Social Studies 9
Chapter 6
Canada at War
Canada's effort in World War II(1939
-1945)
Text: Pages 95-110
6.1 The Road to War
In the summer of 1939, Canadians watched events unfolding in
Europe
Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, was demanding territory from Poland
Germany had already taken over neighbouring areas (such as
Sudetenland)
Britain and France warned Germany not to enter Poland
Why war?
• Why after only 20 years was the world ready
to go to war again?
• Wasn't the last war supposed to be the 'war to
end all wars?
• Why did Germany and Japan (who was at war
with China) want war?
Causes of World War II
2. The Rise of Hitler
• Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist party (Nazis)
were elected to power in 1933 using the anger of the
German people about the Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler promised to tear up the treaty and rebuild the
nation to its former glory
• Hitler outlawed other political parties and became the
dictator (person who seizes control of a government)
of Germany
• 2. The Rise of Hitler (Continued)
• He began to break the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles
• He built up Germany's Armed Forces
• Began to annex (to join or add) or occupy the
former territory of Germany that had been
taken away from the country after WWI
The Other Nations
• Britain, France and the United States wanted to avoid
another war at all costs
• They did not take a stand against the violations of the
treaty
• Britain argued that relaxing the terms would satisfy the
Germans
• The term for this was appeasement (giving into demands
of an unfriendly power)
• Appeasement did not work; Germany wanted to invade
Poland and did so on September 1, 1939
• Britain and France declared war on Germany on September
3, 1939
• See WWII Timeline Handout
Canada at War
• Since 1931, Canada could decide on their own whether to
go to war; the Statute of Westminster made Canada
independent of British foreign policy
• The government had caused a crisis in WWI through
conscription (compelling people to join the Armed Forces
by law)
• Canada decided to formally declare war on Germany
September 10, 1939 after two days of Parliamentary
debate (all MPs except one supported joining)
• Canada's identity would evolve on the world stage
• 6.2 Phases of the War
• Phase 1: September 1939 - June 1940
• The "phony war" or the "sitzkrieg"- little happened in
Western Europe after Germany had invaded Poland
(Germans did not invade Western Europe until April 1940)
• Germany and Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact
and divided Poland between them
• Two competing forces/alliances:
• 1. The Allies - Britain (and the British Commonwealth) and
France
• 2. The Axis - Germany, Italy and Japan
• 6.2 Phases of the War
• Phase 1: Continued
• This time of inactivity was used by all sides to build up
defences and prepare forces for attack.
• France was relying on a line of defence built up in the
1920s and 1930s called the Maginot Line (a line of
concrete fortifications, artillery, machine gun posts,
and other defences, which France constructed along
its borders with Germany)
• The Phony war came to an end when Germany seized
Denmark and invaded Norway in April, 1940
• Video: Maginot Line
• 6.2 Phases of the War
• Phase 1: continued
• Germany attacked Holland, Belgium and France in May, 1940.
Holland and Belgium were quickly conquered.
• The Maginot line was ineffective against the German technique
known as blitzkrieg (a sudden violent attack which combines
airplanes, armour and mobile infantry; referred to as a 'lightning
war') since the Germans simply went around it! (See Fig 6.3)
• The Allied troops were being defeated and forced to escape across
the English Channel from the beaches at Dunkirk, France
•
Canada's Contribution
small volunteer army raised and sent to Britain
by December 1939
merchant marines (ocean going ships used for
trade)were needed to transport personnel
and war goods
many ships were sunk by German U-Boats
(submarines) immediately
• In 1939, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
(BCATP) was put in place to train allied pilots in Canada
• In 1940, Mackenzie King wins Federal election and
maintains a small volunteer army abroad with large
scale war production at home. The key aim was to
avoid high casualties and the conscription crisis
• In May 1940, Germany's wins through Holland,
Belgium and France changed Canada's position to full
commitment- National Resources Mobilization Act
(NRMA)
Phase 2: June 1940 - July 1943
• This period consists of 2 key events:
• 1. In June, 1941 Germany invades Soviet Union; this breaks the nonaggression pact signed by both countries in 1939
• * this was important because now, the U.S.S.R would be an ally of Britain
• 2. On December 7, 1941 Japan (an ally of Germany; part of the Axis) led a
surprise invasion of the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
• * this was important because the U.S. now joined in with the Allies,
declaring war on Germany and Japan
• Pearl Harbour Video Summary
• Three important Battles were won for the
Allies:
• 1. Battle of Midway - U.S. destroys much of
Japan's air and naval forces
• 2. El Alamein, North Africa - Allies pushed
Germany out of region
• 3. Stalingrad, U.S.S.R. - German army suffered
massive defeat
During Phase 2, Canada experiences
success and failures
• Success
• In the Battle of the Atlantic, convoys (groups of ships
travelling together) were used to carry war materials.
They would often be sunk by German U-boats, but Canada
helped by using new anti-submarine techniques
• Failures
• Hong Kong in 1941- Japanese killed 290 Canadians while
capturing 1685 (POWs) when they attacked there
• Dieppe, France in 1942 - 900 Canadians killed, 1900 POWs
The Dieppe Raid
• By the summer of 1942, the Second World War had been raging for
almost three years; Nazi Germany had pushed east into the Soviet
Union, enemy forces were advancing in North Africa and U-boats
were making the Atlantic a deadly place for Allied ships.
• The Allies felt that a large raid on the coast of France could force
the Germans to divert military resources away from the Soviet
Union, could help in planning for the full-scale assault to come, and
it was within range of fighter pilot planes from Britain
• The Dieppe Raid, "Operation Jubilee", saw more than 6,000 men
come ashore at five different points along a 16 kilometre-long
stretch of heavily defended coastline at different times during the
night on August 19, 1942
The Dieppe Raid (Continued)
• Things immediately went wrong. One of the first
groups to land met a small German convoy and the
firefight alerted the enemy. Running behind schedule,
the main force going ashore at Dieppe landed as
daylight was breaking. The alerted German troops cut
down many Canadians as they waded in the surf
• The assault began at 5:00 a.m. and by 10:50 a.m. the
Allied commanders were forced to call a retreat
The Dieppe Raid (Continued)
Canada's Contribution
• Canadian Air force greatly expanded and joined in
the bombing of German industrial targets. The
goal was to destroy Germany's industry and
ability to wage war
• Canada's fighting force was now a full scale army
and they joined the allied invasion of Sicily, Italy
(ally of Germany). They moved on to the Italian
mainland and continued to fight German forces
who had come to replace Italian forces
• Canadians distinguished themselves as good
in combat against the Germans in the Battles
for the Italian cities of Ortona and Cassino
• Canadians fought in Italy until February 1945
• Phase 4: June 1944 - September 1945
• This final year began with the Allied invasion of Europe
• The Key event was on June 6, 1944 (known as D-Day or
Operation Overlord)
• Note: D-Day is a term often used in the military to signify
the day on which an attack or invasion begins. The initial D
has been given various meanings including day, making the
phrase "day of days"
• The most famous D-Day is on June 6, 1944 - the day of the
Normandy landings which was the start of the Allied effort
to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation
• Phase 4: Continued
• · Canadians landed on a beach, code named
'Juno', the Americans and British landed
nearby on the beaches of Normandy, France
• Preparations were meticulous as this was
defended coastline and nobody wanted a
repeat of the mistakes at Dieppe
• Phase 4: Continued
• There were about 155,000 soldiers,
5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000
vehicles and 11,000 planes set for the
coming battle. For Canada, 14,000
soldiers were to land on the beaches;
another 450 were to drop behind
enemy lines by parachute or glider. The
Royal Canadian Navy supplied ships and
about 10,000 sailors.
• The march to Berlin was begun with the
capture of Caen (centre of
transportation), Falaise fell and Paris
was liberated as the Germans retreated
back to the German border. This took
several months.
• The Canadian Army pushes on!
• As the Allies moved into France, they needed supplies;
supply ports needed to be captured and opened
• First Canadians assigned to clear coastal areas and
ports (key port: Antwerp, Belgium)
• Although the city of Antwerp was captured, the actual
port was 80km away
• To stop the Canadians from advancing to the port,
Germans opened the riverdikes and flooded the fields.
Canadians were given nickname 'water rats' and the
casualties were high
• Next job was to liberate the Netherlands! Over
6000 Canadian casualties are still honoured by
the Dutch
• VE (Victory in Europe day)occurred May 8,
1945 after the death of Hitler on April 30. This
was the date when the WWII Allies formally
accepted the unconditional surrender of the
armed forces of Nazi Germany.
• Our next two sections of study involve questions
of morals and ethics. List some keywords you
associate with morality and ethics
• ·
• ·
• ·
6.3 War in the Pacific
• After the German defeat, all eyes turned to
Asia. Canada's navy and air force had a small
role in the Pacific.
• May, 1945 - 80,000 Canadians volunteered to
join the Pacific war; however, they did not
have time to take part
• The United States dropped the Atomic Bomb
in August,1945
The Atomic Bomb
• Code Name: "Manhattan Project"
• Purpose: 1) destroy the ability of the Japanese to continue to wage
war
• 2) Save the lives of thousands of Allied troops who would die if
Japan had to be invaded
• August 6, 1945 - "Little boy" was dropped on Hiroshima
• August 9, 1945 - "Big boy" was dropped on Nagasaki
• Hundreds of thousands died in the initial explosions and the
radiation aftermath
• The uranium used in the bomb came from Canada and Canadian
scientists were involved in the development of this weapon
• Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945
War Crimes Trials, Nuremburg
• German leaders were held accountable for
their roles in this horrific event early 1946
(Hermann Goering among others sentenced to
death)
• Other trials were held through the years as
Nazi leaders were caught and put on trial for
crimes against humanity in Israel
• Crimes against humanity was a new
development in international law
A Jewish Homeland
• 1948 the State of Israel was established as a
Jewish Homeland
• Any Jewish person in the world has the right
to move there
• The area is sacred to Jewish people, Christians
and Muslims
• The geographic location as well as the
religious and political interests has made this
area a centre of conflict
Mapping Survivor Stories
• After hearing one or more survivor stories, or
reading or hearing a survivor story from the
Web, make a collaged representation of that
person's journey from before the atomic
bomb/Holocaust, during and after such
events. You should include:
• Photographs
• Maps
• Timeline