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Germany Invades Poland
German troops invaded Poland and bitter fighting followed. Britain and France ordered Germany out of Poland by September 3rd, 1939. When Germany ignored this deadline, Britain and France declared war. -
Canada declares war on Germany and its Allies
In 1931 a law called the statue of Westminster had given Canada’s Parliament the power to make decisions without Britain. When Britain declared war, Canada was not automatically at war against German. King promised that Canada would support Britain, with this promise in place parliament voted Canada would declare war on Germany and its allies. -
Battle of Hong Kong
Japanese planes bombed the U.S naval base in Pearl Harbor. On December 8 the U.S joined the Allies and declared war on Japan. Japan’s allies (Germany and Italy) declared war on the United States. -
Dieppe attack
Ships carrying Canadian soldiers to Dieppe met a small German convoy. The two engaged in a sea battle the noise alerted the Germans. Ships were delayed and were easily machine gunned by waiting German soldiers. Unable to retreat or advance German soldiers easily defeated the troops. -
Battle of Ortona
Canadians were given the task of capturing the town of Ortona. Once they reached Ortona advances were slow and battles were often fought house by house on the towns steep streets. They captured the town and were sent to join the campaign of France. -
D-Day
The allies launched a full scale invasion of Normandy in operation overload. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. -
The Atomic Bomb
In 1942 Canada was notified of the Manhattan Project, the Canadian government agreed and helped develop the atomic bomb. An American bomber plane dropped an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. the destruction unleashed by the bomb had never been experienced before. Three days later a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. -
Japan Surrenders
The Japanese realizing they could not withstand the power of the new U.S weapon surrendered. After six years and the loss of millions of lives World War Two was over.
