Operation Overlord

The Canadian infantry lands on Juno Beach and marches to Bernières-sur-Mer on 6 June 1944. Source: Canadian National Archives.

This was the code name for the Battle of Normandy.

The French on 6 June 1944

Commando Kieffer. Source: 4th Commando Museum

The Canadians and the Great War

La Bataille de Vimy. peinture de Richard Jack. Source : Musée canadien de la guerre

In 1914, Canada, along with Australia and New Zealand, was not a colony. It was a powerful dominion, an autonomous state, attached to the home country by mutual agreement. The dominions were not obliged to provide the motherland with either subsidies or military contingents.

D Day in Normandy

Omaha Beach, on the afternoon of the 6th June. The landing of allied troops on the beach. Source: SHD

L'année 1944

The principal axes of the Allied advance between June and September 1944

Battle of Normandy, June-August 1944

Avranches Breakthrough. Source: United States Government

Battle of Normandy, June-August 1944

The French Foreign Legion

Flag of the Foreign Legion with grenade and seven rising flames. Source: Personal collection

The French Foreign Legion - History

La Paix

1917 - l'Année incertaine

The Korean War sixty years on: history and remembrance

Camp de base du BF/ONU à Kapyong. Source : ECPAD

Breaking out on 25 June 1950, the Korean War was a major conflict of the Cold War and one of the deadliest in the second half of the 20th century.

The war also represented a first test for the UN which, to prevent the outbreak of a third world war, appealed to its member states to form an international army. France's involvement, by sending a battalion of military volunteers that proved its valour on a number of occasions, paved the way for the Opex (overseas operations of the French military) and sealed its partnership with South Korea.