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Canada Declares War
Canada entered the war one week after Britain did. The reason for Canada waiting a week was to show their independance from Britain. Many people did not think this was a very good idea due to the previous horrors of WWI. Canada and Britain were the first two countries to join the war on the allies side. Prime Minister King was against joining another war in Europe but he decided to anyways. -
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Canada in WWII
This is a Timline of Canada during the events of WWII. -
Dunkirk
26 May–4 June: Allied soldiers became trapped in dunkirk whe the Germans used a fighting teqnique called "blitzkrieg" which was an all out blitz on allied forces. These forces were trapped. The only way to evacuate these men was by boat. Dunkirk was miracle due to the complete luck of the english channels fog. This fog made it so Dunkirk couldnt be bombed by by the axis. The fog gave the allies time to evacuate over 300,000 soldiers by boat across the English Channel. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was one of the longest battles in WW2. This battle was fought in the sea when German U-boats continued to sink cargo ships destined for Britain. These U-boats hunted in "wolfpacks". These packs fired at any allied ships in the water even passenger ships. Early in the war these U-boats were deadly beacuse radar wasnt invented. Canada build fast but not very sea worthy boats to escort cargo ships. These boats were called corvettes. -
Battle of Britain
This was when Germany decided to try and invade Britain mainly by air. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) bombed British cities destroying many important buildings and killing a lot of people. The Battle of Britain was fought mainly in the air. Hitlers plan was to run Britain down with air attacks then invade them. This attempt failed. This battle lasted for about 6 months. -
Operation Barbarossa
22 June 1941 – 5 December 1941: Operation Barbossa was the invasion of the USSR by Germany. This was a mistake on Hitlers part because he created a two front war which is nearly impossible to win. This also broke the allied agreement between the USSR and Germany. Operation Barbossa was a complete failure. The German troops were driven out by the cold Soviet winter. After Hitlers troops pulled out the Soviets fought back against Germany. -
Pearl Harbour
Pearl harbour was a devestating attck on the USA. It destroyed most of their pacific fleet. It also brought the USA into the war. The Japanese used an aircraft carrier to get the planes to position. The Japanese took off and unexpectdly bombed pearl harbour in a surprise attack. The bombing lasted for about two hours. The Americans barely managed to fight back against the Japanese. The reason this attack was done is so the Americans coulnt respond to Japan taking over China. -
Hong Kong
8–25 December 1941 The Japanese managed to take over Hong Kong without much resistance, so the allies sent troops to help. Japanese troops never surrendered due to their culture. This made it more difficult for victory. In the end the Japanese won this battle. Over 550 Canadians were killed or taken prisoner. Being taken prisoner by Japan was horribble. Many many drooped dead of starvation or exhaustion. -
Battle of Dieppe
This was an attack on the German occupied port of Dieppe. The Canadians were given this assigment so they could get some battle time and experience war first hand. This battle was a complete failure. The troops were delayed so they could not invade during the night.This made all troops sitting ducks for machine guns. Any vehicles sent up the beach got stuck in the loose gravel becomeing imobile. There was a lack of communications so reinforcements kept getting sent.This fail helped plan D-day. -
RCAF: Night Bombings on Germany
The Royal Canadian Air Force participated in some of the most contrivercial missions in the war. The RCAF was involved in nightly bombing runs over Germany. These bombings killed many civillians and set fire to a lot of buildings. The bombings were speciffically targeted at military bases, major cities, and other places of interest. -
Invasion of Italy
3 – 16 September 1943 The Italian invasion was a hard fought battle. It remined Canadains of the hardships during WW1. Their was no tank support beacause of the narrow streets. Troops had to go house to house. This is how most of the battle was fought. Germans pretended to surrender then would wait for the troop to get closer, then mow them down with machine gun fire. This was one of the harder battles for Canadians especially because ethey were pulled out before they reached the capital. -
D-Day
D-day was the largest assult on German lines. The allies practiced relentlessly and went over every aspect of the beaches. This made the operation go a little smoother than Dieppe. Canada also learned from their mistakes at Dieppe. Thsi attack was kept a secret up until the day of attack. This time air support helped out. The beach Canada was designated to take was Juno.The German defences were not prepared for this attack becasue meterologists said the weather was not good enough for an attack -
Liberation of the Netherlands
Instead of Canadians being assigned to take Germany they were assigned to liberate the Netherlands. The Canadian troops pushed German forces and soon had them surrounded. Canadians also sent food drops to the dutch becasue the Nazis were starving people in retaliation the the Canadians. Beacsue of the efforts of brave Canadian troops the Dutch see us as heros. The Canadians are now sent tulips by the Netherlands thanking us for what we did.
