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World
War II
Battles
Summary of WWII Lead-Up
The event which really kick starts the war is
the invasion of Poland in 1939.
 Britain and the rest of the world had been
working on a policy of appeasement towards
Germany and its allies.
 Canada had been an isolationist country.
 Hitler had complete control of Germany
since 1933.
 Hitler blamed German failure in WWI on the
Jews (‘The Big Lie’) and his country’s
depression on the Treaty of Versailles.

Important Political Leaders
Canada: Alexander Mackenzie-King
Germany: Adolf Hitler
Britain: Winston Churchill
Italy: Benito Mussolini
USSR: Joseph Stalin
America: Franklin Roosevelt
The Phony War
► After
German armies invade Poland, England and
France declare war on Germany.
► The Nazi armies crushed Poland in less than a
month by using dive bombers and tanks in a
Blitzkrieg (lightning war).
► Although England and France declared war on
Germany neither country immediately went to the
aid of Poland. This period of the war became
known as the “Phony War.”
German Blitzkrieg
► After
Poland and the Phony War
Blitzkrieg turned into high gear.
► The Germans captured Denmark and
Norway (April 1940), Belgium and the
Netherlands (May) and France (June).
Map of Blitzkrieg
Axis & Allies
► The
Axis powers:
► Germany
► Italy
► Japan
► The
Ally powers:
► Britain
► France
► Canada
► USSR
► America
► Other Commonwealth
Countries
Battle of Dunkirk
France, May 25-31, 1940.
► Germans pushed Allied troops back towards the
English channel making room to take the centre
(Paris)
► The Germans had excellent positioning and control
of the situation
► The Germans had pinned the Ally (largely British)
troops down against the northern border. Britain
was in danger of having to surrender hundreds of
thousands of troops
► Miraculously the British government was able to
evacuate over 300,000 people to Britain in only a
week
► Unfortunately for the Allies, France was easily
taken as a result of the pull out
►
A War of the World
► When
France fell to the Nazi’s in 1940
Britain stood alone against Germany and
was in serious danger of defeat.
► Canada’s role would have to be increased if
Britain was going to hold off the Nazi’s
from complete European control. Canada
became Britain's most powerful ally until
1941
► In 1941 Japan declared war on the USA by
attacking Pearl Harbour bringing the US
into the war against the Axis powers
► Japan also attacked Canadian forces in
Hong Kong in 1941 and took the surviving
soldiers as prisoners of war
1940 – 1941:
“The Battle of Britain”
By 1940 almost all of Europe was in the hands of Germany
and Italy
► In an attempt to force the British to surrender, Hitler
begins the “Battle of Britain.” Hitler’s air force attacks the
island of England, bombing both civilian and military
targets
► The Royal Air Force, along with many Canadian pilots,
fought back until the German air raids ceased
► The “Battle of Britain” lasted 8 months and cost the lives of
40 553 men, women and children
► It failed in its purpose to demoralize the British people and
had the opposite effect instead the allies became even
more devoted to the concept of “Total War”
►
Battle of Britain Continued
► The
Germans had seen the Hurricane, the RAF’s
most well used plane, but they were not prepared
to deal with the nimble Spitfire.
► One of the reasons the RAF was able to overcome
the German Luftwaffe was because they got rid of
their out of date strategies.
► The failure of Germany to dominate this battle is
known as one of the biggest mistakes in the war
which enabled support to arrive and the British to
gain morale.
Canadian RCAF Pilots
►
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Canadian fighter pilots continued their record of some of
the finest captains in the sky
We had 4 Ace’s (20 kills or more) during the second World
War
Canada’s largest Bomber group (No.6), which operated out
of southern Britain, won 8,000 medals for bravery
During the Battle of Britain our pilots often were
outnumbered 4 and 5 to 1 but often still had a kill ratio of
3 to 1 in favour.
Canada’s greatest pilot was George "Buzz" Beurling who
had 32 enemy kills.
The Hurricane Fighter Plane
Japan Takes Hong Kong
► December
1941, 2000 Canadian Soldiers
are sent to hold Hong Kong against a force
of 20,000 Japanese soldiers
► The Canadians put forth a valiant effort,
however they were unable to hold Hong
Kong in the face of overwhelming odds
► The Japanese forces committed many
atrocities against the Canadian soldiers
that were captured as well as those
soldiers and civilians taken as prisoners of
War
► Hong Kong is taken within the month on
Christmas Day
The Rape of Nanking
► The
Japanese army was known for its ruthless
tactics. In an event prior to the break out of
WWII, the Japanese had gone into Nanjing China
and plundered the city.
► For six weeks the men and children were beaten
and killed while the women were raped and then
often executed.
► It is said the screams could be heard for miles.
The whole city was eventually torched to the
ground.
► Japanese military leaders have refused to admit
the atrocity despite being well documented.
A Canadian Soldier Being Executed
Battle of the Atlantic
►
►
►
During WWII, supplies for England and the Allied forces in
Europe were carried by ship across the North Atlantic
Ocean
Thousands of Canadian merchant sailors served on ships
carrying food, fuel, weapons, ammunition, and other
supplies to English ports.
From 1940 on these sailors faced the constant threat of
attack from German submarines (known as U-Boats) that
traveled in groups (known as wolf-packs) through out the
North Atlantic Ocean (particularly that area that air-planes
could not defend (Known as the Black Pit.)
Merchant Sailors
► After
the war Canadian merchant sailors were
treated as civilian participants and were not given
the same benefits as veterans of the army, navy
or air force.
► Examples, they were not eligible for:
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Pension able benefits
Free university education
Housing or land-grant benefits
No small business financial aid
Veteran’s health care benefits
Lend-Lease Act
► The
USA passed the Lend-Lease Act,
allowing President Roosevelt the power to
spend $7 billion to lend or lease military aid
to Britain and its allies
► By 1942 Canadian and American shipyards
were able to build merchant ships at faster
rate that U-boats were sinking Allied
Vessels.
Dieppe: The Plan
► By
1942, the Allies were making plans to
retake Europe
► To accomplish this, the Allies launched a
series of raids across the English Channel
► One of these raids was against the French
town of Dieppe which was in enemy hands
► Canadian troops were given the job of
capturing the town at night under the
cover of Air bombings and tank landings.
Dieppe: The Problems
Delays caused the ships to land on the beach during
daylight
► Delays caused the Bombers to be late attacking
► Soldiers were picked off as they went for cover
► Commanders in the boats could not see what was
happening and continued to send reinforcements onto the
beach
► Of 4,963 Canadians who landed, 2, 853 were killed or
captured
► More Canadian soldiers died in those few hours at Dieppe
than in any other day of the war
►
Stalingrad & The Eastern Front
►
►
Operation Barbarossa - blitzkrieg on Russia.
Three pronged attack on Soviet Union:
 Leningrad (under siege for two years)
 Moscow
 Stalingrad (August, 1942 - February, 1943)
►
►
►
The winter of 1941-42 was so severe that German soldiers
literally froze.
Stalingrad was the turning point of the war in east.
Russians defeated Germans, capturing 300,000 POWs.
The total cost (in soldiers) during the key battles of the
Eastern Front often approached a million on each side.
The Italian Campaign
Churchill believed that recapturing
Europe would be easiest through the
“soft underbelly” (Italy).
 Canadian troops were crucial to the
success of this campaign.
 Fighting was often House to House
and it could take weeks to take a city.
 Perhaps the most important
Canadian-Axis conflict was Ortona
where Canadians lost 1372 soldiers.

A Canadian tank commander
surveys the terrain below him.
The Italian Campaign:
Highlights
► The
Italian Campaign was largely fought
between Germany and the allies.
 Italy surrendered on Sept 3 1943
► Key
events were Sicily, Ortona, Liri Valley &
The Hitler Line
► Over 75,000 Canadians were active in Italy
during the campaign.
D-Day
► On
June 6 1944 D-Day began.
► D-Day was the long awaited Allied invasion
on Europe across the English Channel
► It was code named Operation Overlord,
and involved almost one million soldiers.
► British, American, and Canadian troops
stormed ashore along the entire coast of
the French province of Normandy.
► Juno Beach was the Canadian Objective
Juno Beach & Beyond
Canadian troops struck at first light, pouring out of
their landing craft and advancing across the sand
up into the town of Caen
► The Allies had taken back part of the French soil
► D-day marked the beginning of the end for
Germany
► Canadians continued to fight for months in order
to also take back all the French ports along the
English Channel
► The Battle of the Sheldt was a key event in this
period.
► Allied soldiers fought right into Germany through
the Rhineland
►
Liberating the Netherlands
One of the most important moments in the history
of World War II for Canadian Soldiers.
► Canadian troops had been fighting in France, Italy,
Belgium, and in Germany since the D-Day landing.
► These troops were moved to the Netherlands to
push the German troops occupying the northeast
back to the sea and to drive German troops in the
west back into Germany.
► As a result of their efforts, the German invasion of
the Netherlands was reversed and the Dutch
people were freed.
► Canadian troops and pilots gave food to the
people of Holland.
► The people of Holland send thanks to this day for
the help they received in World War II
►
US At War
►
►
►
Japanese attacked naval
base at Pearl Harbor,
HI, Dec. 7, 1941.
U.S. declares war on
Japan, Germany & Italy
declare war on U.S.
U.S. and other allies
decided to defeat
Germany first, then
defeat Japan
The War With Japan
►
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Largely fought between the US and Japan
The key tactic for the Americans was to “Island
hop” between South East Asian countries
They also fortified around larger Japanese held
territory
In June 1942 the Japanese tried to take Midway
Island and failed. The casualties were significant.
This would be a key turning point with the
Japanese as the US now had more naval vessels
The Americans also cracked the Japanese code
allowing them to know Japanese naval positioning
and predict attacks
Dropping The Atomic Bomb
► The
atomic effort, codenamed “The Manhattan
Project,” was done jointly by Americans, Brits,
Canadians and ironically, a German.
► US Air force dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima
August 6th 1945. Three days later they dropped
Fat Man on Nagasaki.
► 140,000 and 70,000 people died respectively.
► Japan surrendered 6 days after the second bomb
was dropped ending the war.
► Germany
surrendered May 7th 1945
(3 months earlier)