Download Canadian_WWII_battles

World War II:
Canada’s Role
Recap: The War Begins…
• When did WWII
break out?
• What was Hitler’s
last action before
Britain and France
declared war?
• What tactic did
Hitler use? Why was
it effective?
Enter Canada…
• How did Canada’s entry
to WWII differ than her
entry to WWI?
• What new law allowed
Canada to make her
own decisions?
• Prime Minister
Mackenzie King was
prepared to send
roughly 40 000 troops
and anticipated a role as
the main supplier of
food and war materials
for Britain
The House of Commons on
September 7, 1939, the first day of
the special session in which
Canada's Parliament decided to
declare war on Germany. Canada
declared war on Sept. 10, 1939
Phoney War…. Then War!
• Sept. 1939 – May
•
1940- called “phoney
war”: due to lack of
any military operation
or attack by either
side….
THEN in 1940, Hitler’s
modern army overran
Denmark, Norway,
Belgium, Luxembourg
and the Netherlands.
Soon, Hitler turned his
attention to France.
The Miracle of Dunkirk
• Thousands of British troops raced across the
•
English Channel to defend France. A
contingent of Canadian soldiers remained in
Britain to defend against the expected
German invasion.
Despite Britain's valiant effort, the Germans
advanced rapidly into France leaving both
British and French troops trapped.
• In May, 1940, British troops had to
be evacuated from the seaport town
of Dunkirk on the French coast.
• 300 000soldiers were rescued by
boats of all sizes- in addition to the
British destroyers, a makeshift fleet
of sightseeing boats, river ferries,
fishing boats and privately owned
crafts sailed across the British
Channel to return the stranded
troops safely back to Britain.
• Despite the “miracle” it was a terrible
defeat, much of the heavy British war
equipment had to be abandoned and
France fell in six weeks.
• “We Shall Fight on Beaches” Churchill, June 4th
1940
• Even though large tracts of Europe and many
old and famous States have fallen or may fall
into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious
apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in
France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and
growing strength in the air, we shall defend
our Island, whatever the cost may be, we
• shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds, we shall fight in
the fields and in the streets, we shall fight
in the hills; we shall never surrender, and
even if this Island or a large part of it
were subjugated and starving, then our
Empire beyond the seas, armed and
guarded by the British Fleet, would carry
on the struggle, until, in God's good time,
the New World, with all its power and
might, steps forth to the rescue and the
liberation of the old.
Movie Clip: Atonement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzXw0lS
MPjc
Churchill Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfSqp755KE
How would Hitler’s successes in Europe
change Canada’s role in war?
• Canada’s role in WWII
evolved to the centre
stage:
1. convoys became a vital
lifeline to the survival of
Britain
2. more Canadian troops
sent to Britain
3. Canadian increased
wartime industries such as
food, guns, munitions,
supplies and armed forces
The Russian Front
• On August 23rd, 1939,
•
•
Stalin and Hitler signed
a “Non-Aggression
Pact” which vowed not
to interfere in each
other’s business
On June 22nd, 1941,
Germany invaded the
Soviet Union
Having purged his
military of many of its
best officers, Stalin and
the Soviets were not
ready for war
The Eastern Front
• Operation
“Barbarossa” – began
on June 22nd, 1941
• The early days saw
the Germans drive
into the Soviet Union
almost reaching
Moscow by October
• The German army
besieged Leningrad
for what was to
become a two year
struggle ending in the
death of more than
one million civilians
When the severe
Russian winter arrived
the Nazi offensive
broke down and the
German attack was
halted
The Tide Turns
• The Nazis needed
supplies and resources
to continue the war so
victory in the Soviet
Union was essential
• From Sept. 14th, 1942 –
Feb. 2nd, 1943 – the
Germans and Russians
fought for the strategic
city of Stalingrad on the
Volga River
• Hitler and the Nazis lost
the battle – 500 000
German and other
troops were killed or
taken prisoner
By the Autumn of
1943 the Germany
army of 2.5 million
soldiers faced an
army of 5.5 million
Soviet soldiers
Clips: Enemy at the Gates
• Chapter 1: watch first 20 minutes
What was the situation in
1944?
 The Russians have
defeated the
Germans and are
advancing in the
East
 The Allies are
victorious in Africa
and launch an
assault on
mainland Italy
through Sicily
Italian Campaign
 The Campaign of Italy was
designed to take the
pressure off their Russian
Allies and pull German
troops out of north-western
Europe readying the area for
Operation “Overlord”
 9th September, 1943 the
attack began on Italy
 The Canadians were forced
to fight for every metre of
the mountainous terrain as
the Germans refused to give
it up
Italy Surrenders
 On the 8th of September,
1943, the Italian Government
surrenders
 When Italy formally
surrendered on September
8th, the Italians separated
into two camps, pro-Allied
and pro-German factions.
 By September 26 the Allies
had built a force of 189,000
men and 30,000 vehicles.
 Following the Italian
surrender, the German Army
took control of the defence
of Germany
 Ortona is an ancient city that
consists of narrow streets and
connected houses
 Much of Ortona was reduced
to rubble, making it difficult
for the Canadians to use tanks
 The Germans barricaded
themselves in houses and
mined the streets
 The fighting was house-tohouse. The Canadians blasted
their way through walls to get
from building to building
called “mouseholing”
 The battle continued over
Christmas Day, 1943 but three
days later the Germans
withdrew.
Ortona
The Liberation of Rome
 It took four major
offensives between
January and May 1944
before the Allies
including British, US,
French, Polish, and
Canadian Corps broke
through
 Rome was declared an
open city by the
German army and the
Allies took possession
on June 4th.
 Having
the
Germans occupied
in Italy allowed the
allies to move
forward with their
plan to open up the
long awaited
western front in
Europe
 Winston
Churchill and
Franklin Roosevelt
agreed it was time to
open up a new front in
the West through the
beaches of France
 The
obvious choice for
a landing area was the
Pas de Calais so the
Allies decided to
attack in Normandy
instead but believed
they had to deceive
the Germans they
intended to attack
elsewhere


Normandy is a peninsula on the French Coast
It was chosen because the Germans expected the attack
to be on the Pas de Calais
1.
2.
3.
4.
The enemy must
remain ignorant of the
proposed landing site
The enemy must be
prevented from
bringing up
reinforcements quickly
once the allies landed
Complete Allied air
and naval superiority
in the English Channel
Local defences must
largely be destroyed
by air and sea
bombardment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=F1kO_Jmet2c

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
There would be
five sectors that
would be
attacked:
Utah – American
Omaha –
American
Gold – British
Juno – Canadian
Sword - British
 The
Atlantic Wall was
an extensive system
of coastal
fortifications built by
the Germans between
1942 and 1944
 Built along the
western coast of
Europe to defend
against an anticipated
Anglo-American led
Allied invasion of the
continent from Great
Britain.
•Minefields and antitank obstacles were planted on
the beaches and underwater obstacles and mines
were planted in the waters just off shore to destroy
incoming craft. By the time of the invasion, the
Germans had laid almost 6 million mines in France.
 On
the evening
of June 5th
paratroopers
dropped in to
secure bridges
for the allied
advance
 Heavy bombers
dropped their
payloads on
what was
supposed to be
the beach
defences
In the early morning the
largest armada of ships left
Britain for the French coast
 Of
the nearly 150,000 Allied
troops who landed or
parachuted into the invasion
area, 14,000 were Canadians
 The Royal Canadian Navy
contributed 110 ships and
10,000 sailors in support of
the landings while the
R.C.A.F. had helped prepare
the invasion by bombing
targets inland
 Canadians suffered 1074
casualties, including 359
killed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Element of surprise (date, location)
Attack at low tide / first light
Massive air and naval support
(paratroopers)
Dividing of beaches (different objectives
based on geography, location, German
defences)
Breaking of German defences with Allied
tanks (pincers) and troops encircling Nazis
 Saving
Private Ryan: Chapter 1 (first 30
minutes)
The Liberation of Northwest Europe
 September 1944 the British
captured the Belgian port of
Antwerp (docking port for
supplies)
 Canadians given the task of
securing the Scheldt Estuary
(70-kilometre long Scheldt
River estuary linking Antwerp
to the sea)
 After 5 weeks of difficult
fighting, the 1st Canadian
Army with support from other
countries secured the Schedlt
Estuary
 By Nov. 8, 1944- Allies had cleared
the ports but at a cost of 12 873
Allies casualties, half of them
missing
The Battle of the Bulge
 The Ardennes Offensive known to the general public
as the Battle of the Bulge, started on December 16,
1944
 Three powerful German armies plunged into the
semi-mountainous, heavily forested Ardennes region
of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg.
 Their goal was to reach the sea, trap four allied
armies, and impel a negotiated peace on the Western
front.
 Allied forces fought Germans
 German losses were critical- reserves gone, Luftwaffe
had been broken and German army pushed back on
two fronts (east and west) > Germany now retreating
The Final Days
 In April 1945, the battle is
coming to a close.
 On the 30th April, Hitler
commits suicide together
with his mistress Eva
Braun hours after they
were married.
 Hitler gave strict orders
for his body to be burned,
so that his enemies
wouldn't do what they
had done to Mussolini,
who was publicly
displayed hanging upside
down.
The Soviets Arrive – Berlin Falls
 By 2 May, the Reichstag, the
old German parliament falls
and Berlin surrenders to
Marshall Zukhov, who
receives the honour of being
the conqueror of Berlin.
 The battle for Berlin cost
the Soviets over 70,000
dead. Many of them died
because of the haste with
which the campaign was
conducted.
VE-Day
 The major Allied ground
offensive from the west
against German territory
began on 8 February 1945
 In April, Canadian
troops liberated most of
the Netherlands
 The Germans formally
surrendered on 8 May
1945, known as Victoryin-Europe, or ‘V-E’ Day
Why was the US Fighting Japan?
September 1940. The U.S. placed
an embargo on Japan by
prohibiting exports of steel, scrap
iron, and aviation fuel to Japan,
due to Japan's takeover of
northern French Indochina.
 June 1941 through the end of
July 1941. Japan occupied
southern Indochina. Two days
later, the U.S., Britain, and the
Netherlands froze Japanese
assets.
 The U.S. wanted to stop Japanese
expansion but the American
people were not willing to go to
war to stop it.

Pearl Harbor
Prior to December 1941, Japan
pursued two simultaneous
courses: try to get the oil
embargo lifted on terms that
would still let them take the
territory they wanted, and to
prepare for war.
 Their greatest concern was the
the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based in
Pearl Harbor so the Japanese
navy planned to cripple the
Pacific Fleet by a surprise attack.
 The U.S. had broken the
Japanese diplomatic code and
knew an attack was imminent. A
warning had been sent from
Washington, but it arrived too
late.

The Attack!
On December 7th 1941 the first
wave of Japanese airplanes left 6
aircraft carriers and struck Pearl
Harbor a few minutes before 8 AM
local time.
 Over the course of two hours, they
killed or wounded over 3,500
Americans and sank or badly
damaged 18 ships - including all 8
battleships of the Pacific Fleet
 At least 1,177 lives were lost when
the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona
exploded and subsequently sank.
 Both USA and Canada formally
declared war on Japan following
attack on Pearl Harbour

Movie Clips:

Pearl Harbor: Chapter 20
War in the Pacific
Now that Germany had unconditionally
surrendered (VE Day), the Allies could
now put all effort to fighting Japan in the
Pacific
 Memories of Pearl Harbour still resonated
with Americans who wanted revenge
 After Pearl Harbour, both USA and Canada
interned Japanese- Americans and
Japanese Canadians

Was the United States Justified
in Dropping the Atomic Bomb?

Following FDR’s death, Harry
Truman becomes President of
the United States

Truman decided to use the
bomb on Japan--- why?

What do you think?
Justified or Unjustified?
Pros and Cons to Dropping the Bomb
YES- JUSTIFIED
 Strategic and conventional
bombing part of WWII
 Japan refused to unconditionally
surrender to Allies
 The alternative to using the
atomic bomb (bombardments /
blockade) would have had
devastating effects on the
Japanese population and would
have prolonged the war and their
suffering (starvation).
 The Japanese military were
preparing a desperate defense of
their homeland that would
inevitably produce high casualties
on both sides (estimated 500 000
Allied soldiers)
NO- UNJUSTIFIED
 Unethical and immoral- new
weapon with harsh effects
(radiation poisoning). William D.
Leahy, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs
of Staff stated: “My own feeling is that
in being the first to use it, we had
adopted an ethical standard common
to barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was
not taught to make war in that
fashion, and wars cannot be won by
destroying women and children.”
High civilian death toll (150 000)
 By 1945, Japan was crippled as a
result of the Allied blockade and
bombings and neared collapse =
surrender was immiment
 Americans wanted to show USSR
they had atomic bombs =
ushered in the Cold War

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

United States decided to use
atomic bomb on Japan

Cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki chosen because of its
military and industrial
significance and concentrated
population (maximize the
damage)

These are the only attacks with
nuclear weapons in the history
of warfare
Fat Man and Little Boy





On August 6th, 1945 a lone B-29
Superfortress called the Enola Gay
by its crew took off and headed
for Hiroshima
At 8:15am the atomic bomb
nicknamed “Little Boy” was
dropped on Hiroshima
Within seconds two thirds of the
city was flattened and thousands
were dead
On August 11, a bomb called “Fat
Man” was dropped on Nagasaki at
11:02 am
At noon, August 15th, 1945 –
Emperor Hirohito spoke directly to
his people to tell them Japan had
surrendered
Atomic Bomb Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t19k
vUiHvAE
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=998t
SBoa3lo

Effects

The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people
in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the
end of 1945,with roughly half of those deaths
occurring on the days of the bombings.

Amongst these, 15–20% died from injuries or
the combined effects of flash burns, trauma,
and radiation burns, compounded by illness,
malnutrition and radiation sickness

Since then, more have died from leukemia or
cancer attributed to exposure to radiation
released by the bombs. In both cities, most of
the dead were civilians.
Why Did the Allies Win?






Complete material superiority – weapons
etc.
More soldiers
Better Strategy
Technology
Morale
Material and financial Wealth