Canada Fights! Canadian Battles of WWII

Evacuation of Dunkirk (1940) Germans take Belgium and push Allies to the French Beach of Dunkirk 340,000 soldiers are rescued by the British Represents a moral victory for the Allies as they live to fight another day!

Battle of Britain (1940) - summer Where? London and surrounding countryside Hitler used air attacks on Britain to prepare for an amphibious invasion. He wanted to destroy the RAF (Royal Air Force) Many Canadians were serving in the RAF

RAF and Luftwaffe fight in airspace over Britain Even though Britain was outnumbered 3:1, they had superior planes (and radar) In August 1940, a German bomber squadron accidentally bombs civilians in London

In retaliation, Winston Churchill orders the bombing of Berlin In response, Hitler orders daylight bombing raids on London (called ‘The Blitz’) Outcome? Hitler abandoning RAF targets for civilians hurt him in the long run. It gave the RAF time to train new pilots (more Canadians) and rebuild its strength

Invasion of the Soviet Union After Germany is defeated in the Battle of Britain – Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa (“red beard”) on June 22, 1941 Mission = to conquer the Soviet Union in order to use their raw materials, land and labour for Germany Broke the non-aggression pact with the Soviets

Soviets were unprepared By autumn – the Germans had reached the capital of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) But not prepared for the long winter and lost their advantage and had to retreat.

Dieppe 1942 = Allies are losing the war Soviets are being hit hard on the Eastern Front and Stalin wants the Allies to ‘ open up ’ a Western Front

Allies didn’t have the manpower to open up the whole Western Front Decided to have a ‘rehearsal’ invasion August 1942 = 5,000 Canadian soldiers land at Dieppe (coast of France) OBJECTIVE: take the beach and the town back from the Germans

Canadians are completely mowed down by German fire, machine guns and panzers. 900 soldiers are dead at morning 1900 taken prisoner More troops die in the first few hours than any other day in WWII Taught the Allies that heavy air and sea support were needed for a successful attack.

Battle of the Atlantic Fought to control the shipping lanes between North American and Britain Germany wanted to ‘ cut off ’ these lanes and ‘ starve ’ Britain into surrender British, Canadian (& later American) became dedicated to putting an end to the German submarine threat

German subs = U-BOATS Lots of German U-Boats = A Wolfpack By 1941, the Wolfpacks were sinking Allied ships very quickly Allied supply ships began sailing in convoys, the Royal Canadian Navy provided protection with small warships called corvettes Convoy system began to be successful Development of sonar

Canadian Air Force provided long-range bombers Development of sonar 1943:depth charges 13 to 370 ships Merchant sailors Can.crucial to victory

The Battle of Stalingrad July 1942 – Hitler wants Russia’s oil rich fields in the south Hitler gets all the way to Stalingrad but is stopped by the winter They cannot turn back this time and could not hope for reinforcements – Germans were fighting too many fronts

After suffering casualties – the German army surrenders to the Soviets in Feb 1943 Hitler’s aggression caused the Soviets to join the Allies ii/battle-of-stalingrad/videos ii/battle-of-stalingrad/videos

Italian Campaign Fighting in North Africa = Germans are defeated Allies plan to invade the island of Sicily in preparation for an invasion of Italy Allies capture Sicily in one month despite efforts of Germans to hold it

Allied troops take the ‘ boot ’ of Italy Canadian forces push through until German Army stops them at Ortona Germans are finally driven back by a French-Canadian unit (the Vandoos) Canada breaks the last line of German defences before Rome BIG STEP in the war…the amount of troops required in Italy by Germany makes them unavailable to defend France.

Pearl Harbour Japan joins Germany and Italy as an Axis power In 1941, Japan prepares to invade the USA and European colonies in SE Asia because they were rich in oil, rubber and tin

December 7 th, 1941: Japanese bomb US naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii

Japan then bombs the Phillipines Dec 8 th = USA declares war on Japan Dec 9 th = Germany & Italy declare war on the USA USA then declares war on Germany & Italy USA had previously adopted a policy of isolationism in the war, leaving the Allies to fight the war alone

Hong Kong After Pearl Harbour, Japan invades British colony of Hong Kong By Christmas, Hong Kong belongs to the Japanese Canadian troops were stationed at the time in Hong Kong

Of the 1975 troops in Hong Kong, all were killed or taken prisoner 555 die in horrible conditions as prisoners in camps for 3 ½ years Canadians at home are horrified and angry They begin to turn against Japanese- Canadian, blaming them for the war

Internment Camps are sent to internment camps ( of which have been born in Canada). Custodian of Aliens Act: Canadian government can sell possessions of Japanese Canadians without their permission.

Normandy Landing Allies plan to use naval and aerial bombardment to take back France and open up at second front Largest Canadian military operation of WWII = soldiers, 100 ships and 36 bomber squadrons Canadians were assigned the beachfront code-named Juno

Bloody, bloody, bloody = Canadians killed -- & more than Allies in total Germans are VERY hard hit – – similar numbers but worse for the Germans as they had a limited # of forces to call on D-Day gave the Allied forces a foothold in Europe and they began to push back the German forces towards Berlin.

Liberation of Holland Canada fights alongside the Allies (UK and USA) for a year of hard fighting Canadians drive the Nazis from Holland on May 5 th, 1945 This allows the Allies to continue on towards Germany

The Final Stages of War in the Pacific Manhattan Project = very secret and $ project to create the world’s first atomic bomb In 1945, President Truman decided that bombs should be dropped without warning on Japan military targets in a city to end the war Scientists disagreed – thought the bomb should be dropped somewhere isolated

Hiroshima, August 6 th 1945 Truman decides to drop the bomb “Little Boy” on the industrial city of Hiroshima The explosion at Ground Zero creates a temperature of 540,000 degrees F. Firestorms destroy over buildings Official death count = Later, over die of bomb related injuries/diseases

Nagasaki, August 9 th, 1945 Japan did not surrender immediately, so Truman ordered the next atomic bomb to be dropped on Japanese city of Nagasaki “Fat Man” was dropped and died

Peace, August 14 th 1945 – VJ Day (Victory in Japan) This day marked the Japanese government’s surrender and WWII in the Pacific was over