Having performed well in training exercises during 1941 and early 1942, elements of the 2nd Division were selected as the main force for Operation Jubilee, a large-scale amphibious raid on the port of Dieppe in German-occupied France.

The Germans were well prepared and, despite being reinforced, the Canadians sustained heavy losses and had to be evacuated, with fewer than half their number returning to the United Kingdom.

Following a period of reconstruction and retraining from 1942 to 1944, the division joined II Canadian Corps as part of the British Second Army for the Allied invasion of Normandy.

[2] Formed under the command of Major-General Victor Odlum, a highly distinguished veteran of the First World War, with an authorized strength of between 13,000 and 17,000 personnel,[3] the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, like its sister formation, was originally organized along regional lines.

[9] The Camerons and the Chaudières (now a rifle battalion) were reassigned to the newly mobilized 3rd Canadian Infantry Division,[10] and the Winnipeg Grenadiers were sent to Jamaica for garrison duty, after which they returned to Canada then redeployed to Hong Kong, where they were captured when it fell to the Japanese on 25 December 1941.

Exercise Waterloo, conducted from 14 to 16 June 1941, was the largest in the United Kingdom to date, with I Canadian Corps counter-attacking an imagined German sea and air landing.

Mounted as a test of whether or not such a landing was feasible,[27] the Dieppe raid was to be undertaken by the 4th and 6th Brigades, with additional naval, air, and infantry support.

[28] On 19 August 1942, while British commando units attacked bunker positions on the outskirts of Dieppe, forces of the 2nd Division landed on four beaches.

The easternmost, Blue Beach, which was at the foot of a sheer cliff, presented the most difficulties; the Royal Regiment of Canada, with a company of the Black Watch, was held at bay by two platoons of German defenders.

Making only minor gains, the majority of the 4th and 6th Brigades became pinned down on the beach, and despite the arrival of an armoured squadron from the Calgary Tank Regiment, casualties were heavy.

In January 1944, Major-General Charles Foulkes—another officer who, like Simonds, had been too young to serve in the Great War—replaced Burns, who went to Italy to command I Canadian Corps, where it had been deployed towards the end of 1943.

Having successfully landed in Normandy, Allied forces soon became embroiled in battles against German armour and were unable to significantly expand their beachhead; by the time the 2nd Division came ashore at the end of the first week of July, the entire front had congealed.

[43] Although originally a D-Day objective, Caen proved a difficult prize, holding out until 19 July when it finally fell to British troops during Operation Goodwood.

[45] Operation Atlantic, launched on 18 July alongside Goodwood, had the objectives of securing the western bank of the Orne River and Verrières Ridge.

In the afternoon, the 6th Brigade's South Saskatchewan Regiment attacked the well-entrenched German positions on the ridge, with support from Typhoon fighter-bombers and tanks.

[49] To meet Montgomery's objectives, General Simonds was ordered to design a large breakout assault, codenamed Operation Spring.

[49] The 5th Brigade, in the centre, made a bid for Fontenay-le-Marmion; of the 325 members of the Black Watch who left the start-lines, only 15 answered evening roll-call.

Throughout the first week of August, significant German resources were transferred from the Anglo-Canadian front to that of the U.S. Third Army, under Lieutenant-General George Patton, while reinforcements moved from Pas de Calais to the Falaise–Calvados area.

[54] By 1 August 1944, the British had made significant gains on the Vire and Orne Rivers during Operation Bluecoat, while the Americans had achieved a complete breakthrough in the west.

This was halted within a day and, despite the increasingly dangerous threat presented by the Anglo–Canadian advance on Falaise, the German commander Field Marshal Günther von Kluge was prohibited by Hitler from redeploying his forces.

[57] Thus, as American armoured formations advanced towards Argentan from the south, the Allies were presented with an opportunity to encircle large sections of the German Seventh Army.

[59] On 14 August, the First Canadian Army launched Operation Tractable with the aim of capturing Falaise and achieving a linkup with American forces in Chambois.

[61] The offensive was largely successful and, although the 2nd Division was not an active participant, divisional troops entered Falaise on 16 August as the remainder of First Canadian Army moved south-east towards Trun and Chambois.

The German forces committed to Normandy since D-Day had been virtually annihilated—by the end of Operation Tractable, the 12th SS Panzer Division, the main adversary of the Canadians, had lost 80% of its tanks,[63] 70% of its personnel carriers,[63] and 60% of its artillery.

[72] Operation Veritable was designed to bring the 21st Army Group to the west bank of the Rhine River, the last natural obstacle before entering Germany.

[74] The Germans had prepared significant defences in depth, both within the outpost screen and the Siegfried Line itself,[74] and to add to the Canadians' difficulties, constant rain and cold weather obscured the battlefield.

[74][76] It was not until 3 March that the forest was cleared—during the intense close-quarter fighting, Major Frederick Tilston of the Essex Scottish Regiment won a Victoria Cross.

[81] Because effective air-support was prevented by fog and movement was hindered by German mortar barrages,[74] the British and Canadians suffered heavy casualties.

[84] In the nine days preceding their attack, German resistance had been light and uncoordinated,[85] but opposition stiffened as the assault progressed, leading to heavy losses among the battalions of the 5th Brigade.

[86] By 13 April, the division had been shifted eastward to guard the flanks of a British assault on Bremen,[87] and the following day I Canadian Corps liberated Arnhem.