The task of reducing the strong point at Le Petit-Enfer (near where you are parked) was assigned to the 46th Royal Marine Commando landing on 7 June. After reducing the beaches defences, the tanks and the infantry move inland. The German High Command was uncertain; General Richter, commanding the sector, ordered the 21st Panzer division tanks to counter attack, but the armoured division movements were ultimately decided in Berlin. The first German panzers only start out in the early afternoon. A column moves out into the corridor between Juno Beach and Sword Beach, and reaches the coast at Luc-sur-Mer around 8.00 pm. Isolated and lacking strength, the Germans withdrew. The next day, the British Commandos took the Le Petit-Enfer position and liberate Luc-sur-Mer; meanwhile the 1st South Lancashire entered into Cresserons then to the village of La Délivrande.
About a half-mile east of the casino is a curious all-purpose stone monument standing in a small square. One side bears inscriptions commemorating the raid by the 1st British Commando on 28 September 1941 and the liberation of Luc in June 1944. The opposite side carries an inscription commemorating French sailors and soldiers who died for their country.
On 6 June 1944, the North Shore Regiment of the 8th Canadian Brigade landed on Juno Beach; they fought against a regiment of the 716th German Infantry division. A Company progressed easily west of Saint-Aubin, while company B meets many obstacles. The support of Fort Garry Horse amphibious tanks was decisive, the «funnies» tanks neutralizing anti-tank walls and blockhouses with explosives enabling, Lieutenant Colonel Buell to launch his companies inland; as the end of the day the Canadians clear Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer from the last German defenders. At Langrune-sur-Mer, street fighting cost fifty per cent losses to the 48th Royal Marines Commando, but in the evening of 6 June the Germans were pushed back from the town.
Continue east for six kilometers through Lion-sur-Mer (where the 41st Royal Marine Commando landed), past La Brèche d'Hermanville (where there are three monuments to the 3d British Infantry Division), to the Colleville-Montgomery Plage crossroad.
A sign at the crossroads marks the site of a temporary British cemetery and commemorates the landing on 6 June. A marker opposite commemorates Number 4 Commando and Commandant Philippe Kieffer, who commanded two Free French troops of the 10 Commando. The commandos landed just after the first assault wave and quickly moved inland. They then fought their way through Riva-Bella until they were stopped by concentrated fire from the casino and its adjoining summer house. Only after a DD tank was called up from the beach were the commandos able to silence the defenders.
