operation, and had been kept as a "laboratory in combined operations", even early on retaining the same commander, Commodore J. Hughes-Hallett, who had commanded the fleet at Dieppe. He departed late in 1943. The 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade moved to Portsmouth early in September for this phase, for increasingly realistic exercises with the actual naval force assigned them. The 3rd Canadian Division's headquarters relocated to Balmer Lawn Hotel, Brockenhurst, in the new Forest (Hampshire). Exercise PIRATE was held 16-19 October 1943 in Studland Bay, Dorset, with an assault by the 7th Brigade and build-up ashore by the remainder of the division. Poor weather caused a cancellation of latter phases of the exercise, including Turn Round Control and the Build-Up portion. RAF bomber support was called off and divisional artillery firing from off-shore fell short by several hundred yards during the opening stages of the assault. The division was using the towed 25- pounders standard to infantry divisions. Phase 4 was marked by collective divisional assault training with concurrent brigade group level exercises. This phase began around 30 January 1944 when the division began detailed planning and the division's planning staff decamped for London for nearly a month. These exercises were rehearsals carried out using the actual plans for the landing; one note-worthy exercise was Exercise TROUSERS at Slapton Sands, Devon, on 12 April 1944 where Force "J" rehearsed the passage, approach and assault landing in detail while the Division practice signal communications and fire support. A single exercise was held as a complete dress rehearsal of the invasion as a whole, this being Exercise FABIUS early in May 1944. FABIUS was conducted in six parts: FABIUS I rehearsed the American Force "O" for the landing on OMAHA Beach; FABIUS II was Force "G" for GOLD; FABIUS III Force "J" for JUNO; FABIUS IV Force "S" for SWORD; FABIUS V and FABIUS VI were to exercise machinery for loading personnel and equipment in the Thames Estuary and East Coast ports and to prepare the invasion build-up in the Southampton-Portsmouth area. Force "U", the assault force for UTAH Beach, had a separate final rehearsal in April 1944 dubbed Exercise TIGER. FABIUS II, III and IV took part east of Portsmouth at Hayling Island, Bracklesham Bay and Littlehampton respectively, and because Bracklesham Bay was inhabited, there was no actual firing. Blamer Lawn - The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division used it as a headquarters from September 1943 to April 1944. Inspection tours were part of the activities before D-Day. General Eisenhower visited the division in February and again in May. A biography of Brigadier Harry Foster caught the mood and reaction of many in the Division: As D-Day approached, a series of Canadian and British VIPs made the rounds of 3rd Division. Harry observed, "Most are a pain in the ass but it is an honour to greet some." "25 April....His Majesty arrived today with Gen. Crerar on an inspection tour. The troops were lined up three deep on both sides of the road for over a mile. They put on a good showing. I heard later that HM and the brass were mightily pleased. He is such a charming and courteous man... 18 May.... The PM [Mackenzie King] arrived today in a banker's suit to shake hands with a few of the men. He tried very hard to be pleasant but wound up instead being political. It is hard to imagine him leading anybody anywhere. Even more strange that anyone would want to follow....After everybody left I reprimanded two officers for giving him a horse laugh during his talk....He may not look or sound like much but he is our Prime Minister and I will not tolerate disrespect.8 HM King George VI inspects The Highland Light Infantry of Canada before D-Day with Lieutenant Colonel F.M. Griffiths, their Commanding Officer. LAC photo The 3rd Division landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944 as part of the 1st Corps of the British 2nd Army. It fought in the bitter beachhead battles and the fighting around Caen for four weeks, clearing several villages such as Authie, Buron, Cussy and the Abbaye d'Ardennes as well as the Carpiquet airfield during Operations WINDSOR and CHARNWOOD in early July. They were joined at that time by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division and transferred from 1st British Corps to the newly activated 2nd Canadian Corps. The division crossed the Orne River on 18 July, saw further action at Verrières Ridge, and on 31 July 1944 came under the command of 1st Canadian Army. On 1 August, which the beachhead considered secure, the divisional artillery exchanged self-propelled 105mm guns used for the invasion for the standard towed 25-pounder gun. The division fought under 2nd Canadian Corps during the fight to close the Falaise Gap and the pursuit across northern France. The division was required to lay siege to Boulogne and Calais during September, both of which fell after divisional battles with heavy fire support, and with no time to rest, the formation was rushed to the Scheldt at the start of October as 21st Army Group gave priority to opening the approach to Antwerp. During the Battle of the Scheldt, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, fighting to the south of the channel to clear the Breskens Pocket, were nicknamed the "Water Rats" by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in recognition of the poor conditions of terrain through which they fought. Canadian troops were instrumental to the invasion of June 6, 1944 - as their role was to take Juno Beach, one of five along a 50-mile stretch of the northern French coast. The country sent around 14,000 soldiers, 350 of whom died on that first day, and another 450 to be parachuted in behind enemy lines. The allied invasion, a key turning point in the Second World War, was notable for its co-operation between Britain, Canada and the U.S. Soldiers from all three countries underwent months of training .