Summary In Normandy, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion proved itself to be in the vanguard of the best-trained and toughest units in the Allied forces. Established in 1942 - predominantly recruited from the cream of young and adventurous volunteers who boasted long experience in manual labour and contact sports - on the early morning of D-Day, 6 June 1944, the paratroopers, the only Canadian unit in the 6th British Airborne Division, were dropped behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France, equipped only with what they could carry. They fought surrounded by the enemy, with no guarantee that reinforcements would ever reach them. In spite of heavy casualties, they met all of their objectives and successfully held the eastern flank of the invasion, ensuring the Germans did not break through to counter-attack the Allied landing beaches. The paratroops were different, as their maroon berets, jump boots, and unique insignia testified. Out of the Clouds - the battalion's motto - follows a group of men from across Canada who innocently signed up for the most gruelling training program in the world. That innovative program emphasized independence, physical endurance, and realistic preparation for jumping into combat - with, unlike their brothers in the American paratroopers, no reserve parachute. The battalion's baptism of fire came the night before D-Day when American, British, and Canadian paratroopers jumped into Normandy, the first troops into occupied France. The Canadians' job: Protect the eastern flank of the coming amphibious landings and prevent the Germans from getting to the beaches. Things did not go as planned. In the darkness, confusion, and German anti-aircraft fire, the transport pilots widely scattered the paras beyond their intended drop zone outside the small Norman village of Varaville. Dozens of men drowned when they landed in flooded fields and it took the survivors hours to find their comrades. In spite of these difficulties, groups of paras banded together and carried out their objectives, destroying bridges over the Dives River at Varaville and Robehomme. After doing so, the paras moved to the vital Le Mesnil crossroads, where they dug in and stubbornly held the position under constant German fire. On 12 June, six days after D-Day, the paras, along with British troops who had reached their positions from Sword Beach, repulsed the most serious German counterstroke with the aid of naval artillery. In spite of their heavy losses - from 6 June through to September 1944, the battalion lost nearly two-thirds of its strength - their skill and limitless pride saw the paras through: They would soon be in action again.

• War
• Documentary
• History