Download Canada and World War Two

 The Canadian Parliament
declared war on Sept. 10, 1939,
one week after Britain, and by
the end of the first month
70 000 Cdns. had signed up.
(One million would serve by
the end of the war)
 Relations btwn Japan and
the Western nations had
reached a breaking point.
 Japan was hard hit by US
tariffs and had begun to
build its empire in the
Pacific (the Greater East
Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere),
having invaded Korea and
China
 The U.S. had stationed a
naval fleet in Hawaii in case
of war in the Pacific
 Britain wanted to help, but
could not spare the troops.
Canada helped by sending
soldiers to Hong Kong.
 U.S. and Japan were trying to
sign a peace treaty. Secretly,
Japan was planning an attack
because they wanted the West's
colonies
 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
planned a surprise attack using
fighter planes launched from
Japanese aircraft carriers.
 Dec. 7, 1941 – the attack began…
Japan had not declared war
and the U.S. was caught off
guard.
 After 2 hrs. the U.S. fleet was
destroyed and 1000s were
killed…
 The U.S. immediately
declared war. (Dec. 8, 1941- "A
day that will live in infamy")
 The US was the richest nation
in the world and could invest
enormous amounts of $ and
pop. to the war effort. (The US
became the "Arsenal of
Democracy") – Japan had
awoken the “sleeping giant”
 A few hrs. after Pearl Harbor,
Japan invaded Hong Kong
 Every Canadian soldier there
was killed or taken prisoner.
The battle was considered a
"death trap”:
 1. More than 50 000 Japanese soldiers
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were stationed 50 km from Hong Kong
2. The Japanese were well-equipped
and experienced
3. Plans for the Japanese attack had
been drafted 1 yr. earlier-code name
was Hana-Saku —"flowers in bloom”
4. Canadian troops were insufficiently
trained - 30% of them had not even
fired a gun
5. Can & Br. troops did not total more
than 14 000, including nurses and
civilian volunteers.
 On Dec. 8, 1941, Japan
launched its attack on Hong
Kong. Their air force
destroyed docks, military
barracks, airplanes etc.
 Dec. 19, 1941- Japanese
soldiers attacked.
Canadians were
outnumbered 10 to 1.
 By Christmas 1941, Hong
Kong surrendered after only
17 days. 286
Canadians died and another
266 would die in Prisoner of
War (P.O.W.) camps.
 Canadian prisoners were
brutalized and starved.
They stayed in crowded
barracks and were used as
slave labour, building
landing strips and
shipyards, etc.
 Served a single portion of
plain rice 3 times a day,
many fell ill from
exhaustion, malnutrition,
pneumonia, or cholera.
 Red Cross medicine was
sent to the camps but was
stolen and sold on the black
market.
 Death rates in Japanese
P.O.W. camps were 6 times
higher than in German
camps.
 Aug. 1942, 5000
Canadian soldiers were
picked up from England
for a raid on the French
port of Dieppe. They
had trained for 3 years.
 The Canadians, with
1000 Br. and some
Americans, were to
attack Dieppe.
 The raid was intended
to pull German forces
away from the Russian
front and to test
German defences.
 German forces were
entrenched in
pillboxes(fortified
bunkers) on the cliffs
above the Dieppe
beaches; they started
shooting as the
Canadians charged down
the landing ramps.
 The few who made it to
the beach were killed
there; only a few made it
to the town.
 Out of 5000, almost 1000
died, more than 500
were wounded, 2000
were captured and
became POWs
 American armies were
successful against the Axis
powers in North Africa, where
Italy and Germany had invaded
Egypt.
 The Soviets were holding off
the Germans - after 6 months
at Stalingrad, the Soviets were
able to encircle German forces
and cut off their supply lines,
reducing them to starvation.
 In North Africa the British were
winning battles. The Allies
landed in Algeria
and
Morocco and began moving
east across North Africa.
 In the summer of 1943, after 3 yrs. of
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training, Canadians were sent to
Sicily
They were to join Br. troops under
General Montgomery. The plan was
to trap the Italian and Ger. soldiers
before they could escape to the
mainland. The next step would be
to attack Italy, the weakest of the
Axis powers.
The Canadians (along with Br. and
U.S. forces) landed on the Italian
mainland in late 1943.
Italy surrendered by the end of
September 1943 (Mussolini was
deposed), but the Germans had
taken over the country.
The Allies moved towards Rome, but
it would be a difficult campaign
 The route to Rome was
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blocked by the Germans at
Ortona and Cdn forces were
ordered to capture the town.
The Germans had blown up
all the bridges in the area and
the steep countryside gave
them an advantage.
On Dec. 27th the Canadians
captured Ortona
Can. casualties were high –
many had to be evacuated
because of sickness and
battle fatigue.
By June 1944. the Allies
captured Rome.
Canadians continued fighting
until 1945 in Italy, and then
were re-united in
northwestern Europe as the
1st Canadian army.
The “lessons of Dieppe” (?) were
taken into account in 1944 - better
planning & communications and a
unified command were in place
The invasion was preceded by:
effective training
 attention to detail
Meteorology/Geology
Espionage/Disinformation (La
Resistance)
Massive naval/aerial preliminary
bombardment
Tech. improvements
 all were taken into acc't in this
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ambitious plan that sought to
open a 2nd front against Ger. in
W. Europe and therefore bring
WW II to an end.
The plan was to invade
Normandy w/ an invasion force
of 150 000 men, including
30 000 Cdns.
The Americans attacked on the
w. (Utah and Omaha beaches),
w/ the Br. and Cdns. taking the
e. (Gold, Sword, and Juno
beaches.
7000 ships played a role here
too, and all the allied air forces
participated in this largest
invasion in world history.
 After all the planning,
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the invasion (Op.
Overlord) - surprise
intact - took place on
June 6, 1944.
There were still sig.
probs. - American forces
at Omaha beach were
hard hit, and Cdn. forces
were delayed b/c of high
seas and reefs.
But beach heads were
established that first
week
by August, Paris would be
liberated.
Ger. was on the run on 3
fronts now - in France,
Italy, and E. Europe...
 At this point, the Allies
began to plan for the end
of the war, scheduling the
Yalta Conference for Feb.
1945
 FDR, Churchill, and Stalin
planned for
postwar
Europe, deciding that Ger.
would be demilitarized
and de-nazified,
as well as divided
into 4 occupation
zones.
 The groundwork
for the United
Nations was
also set out here.
The final events of the war:
 Winter 1944-1945 - The Battle of the
Bulge – it was Hitler's last
counteroffensive, intended to stop the
W. Allies from crossing the Rhine
River into Ger.
 it delayed them until March, but the
result was inevitable by this time...
 Soviet forces were in Berlin by April,
and on April 30, Hitler committed
suicide in his bunker.
 Command of the 3rd Reich passed to
Adm. Doenitz, who surrendered on
May 8,1945
(V-E Day)
 Cdn. troops during this period were
charged w/ the job of liberating the
Netherlands, under the command of
Gen. Harry Crerar. (Battle of the
Scheldt, Antwerp)
 kamikaze
 Manhattan Project
 August 6,1945
 Enola Gay
 "Little Boy”
 VJ Day
 in May 1939 King George and
Queen Elizabeth landed at
Quebec for a tour of Canada
and to gain support for the
war effort.
 about 1/2 of Cdns. were of Br.
ancestry, so support for the
war was nearly unanimous
 but opposition did exist:
Quebec,
pacifists/conscientious
objectors (Mennonites,
Hutterites, Doukhobors),
while many other Cdns.
wanted "friendly neutrality"
 King hoped that Canada's major
contribution to the war would be
the British Commonwealth Air
Training Plan (BCATP)
 Air crews were brought over to
Canada from all over the
Commonwealth for training as
pilots, navigators, air gunners,
bombardiers, wireless operators.
 Canada provided air fields, air
craft, basic services and Britain
provided the instructors. 130
000 graduates: 50 000 were
pilots, & 73 000 grads were
Canadian.
 Became the center became a
port for ships escaping war
from Europe-refugees,
evacuated British children.
 for Canadian naval operations.
Convoys of ships formed in
Halifax harbour loaded with
troops, guns, tanks, shells,
foodstuffs and headed across
the Atlantic.
 Convoys: Groups of merchant
ships that are protected from
enemy attack by naval escort
ships or air force planes.
 Germans did everything to stop
supply lines. Convoy ships were
mined or torpedoed within
hearing distance of Halifax
 Submarine teams of U-
boats called "wolf packs"
attacked merchant ships
broke through convoys and
attacked merchant ships.
 By the end of the war- 175
allied ships, 500 merchant
ships, and
50 000 men had gone to the
bottom of the Atlantic.
 new tech. was developed:
corvettes, depth charges,
sonar
 In Halifax, "Plotters"
tracked ship movements
and U-boats. Many of them
were the women
of the Women's Royal
Canadian Naval Service
(WRCNS)
 U-boats began attacking
ships in the St. Lawrence
river. On Aug. 27, 1942 the
American ship Chatham
was sunk
 Oct. 13,1942 the passenger
ferry, the SS Caribou going
from Nfld. to Nova Scotia
was sunk by a single
torpedo =173 dead civilians
 From the summer to the fall
of 1942, German U-boats
sank 21 ships in the St.
Lawrence.
 Was still independent in 1939
 Cooperation was needed between Nfld and
Canada
 Did not have the $ or the people to keep the
Germans out
 Canadian troops were stationed there and the
RCAF flew out of Gander and Labrador
 Nfld troops joined Canadian forces
 People here began to believe that joining Canada
would be good-they were bankrupt and needed
financial aid.
 Total War: a war fought w/ no limits put on the
resources used to achieve victory
 With the attacks on the East Coast, and once
Germany had occupied most of Europe and the
Japanese were taking over the Far East; "total war"
was decided upon in Canada.
 By 1941 industries were working overtime to
produce war materials; unemployment vanished.
 The Government created the National Selective
Service (NSS) to place workers in industries where
they were needed. If workers took jobs without
NSS approval they could be fined $ 500 and jailed
for a year.
 Bumper crops were experienced in
the Prairies. Britain needed food
desperately, so Canada started to
produce new products - pork, beef,
dairy products, oil seeds, lumber
from B.C., mineral ores from mines
in the Canadian Shield, fish from
the Maritimes…all shipped
overseas
 Manufacturing changed as well Toronto had munitions plants and
ship building; Montreal had
aircraft factories.
 Canadians started to produce diesel
engines, synthetic rubber, roller
bearings, electronic equipment,
high octane gasoline.
 By the end of the war, Canada had
given Britain $ 3.5 billion in aid.
 Canada's gov't adopted a more active role in the economy
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and day-to-day functioning of society. The changes in the
role of gov't became a permanent feature of post-war society.
A real worry with all the prosperity was rising inflation,
similar to that during WWI
Consumer goods were scarce (due to rationing) and prices
would go up.
King wanted to avoid this. He placed James llsley in charge
of Canada's financial affairs.
James llsley used 3 methods to keep prices down:
 1. tax increases-people had less $ to spend
 2. sale of Victory Bonds—took money out of the economy
 3. forced savings-increased savings interest rates to lure people to
save rather than spend.
 Canada in 1938
collected $42 million
in taxes, by 1945 they
took in
$ 815 million
 Propaganda was
intensified.
 Posters were made
up with celebrities
(like the Dionne
Quintuplets)
 Despite llsley's
programs, prices
continued to rise
 Nov. 1941: the Wartime
Prices and Trade Board
(WPTB) froze all prices
and wages to prevent
inflation. People had to
get permission from the
WPTB to buy electric
stoves, typewriters, or
rubber tires
 food rationing was
introduced in 1942
 Mackenzie King put together a group of cabinet
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ministers in charge of the wartime economy.
C.D. Howe (minister of munitions and supplies) was
in charge of the war production effort.
He turned to business people to help him and asked
them to take a "holiday" from work to become civil
servants. They became known as "dollar-a-year men"
for their token salary.
C.D. Howe and the Department of Munitions and
Supplies had been given powers over private
enterprise. They could tell companies what to
produce, where to sell products, and when to deliver
them.
If companies did not agree, the dept. could take over
the plant.
 New crown corporations were created by Howe
when existing companies could not supply a
particular demand.
 These measures limited the scandal and
profiteering experienced during WW1
 Canada had to earn American dollars in order
to keep helping Britain in the war effort.
 The U.S. agreed to purchase Canadian goods
under the Hyde-Park Declaration-$ 1billion
worth was sold to the U.S.