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Canada’s Contributions During World War II
 | Introduction: After the defeat of France, Britain and it’s
Commonwealth allies were the only opponents of Germany, Italy and Japan.
This would eventually change but not before the Battle of Britain: the
German nightly air raids of England from August 1940 to July 1941. These
raids by the German Luftwaffe were designed to terrorize the British and
destroy their will to resist. Eventually it only strengthened the British
will to resist. |
I. New Countries enter the War:
II. The Axis enjoy many early successes:
- The Axis had defeated Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, The
Netherlands and France by 1940, thus controlling most of Europe.
- In 1941 the Axis had inflicted great damage on Britain in the
Battle of Britain and had invaded deeply into the
Soviet Union
- In 1942 the Japanese had taken the Philippines, captured a
Canadian force at Hong Kong and the British colonies of Singapore,
Malaya, Burma, and Southeast Asia.
* It seemed that an Axis victory was close at hand. Hitler now claimed
that the Nazi empire would last a 1000 years.
- In August 1942 the Allies developed a plan to test the German
forces along the coast of France at Dieppe. This raid was to:
take some pressure off the Soviets, gather information about German
coastal defences and return safely. In short it was a disaster. Of the
5000 Canadians who landed:
- 900 were dead or dying by noon
- 1000 were wounded
- 1000 were prisoners of war
* only 2200 of those who landed returned to Britain.
- In the end Dieppe did not:
- take pressure of the Soviets
- return the men safely to Britain
However important military lessons were learned so that when the
Allies attacked Normandy it was a success.
III. The Allies Gain Momentum:
- The German submarines destroyed many allied cargo ships (20 a
week) that were transporting valuable supplies to Britain. The
German objective was to defeat Britain by starving it’s people. From
1939 - 1942 the Germans were very successful, however by late 1942
Allies began to respond effectively to this threat.
- The Allies improved their antisubmarine measures by:
- using a convoy system
- improvements in radar detection
- protection by patrol aircraft
* By the end of the war nearly 800 German a-boats had been sunk.
- In 1942 the Allies began bombing German cities, the goal was
to:
- destroy German industries, railways, bridges and oil
refineries.
- destroy German will to fight
IV. Significant Battles:
Italian Campaign: In 1943 the Allies advanced on Italy.
Canadian troops were sent to Sicily, the island at the southern tip
of Italy, here they took the island easily. After this the battles
became more difficult. At the Battle of Ortana
Canadian Forces were successful, however they took heavy losses.
Finally in June 1944 the Allies took Rome.
The Battle of Stalingrad: Stalingrad was an important
industrial city with rich oil fields thus it was extremely important
to whoever controlled it. In late 1942 the Nazis tried to gain
control of it. The Russians could not afford to retreat and give it
up. Once again cold weather helped the Russians as freezing
temperatures devastated the German army. Hitler refused to allow his
army of 250,000 to retreat. By February 1943 only 91,000 Germans
survived.
- Many say the Soviet victory at Stalingrad was the turning point
of the war. It was the greatest German defeat yet, it was the
farthest the Nazi’s advanced into the Soviet Union, and the Soviets
now pushed the Germans back towards Berlin.
D-Day: On June 6, 1944 the Allies landed on the beaches of
Normandy, it was the shortest distance from England to France. Learning
from Dieppe’s failure: over 1 million soldiers supported by 700 war
ships and 11,000 planes attack Nazi controlled France. The attack went
as follows:
* 2:00 A.M. paratroopers land to destroy important bridges and at
communication lines
* 3:15 AM 2000 bombers begin to pound German defences
* 5:30 AM Allied warships begin bombing beaches
* 6:30 AM the first waves of Canadian, American, and British
troops land on beaches.
* Once the Allies had successfully taken Normandy; it was only a matter
of time before the Nazi’s would be defeated.
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This site was last updated
12/17/01
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