The fighting on the Anglo-Canadian beaches during D-Day was, generally, more severe than that at Utah, but less serious than that at Omaha. Part of this was due to the opposition they were facing. Omaha was defended by the 352nd Infantry Division, a unit formed around a solid core of veterans. The British beaches were mainly in the sector of the 716th Infantry Division, a poorly equipped reserve unit composed mainly of conscripted or volunteer Russians and elderly Germans (though Gold Beach was in the overlap between the 716th and 352nd). The British also had more effective fire support from offshore and more of their 'swimming' DD tanks reached the beaches than on the American ones. The availability of the specialised engineering vehicles of the 79th Armoured Division also helped.

Gold Beach was the western-most of the British beaches. It was assaulted by the 50th Infantry Division, supported by the 8th Armoured Brigade, 47 Commando Royal Marines, and four squadrons from the 79th Armoured. Gold Beach stretched from La Riviere in the east to Arromanches in the west, and was divided into three sectors. King ran from La Riviere to Hable de Heurlot, Jig from Hable de Heurlot to Le Hamel, while Item covered Arromanches and Saint-Côme. Only Jig and King were assault beaches, as there was not enough beach space in Item for an assault landing. There were 11 main bunkers (known in German as Widerstandsnester or 'resistance nests') in the beach area. The main positions in the assaulted sectors were the anti-tank bunkers of WN33 at La Riviere, with an 88mm and two 50mm AT guns, a six-bunker complex at Hable de Heurlot designated WN35, and WN37, dug into an old sanatorium at Le Hamel and armed with a 75mm gun and a 50mm AT gun. Two more 75mm guns were dug in at WN39 between Arromanches and Saint-Côme, plus two more 50mm guns nearby at WN38. These positions overlooked the westernmost areas of Jig. Further inland were two artillery batteries, WN35a with four captured Russian 122mm guns at Mont-Fleury and WN32 with four 100mm ex-Czech guns at La Marefontaine. In addition to the bunkers, the beach was defended by four infantry companies with five 75mm infantry guns and seven 50mm AT guns.

The first troops to hit Gold Beach were Royal Navy frogmen, landed to clear gaps through the beach obstacles. Shortly behind them were the first elements of the 79th Armoured and the DD tanks of 8th Armoured Bde. The 82nd Assault Squadron landed on Jig, but landed in a dispersed group due to the action of wind and waves. This, combined with heavy fire from the German defences, hampered their attempts to suppress the German positions. As a result, when the infantry of the 1st Hampshires and 1st Dorsets touched down on the beach, they were soon pinned down. The main problems were at the western end of the beach where the Hampshires landed, caused by WN37 at Le Hamel. This forced them east, towards the less well-defended bunker of WN36. Once this was destroyed, the assault troops were able to move off the beach. The Dorsets moved inland, while the Hampshires pushed to take Le Hamel from behind. Supported by a Churchill AVRE armed with a 293mm demolition mortar, they were able to take the position, but only by 5pm, nearly ten hours after the landings began. On King, the 81st Squadron landed as a cohesive force, helping the infantry cross the beach. Heavy fire from WN33 caused casualties amongst the infantry and armoured units until it was knocked out by fire from a Sherman Crab minesweeping tank. Even so, the infantry crossed the beach with relative speed, and began moving inland to clear WN35a and WN32. Both of these positions surrendered quickly, clearing the way for armour to push inland. With the beaches clear, the 50th Division began to exploit its gains. A German counterattack towards the beaches from Villiers-le-Sec was defeated shortly after 5pm. By midnight, the division had captured Arromanches, the future site of a Mulberry harbour, linked up with the Canadians from Juno at Creully, and secured jumping-off positions for an assault on Bayeux, the next key target. 50th Division had suffered just 413 casualties of all kinds, though to this must be added several hundred more from the various supporting elements.

Juno Beach, in the centre, was assaulted by the 3rd Canadian Division, accompanied by the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, 48 Commando and four squadrons from the 79th Armoured. Juno met Gold at La Riviere in the west, and ran to Langrune-sur-Mer in the east. It was divided into two sectors; Mike, which ran from Vaux to Courselles-sur-Mer, and Nan, between Courselles and Langrunes. While there were only six strongpoints along the beaches, it was the most heavily defended of the British beaches. Courselles had the highest density of strongpoints on the coast, after those at Omaha. Here, WN31 defended the western side of the town with three 50mm guns and a 75mm gun (plus machine guns and mortars), while WN29 had an 88mm gun, two 75mms, a 50mm and a 37mm. Further inland was WN30 with machine guns and mortars, providing depth to the position. In Nan sector, there were three forward positions, WN28 at Bernieres, WN27 at Saint-Aubin, and WN26 at Lagrunes. All three had dug-in machine guns and mortars, supported by 75mm and 50mm guns. The strongpoints were manned by four infantry companies, with fourteen heavy guns, seven mortars and roughly forty machine guns.

The first assault elements from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles landed in Mike before the DD tanks. They took heavy casualties as they attempted to clear the beachside pillboxes with no armoured support. The battalion's B Company suffered 93 casualties from its starting strength of 119. Even so, the battalion was able to force an exit from the beach by the time the DD tanks landed and began to clear the remaining pillboxes. By 9:20am, the Winnipegs were moving on their first objective, Graye-sur-Mer. Further west, the Canadian Scottish battalion had an easier job clearing the less-heavily defended western approaches to Courselles. The Regina Rifles, landing on the eastern side of Courselles, landed shortly after the DD tanks had hit the beach. This made their job significantly easier. The pillboxes on the beach were soon knocked out, and the battalion moved on to clear Courselles. This required heavy house-to-house fighting, but by 11am, the troops were moving inland. In the rest of Nan Sector, the Queen's Own Rifles and North Shore Regiment had an easier time of it clearing the less-heavily defended coast. Heavy casualties were taken in the west, due to Germans firing from Courselles, but elsewhere, things went smoothly. Bernieres fell by 9am, an hour and a half after landing. Saint-Aubin fell similarly quickly, but the AT bunker there held out until after 11am. The Canadians moved swiftly inland, capturing the strongpoint of WN23 at Tailleville at 5:30pm, after heavy fighting. The heavily defended radar complex at Douvres was bypassed; this position would not fall until 17th June. The forward units of the division captured Colomby-sur-Thaon, 8km from the beaches, by nightfall, though their deepest penetration was around Le Fresne-Camilly, 9km from the beaches around Courselles. The reserve 9th Brigade had been landed to exploit this success, but due to traffic jams on the beaches, was too late to make its move towards the key airfield at Carpiquet before nightfall. Losses on Juno were higher than on Gold, with 340 Canadians killed and 574 wounded, but still lower than on Omaha.