In July 1876, a train station was opened in Saint-Aubin along the Caen à la mer line, permitting the development of a sea resort.

The 1920s brought the construction of its Rococo or Art Deco villas, and its 1800 m seawall (dam walk), today the seafront buildings open passages to the narrow alleys, where old fishermen's houses are the watchful guardians of the past.

Located in the heart of the Canadian and British D-Day beaches, the waterfront, to a large extent, did not suffer from the misdeeds of the war.

The Germans were largely unaffected by the preparatory barrage, as such they were able to put up heavy resistance at the beach and in the town, for most of the day, as the Canadians pushed inland.

Offshore, eastwards were rocky outcrops parts of which were exposed at low tide: les Essarts de Langrune.

[12] Having survived a weakened beach bombardment programme, at 07h39, WN 27 began to take indirect fire from 105 mm self-propelled guns on LCT landing craft.

[16] Disrupting any attempt at recovery, WN 27 began to take direct fire from the DD tanks of C Squadron, 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment, The Fort Garry Horse, arriving by LCT at H-Hour (07h55 BST).

[18][19] At H+45 with no beach exits, the reserve North Shore companies landing, Major Bray commanding C squadron of the Fort Garry Horse decided to advance through the minefield losing three tanks, but with Churchill AVREs, after a hard fight St Aubin was soon under control.