Miscellaneous

 British, Canadians, and Americans  Farmhouse on the shores of Lake Ontario near Oshawa   Special Training Camp #103  One of the most secret projects of the war  First wartime spy training camp in North America  Purpose was to train Allied agents in techniques of secret warfare for the Special Operations Branch of the British Secret Intelligence Service  Also established to train Americans in the art of secret warfare  Seen by some to be beginnings of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

 Secret agents and spies for enemy-occupied Europe. Technicians provided secret agents with false passports and other documents for use behind enemy lines. Costume experts produced European-style wartime clothing, eyeglasses, soap and toothpaste.  French-speaking Canadians for undercover work in France. Parachuted into Nazi-occupied France to blend in with the local population.  Yugoslav Canadians. Sent into their occupied homeland to destroy German railway tracks, trains, roads and power lines.  Spy catchers for undercover work in Canada and the US. Trained to look for spies on the homefront.  Radio operators to transmit, top-secret information. Hydra, top secret communications network

 Some military historians believe that the training done at Camp X helped to shorten the war and perhaps saved thousands of lives  Before D-day, French-Canadian saboteurs trained at Camp X blew up bridges and railway lines, delaying the Germans advance to Normandy (where our invasion was taking place)  Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, trained at Camp X school/video/camp+x+secret+agent+school/video.html?v= &p=1&s =da#camp-x-secret-agent-school/video

 Prime Minister Mackenzie King determined conscription would not tear country apart  At beginning of war, he promised that no one would be forced to fight overseas (pledge made primarily to French Canadians)  1940, the National Resources Mobilization Act required that all adult males register for national service, but only with Canada  Nobody would be forced to fight overseas  The Act caused protest, especially from French Canadians  As war went on and Hitler had continued success, pressure increased for more soldiers

 Prime Minister King in tough spot  Many English Canadians calling for conscription  Britain and United States introduced conscription at declaration of war  In 1942, King decided to hold a plebiscite, all citizens have a direct vote on an issue of major national importance  Canadians were asked if they were in favour of releasing the government from its pledge that it would not introduce conscription for overseas service  9/10 provinces answered with 80 per cent “yes”  72 % voted “No” in Quebec

 Mackenzie King emphasized that conscription was not yet necessary and promised to introduce it only as a last resort  “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary”  By 1944, pressure to introduce conscription increased even further  King announced that a total of conscripted soldiers would be sent overseas  Passed in House of Commons with majority vote of 143 to 70  One minister from Quebec resigned saying that the government had broken its pledge to French Canadians  Some rioting in Quebec city and Montreal  Not nearly as violent as in 1917  Most French Canadians acknowledged that King had tried to prevent conscription and gave him credit for doing his best  King’s conscription policy probably one of his greatest political achievements  He remembered and learned from tragic experience of 1917 and this time conscription did not tear apart the Liberal party or the country

 In WWI, women had served as nurses and contributed to war industry  In WWII, they did the same, but also became an active part of armed forces for the first time  Women pushed to be accepted into official military service  In 1941, the Canadian army, air force and navy each created a women’s division  the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC)  The Canadian Auxiliary Air Force (CWAAF)  The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS)  By end of war Canadian women in uniform =  4500 women in medical services

 Women were not sent into front-line combat  Did essential work behind the lines  Radio operators, mechanics, welders, armourers or workers in armed forces headquarters  Nurses and Red Cross workers  Worked in industries at home  1939, women in workforce in Canada  1944, women  Women in overalls and a bandana on posters became a symbol of service to Canada  Women welded parts in airplane factories, worked on assembly lines in munitions plants  Ran farms while men were away  Took on traditionally male jobs: Work in lumber mills and streetcar and bus drivers  Expected to return to the home after the war