The Canadian Trick That Made 547 Lost Paratroopers Take Every Objective

On the night of 6 June 1944, 547 men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion jumped into Normandy, and almost none of them landed where they were meant to. They came down in flooded marshes, in orchards and on the wrong side of the river Dives. Yet by the end of D-Day they had blown the bridges at Varaville and Robehomme, forced a German garrison to surrender and seized the Le Mesnil crossroads. This is the simple trick that made it possible, and why armies still teach it today. 0:00 547 men, all in the wrong place 1:17 Canada's first paratroopers 2:42 The lesson of Sicily 3:26 The trick: every man knows everything 4:24 Sealed camps and secret models 5:52 The mission on the eastern flank 7:11 The flooded Dives valley 7:30 The jump 9:21 Varaville 9:59 The Robehomme bridge 10:47 Merville and the road to Le Mesnil 12:03 The cost 12:39 Holding the crossroads 13:35 Was it really a Canadian trick? 14:26 Ardennes, the Rhine and Wismar 15:25 Commander's intent