The Maple Leaf Route, Part I
Terry Copp first visited the Normandy beaches in 1981 when researching Maple Leaf Route: Caen. Armed with the original maps and air photos, he studied the terrain, a key primary source for tactical and operational history. Copp has returned to Normandy many times since then usually leading study tours for the Canadian Battlefields Foundation, the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies and True Patriot Love. The landscape has changed dramatically over the past 40 years as a result of new construction and efforts at memorialization. Copp will talk briefly about the nature of the “Atlantic Wall” in 1944 and the problem of breaking through it, then describe the changes to the terrain especially in the ways D-Day has come to be commemorated in the Juno sector.
TERRY COPP is one of Canada’s foremost military historians. The author and co-author of over twenty published books and of numerous scholarly articles on the operations and experience of the Canadian military during the World Wars, Copp is a leading scholar of Canada’s military role in World War II and an influential advocate for military history in both military and civilian education.
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