1. Dieppe
Summer, 1942, the Soviet Union urged the Allies to attack German- controlled Europe from the west
Allies were not ready to launch an assault, but did want to test new equipment and gather intelligence
Allied leaders decided the 2nd Canadian Infantry division should spearhead a raid on Dieppe
A French seaport on the English Channel
With virtually all of continental Europe under German occupation, the Allied forces faced a well-entrenched enemy

3. The beaches were barricaded so Allied tanks couldn’t make any headway
The Allies lost the element of surprise when their ships encountered a German convoy during the night
Landing sites were also poorly chosen
German troops were able to fire shells at Allied landing craft when they were still 10 minutes from shore
The beaches were barricaded so Allied tanks couldn’t make any headway
After six brutal hours, Allied troops retreated
Some way the Allied forces needed to create a foothold on the continent, and the Raid on Dieppe offered valuable lessons for the successful D-Day invasion in 1944.
Of the 6100 troops at the raid, nearly 5,000 were Canadian.
While very valuable lessons were learned, it came with a steep price to be paid; only 2200 Canadians returned to Britain, many of them wounded, and 1,946 prisoners of war were taken along with 913 dead Canadians.

4. Result The attack was a colossal failure.
Canadian casualties: 3,367: including 1,946 taken prisoner and 907 Canadians killed
The Germans remained in position and the mission was eventually criticized for its poor planning and execution.

8. Problems
Landing ships met a small German convoy on the way to the beach.
Element of surprised eliminated: Germans were ready to fire upon the incoming ships.
Communication issue led to reinforcements being sent in, thinking the original troops were making headway.
Added to the slaughter

9. Tanks were getting stuck in the rocks of the beach.
The soldiers were sitting ducks
General withdrawal order was given at 11am:
3367 men were left on the beach to die or be taken prisoner

11. Lessons learned
The Dieppe fiasco demonstrated that it was imperative to improve communications at all levels: on the battlefield, between the HQs of each unit, between air, naval and ground forces.
The idea of capturing a well-defended seaport to use as a bridgehead was dropped after August 19th, 1942.
In addition, the raid on Dieppe showed how important it was:
to use prior air bombings to destroy enemy defenses as much as possible;
to support assault troops with artillery fire from ships and landing crafts;
to improve techniques and equipment
to remove obstacles to men and tanks;

12. True sacrifice
The true meaning of the sacrifices made at Dieppe was made obvious two years after this ill-fated date, when on D-Day the Allies gained a foothold in Europe to free the continent from Nazi aggression.
CBC: Return to Dieppe (June,1992)

17. Historians disagree about the value of Dieppe
Historians disagree about the value of Dieppe. Some say that it was poorly planned, costly, and an unnecessary failure. Others say that the sacrifice was worthwhile because the raid gave military planners important information that was critical to the success of the 1944 D-Day landings in France. Take a historical perspective of a journalist writing about Dieppe at the end of the war. What would your report have said about the disasters at Dieppe? Why might today’s assessments be different?

18. The Normady Campaign
While Allied troops were fighting in Italy, Allied leaders began planning their second attack on the coast of France
The Germans knew the Allies were planning to invade France, just not where or when
The Allies created fake air bases, tanks, and airplanes in Britain across the English Channel from Calais (France) to fool the Germans into thinking that’s where the invasion would take place
Meanwhile, the Allies were gathering farther west
The planning staff faced many obstacles preparing for the invasion of Europe. They decided on Normandy as a landing site quickly because the beaches were within range of fighter aircraft, which would provide overhead cover for the troops, and the area was near major ports.
OVERLORD was not about an invasion as much as it was about grabbing a foothold so that the Allies could pour supplies into suitable facilities. To make this plan work, the Allies needed to do three things:
-Shut down the German counterattack that inevitably would come some time after the initial landings.
-Coordinate the invasion at a time when the weather, tide, and moon cooperated. Thus, they needed the following conditions from Mother
Nature:
• High tide to get landing craft on the beaches
• A new moon (no illumination) so that aircraft, paratroopers, and gliders could land in protective darkness
• Clearing skies so that combat aircraft could fly in support of the invasion
• Generally calm seas to support the rapid movement of troops and equipment ashore
To complicate matters, this combination of tides and moon happened only on three days in every month.
-Trick the Germans into believing that the attack was coming at Pas de Calais on the northern coast of France. Pas de Calais was a key port
city situated only a few miles across the Channel from England and a seemingly obvious choice of location to launch a massive invasion from England. By keeping the Germans focused on Pas de Calais, they would forget about quiet, isolated Normandy.
The Germans were so sure that Pas de Calais was the spot for the invasion that they fortified the area heavily. The Allies decided to convince them that
they were right and came up with following plan: The Allies created two fake Allied armies — one headed for Norway, the other headed for Pas de Calais. Dummy radio traffic poured out of fake headquarters. Real commanders, such as General Patton, were assigned to command some of these fake units.

20. D-Day
On June 6, 1944 – D-Day – Operation Overlord, the long-awaited invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe, was launched
The invasion force included 156,000 Canadian, American, and British troops with tanks and trucks
Included 6500 ships and 12,000 aircraft
The invasion struck Normandy at five beaches, codenamed Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, and Utah
Canada was in charge of taking Juno Beach
Video: Juno Beach (1:00)
At 2 a.m. on June 6, American and British paratroopers were the first Allied forces to land on German occupied Europe. British paratroopers captured
key bridges that would enable the British and Canadian forces to move inland; the American paratroopers landed in the rear of the section of Normandy beach (codenamed UTAH) to seal off main roads that the Germans would use to launch their counterattack. Hitler's defenses had been pierced! Soon afterward, Allied ships began a heavy bombardment of the coast fortifications. At 6:30 a.m., the landing craft began hitting the beach.
Surprised and shocked by the intensity of the bombardment, the German defenders, mostly poor quality troops good only for non-combat duties, reacted slowly to the danger.

24. Juno Beach- the Canadian Landings
Juno beach was five miles wide and stretched on either side of the small fishing port of Courseulles-sur-Mer, France. Two smaller villages, Bernières and St. Aubin, lay to the east of Courseulles.
Although a total of 14,000 Canadians stormed Juno Beach on D-Day.

28. The Canadians fought their way past the German defences
The 14,000 Canadians who stormed Juno Beach faced heavy shelling and deadly machine gun fire
The Canadians fought their way past the German defences
At the end of the day, Canadians had penetrated farther inland than any other Allied Force
The victory was a turning point in World War II and led to the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
D-Day Newsreel Footage (9:00)
At Juno beach, the Canadians found themselves hampered by obstacles and mines that made the landings very hazardous. Beach defenses were strong
there, and the Canadians ran into trouble right away. They had to fight forward in small groups, attacking beach defenses one by one. Casualties were heavy; nearly 1,000 men were lost in the landings. But the Canadians broke through and made the deepest penetration off the beach by nightfall. Once inland, the Canadians faced German counterattacks and defeated them but could not make any further progress forward. A stalemate quickly developed.

31. The Conscription Crisis
During the First World War, conscription had divided Canada.
Prime Minister Mackenzie King believed it was important to keep the country united, so during his election campaign in 1940, he promised that there would never again be conscription for overseas service.
But in June 1940, his government enacted the National Resources Mobilization Act, which allowed the conscription of labourers who were not working in war industries.

32. By 1942, the number of overseas casualties was increasing, and not enough volunteers were signing up to replace the soldiers who had been killed or injured.
Mackenzie King decided to hold a plebiscite—a vote on a specific issue—on conscription.
He wanted Canadians' permission to break his promise not to send conscripts overseas.
"Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary" was the slogan Mackenzie King used to summarize his approach.

33. The results of the plebiscite showed how deeply Canadians were divided:
79 percent of English-speaking Canadians voted yes to conscription, while 85 per cent of French-speaking Canadians voted no.
Many labour groups also opposed conscription. Despite opposition, in spring 1942, Parliament authorized the use of conscripts overseas.

34. However, it was not until October 1944, after heavy losses in Normandy, that Mackenzie King finally gave the order to send conscripts for overseas duty.
In the end, about conscripts were actually sent overseas, and 2500 reached the front lines.
Despite strong French Canadian opposition to conscription, French Canadian volunteer regiments played important roles in helping the Allied forces win the Second World War.

35. Liberation of Europe
After D-Day, Allied forces pushed farther inland through France toward Germany
Over the next several months, Canadians were involved in liberating towns like Dieppe, France, and secured the Allied trade route through Antwerp, Belgium, clearing the way for the final Allied advance into Germany
After Canadian Forces freed the Netherlands and marched into northern Germany, the other Allies moved toward Berlin

36. Victory in Europe
On April 30, 1945, Soviet troops entered the German capital of Berlin
Faced with defeat, Hitler committed suicide
By May 5, a ceasefire was declared
Two days later, German forces surrendered unconditionally and Allied leaders declared VE Day – Victory in Europe Day

37. War Continues in the Pacific
Although Germany surrendered, Japan fought on in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where it had occupied a number of countries, including much of China and the Philippines.
Allied leaders had focused on Europe, so forces from the occupied countries and whatever support the Allies could give had little success stopping Japanese expansion until the United States entered the war in 1941.
Once the United States joined the Allies, the Allies gradually began to win back the Pacific islands occupied by Japanese forces.

38. With the war in Europe over, the Allies could focus on Japan
With the war in Europe over, the Allies could focus on Japan. By July 1945, nearly Canadians had volunteered to fight in the Pacific, but events would eliminate the need for their help.

39. The Atomic Bomb
Despite relentless bombings on Japanese cities by the American air force, Japan would not give up.
To end the war, United States President Harry Truman decided to use a newly developed weapon: the nuclear, or atomic, bomb.

40. An American bomber dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima at 8:16 a.m. on August 6, 1945.
It killed over people instantly.
Three days later, when it looked as if Japan planned to continue fighting, the Americans dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, where approximately people died.
On August 14, Japan accepted the Allies' request for an unconditional surrender. The Second World War came to an end.

41. Clip
Clip 2

43. Canada, like many other nations, chose not to act when Hitler and Germany gathered strength in the 1930s. Take a historical perspective to analyze why Canada did not take a firmer stand against Nazi Germany before the invasion of Poland.