canada fights! canadian battles of wwii. evacuation of dunkirk (1940) germans take belgium and push...
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Canada Fights!Canadian Battles of WWII
Evacuation of Dunkirk (1940) Germans take Belgium and push Allies to
the French Beach of Dunkirk 340,000 soldiers are rescued by the British Represents a moral victory for the Allies as
they live to fight another day!
Battle of Britain (1940) - summer Where? London and surrounding
countryside Hitler used air attacks on Britain to prepare
for an amphibious invasion. He wanted to destroy the RAF (Royal Air
Force) Many Canadians were serving in the RAF
RAF and Luftwaffe fight in airspace over Britain
Even though Britain was outnumbered 3:1, they had superior planes (and radar)
In August 1940, a German bomber squadron accidentally bombs civilians in London
In retaliation, Winston Churchill orders the bombing of Berlin
In response, Hitler orders daylight bombing raids on London (called ‘The Blitz’)
Outcome? Hitler abandoning RAF targets for civilians hurt him in the long run. It gave the RAF time to train new pilots (more Canadians) and rebuild its strength
Invasion of the Soviet Union After Germany is defeated in the Battle of
Britain – Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa (“red beard”) on June 22, 1941
Mission = to conquer the Soviet Union in order to use their raw materials, land and labour for Germany
Broke the non-aggression pact with the Soviets
Soviets were unprepared By autumn – the Germans had reached the
capital of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) But not prepared for the long winter and
lost their advantage and had to retreat.
Dieppe 1942 = Allies are losing the war Soviets are being hit hard on the
Eastern Front and Stalin wants the Allies to ‘open up’ a Western Front
Allies didn’t have the manpower to open up the whole Western Front
Decided to have a ‘rehearsal’ invasion August 1942 = 5,000 Canadian soldiers
land at Dieppe (coast of France) OBJECTIVE: take the beach and the town
back from the Germans
Canadians are completely mowed down by German fire, machine guns and panzers.•900 soldiers are
dead at morning
•1900 taken prisoner
•More troops die in the first few hours than any other day in WWII
•Taught the Allies that heavy air and sea support were needed for a successful attack.
Battle of the Atlantic Fought to control the shipping lanes
between North American and Britain Germany wanted to ‘cut off’ these
lanes and ‘starve’ Britain into surrender
British, Canadian (& later American) became dedicated to putting an end to the German submarine threat
German subs = U-BOATS Lots of German U-Boats = A
Wolfpack By 1941, the Wolfpacks were sinking
Allied ships very quickly Allied supply ships began sailing in
convoys, the Royal Canadian Navy provided protection with small warships called corvettes
Convoy system began to be successful Development of sonar
Canadian Air Force provided long-range bombers
Development of sonar 1943:depth charges 13 to 370 ships Merchant sailors Can.crucial to victory
The Battle of Stalingrad July 1942 – Hitler wants Russia’s oil rich
fields in the south Hitler gets all the way to Stalingrad but is
stopped by the winter They cannot turn back this time and could
not hope for reinforcements – Germans were fighting too many fronts
After suffering 300 000 casualties – the German army surrenders to the Soviets in Feb 1943
Hitler’s aggression caused the Soviets to join the Allies
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad/videos
Italian Campaign Fighting in North Africa = Germans
are defeated Allies plan to invade the island of
Sicily in preparation for an invasion of Italy
Allies capture Sicily in one month despite efforts of Germans to hold it
Allied troops take the ‘boot’ of Italy Canadian forces push through until
German Army stops them at Ortona Germans are finally driven back by a
French-Canadian unit (the Vandoos) Canada breaks the last line of German
defences before Rome BIG STEP in the war…the amount of
troops required in Italy by Germany makes them unavailable to defend France.
Pearl Harbour Japan joins Germany and Italy as an Axis
power In 1941, Japan prepares to invade the USA
and European colonies in SE Asia because they were rich in oil, rubber and tin
December 7th, 1941: Japanese bomb US naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii
Japan then bombs the Phillipines Dec 8th = USA declares war on Japan Dec 9th = Germany & Italy declare war on
the USA USA then declares war on Germany & Italy USA had previously adopted a policy of
isolationism in the war, leaving the Allies to fight the war alone
Hong Kong After Pearl Harbour, Japan invades British
colony of Hong Kong By Christmas, Hong Kong belongs to the
Japanese Canadian troops were stationed at the time
in Hong Kong
Of the 1975 troops in Hong Kong, all were killed or taken prisoner
555 die in horrible conditions as prisoners in camps for 3 ½ years
Canadians at home are horrified and angry
They begin to turn against Japanese-Canadian, blaming them for the war
Internment Camps 22 000 are sent to
internment camps (14 000 of which have been born in Canada).
Custodian of Aliens Act: Canadian government can sell possessions of Japanese Canadians without their permission.
Normandy Landing Allies plan to use naval and aerial
bombardment to take back France and open up at second front
Largest Canadian military operation of WWII = 14 000 soldiers, 100 ships and 36 bomber squadrons
Canadians were assigned the beachfront code-named Juno
Bloody, bloody, bloody = 5 000 Canadians killed -- & more than 200 000 Allies in total
Germans are VERY hard hit – 200 000 – similar numbers but worse for the Germans as they had a limited # of forces to call on
D-Day gave the Allied forces a foothold in Europe and they began to push back the German forces towards Berlin.
Liberation of Holland Canada fights alongside the Allies (UK and
USA) for a year of hard fighting Canadians drive the Nazis from Holland on
May 5th, 1945 This allows the Allies to continue on
towards Germany
The Final Stages of War in the Pacific Manhattan Project = very secret and $ project
to create the world’s first atomic bomb In 1945, President Truman decided that bombs
should be dropped without warning on Japan military targets in a city to end the war
Scientists disagreed – thought the bomb should be dropped somewhere isolated
Hiroshima, August 6th 1945
Truman decides to drop the bomb “Little Boy” on the industrial city of Hiroshima
The explosion at Ground Zero creates a temperature of 540,000 degrees F.
Firestorms destroy over 60 000 buildings Official death count = 78 000 Later, over 60 000 die of bomb related
injuries/diseases
Nagasaki, August 9th, 1945 Japan did not surrender immediately, so
Truman ordered the next atomic bomb to be dropped on Japanese city of Nagasaki
“Fat Man” was dropped and 35 000 died
Peace, August 14th 1945 – VJ Day (Victory in Japan) This day marked the Japanese
government’s surrender and WWII in the Pacific was over