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Canada Declares War *CANADA
Canada Declares War.
After Germany invaded Poland, Canada Joins the war on Sept 10th, 1939. This time however, when Britain declared war on Germany, Canada was not obligated to join. -
Mobilizing Canada's Resources *CANADA
Canada's increasing resources in the war.
After Canada's participated in war, it grew further in numbers. People volunteered and many others felt ties to Britain and wanted to support the war. -
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan *CANADA
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Mackenzie King had hoped that Canada's contribution to the war would be mostly supplies and training rather than troops, so he agreed to host the BCATP where personnel were trained by British instructors. -
Evacuation at Dunkirk
Evacuation of Dunkirk.
After German had invaded, Britain knew it had to escape. Surrending would mean they lost the war. Hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure crafts, and ferries joined navy and mechant ships as they sailed across the English Channel carrying the British navy. -
Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain against Germany.
German started a massive bombing campaign aiming to destroy their harbours and shipping facilities. They called this "the blitz" that was meant to overwhelm Britain. However the Britain was reinforced by the allies and Hitler eventually gave up on invading. -
Battle of the Atlantic *CANADA
Canada's assistance in the battle of the Atlantic.
Canada had 400 vessels and more than 100,000 sailors in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Canada also helped turn the tide in the allies favour. -
Canada's War at Sea *CANADA
Canada's contribution to the war at sea.
Created Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRENS) were shore-based operations such as wireless operators or coders. Canada also had corvettes, small warships, to escort convoys. -
Operation Barbarossa
German's plan called Operation Barbarossa.
After Germany's defeat in the Battle of Britain, Hitler launched "Operation Barbarossa" on the Soviet Union. This broke the non-agression pact that Hitler and Stalin signed in 1939. Hitler saw the Soviet as a source for raw materials. However, Germany could not survive the cold winter and were forced to surrender, then the Soviet Union went on the offensive. -
Canada's War in the Air *CANADA
Canada participated highly in the war in air.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) grew quickly once the war began. Canadian aircrew participated in bombing raids on Italy, Japanese and Northwest Europe. -
Attack On Pearl Harbour
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
Japanese wanted and needed resources to expand it's territory so it set its sights on U.S. for oil. Attack the two bombings on Pearl Harbour and the Philippines, the U.S. declared war on Japan and would join the allies. -
Battle of Hong Kong
Battle for Hong Kong of the allies vs Japan. After the bombing on Pearl Harbour, Japan invaded Hong Kong. Despite the support from Canadian soldiers, Hong Kong still fell to Japan on December 25th, 1941, also known as Black Christmas. -
The Dieppe Raid
Soviet Union now became a part of the allied powers.
Stalin demanded that the Allies invade Europe to weaken German troops. On August 19th, 1942, one of the ships carrying canadian soldiers met a small German convoy. This battle alerted Germany and soldiers on shore were quickly gunned down by German machine guns. -
Canada Assists in the Manhattan Project *CANADA
Canada was asked to contribute in the atomic bomb.
Canada was notified of the Manhattan Project and was asked to contribute uranium, and the Canadian government agreed. They secretly bought the eldorado mine at Great Bear Lake to produce Uranium. -
The Italian Campaign
After the failure of the Dieppe Raid, the allies decided to recapture Europe.
They felt the best way to recapture Europe was to aim for the "underbelly" Sicily and Italy. The invasion ended up lasting for 2 years, which was not proven to be soft. -
Canada's Bomber Group *CANADA
Canada participated in the bombing on Germany.
On Britain's bomber command, Canada's bomber group pounded German's cities such as Dresden and Cologne, night after night. -
Battle of Sicily
Allied forces invaded Sicily.
They fought Italian and German troops and recaptured the island after 38 days. This also led to Mussolini's downfall. He was overthrown and the government surrended. The Germans however continued to defend their Italian territory. -
Battle of Ortona
The allies followed as Germany retreated to Italy.
Canadians were given the task of recapturing Ortona. Canadians were able to capture the town on December 28th, 1943 after the Germans retreated. -
Juno Beach *CANADA
Canada's attack on Juno Beach.
The first wave of attacks had 14000 Canadian soldiers. They made their way past the German defenses. Despite the high casualities, they were still successful and able to take the beach. -
D-Day: The Normandy Invasion
D-Day was the biggest allied invasion.
The allies launched a full-scale invasion on Europe and rehearsed it to avoid the Dieppe disaster. The allies were able to invade with air and sea support and by cutting off communication lines before attacking. The allies were successful in this invasion. -
Battle of Scheldt
An 11-month campaign that was exhausting for the allies.
Canadians were given the task of clearing enemy troops from the Scheldt River in Belgium. The river was important as it connected Antwerp to the North Sea. After a month they achieved their goal of controlling the river, allowing the allies to bring supplies over. -
Battle of Rhineland
The battle of the allies driving German back to the Rhine river.
The fighting was slow due to mud and flooded fields. German once again fell, this allowed Canadians to continue north and liberate Holland. -
Victory in Europe
German finally surrendered to the allies.
The allies invaded Germany from the North and the West with the Soviet Union on the East. German surrendered to the allies and Hitler committed suicide before he could be captured. The war in Europe was over in May 8th, 1945, known as the Victory in Europe (VE) day. -
Liberating the Netherlands *CANADA
Canada was given an important task of liberating the Netherlands.
After reaching the Rhine, it took another month of fighting to drive the Germans out of the Netherlands. After freeing the Netherlands, Canadians were hailed as heroes. -
Japan Surrenders
Japan finally admits defeat.
Initially wanting to fight to the end, after the atomic bomb drops, Japan concedes. This was the master plan by the allies, top secret to develop an atomic bomb. The first bomb was Hiroshima and three days after, another was dropped on Nagasaki. -
The War Ends
After Japan's defeat, the war was finally over.
After the long six year war, Japan and Germany had finally surrendered and the war was over on August 14th, 1945. After the loss of many lives, the war was finally over.
