Canada and WWII - Mr. · PDF fileCanada and WWII WWII lasted from ... 1000 soldiers with artillery. Between each ouvrage were ... packs” of German U-boats merchant vessels sailed

Canada and WWII

WWII lasted from ______ to ________.

Monday, 17 November, 14

1. Blitzkrieg


2. Phoney War... 7 months of “inaction”

after surrender of Poland Sept 30, 1939, there was not much fighting - just fear and anticipation (esp. in England).

This Phoney War ended May 10th,1940 when Germany began its Western offensive by attacking France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark.


Maginot Line

a several hundred kilometre line of concrete fortifications built by the French between the wars (named after the French Minister of Defence)


Maginot Line

The French Maginot line.




The Line comprised of over 500 separate buildings but was dominated by large forts (known as ‘ouvrages’) which were built about nine miles from each other. Each ouvrage housed 1000 soldiers with artillery. Between each ouvrage were smaller forts which housed between 200 to 500 men depending on their size.There were 50 ouvrages in total along the German border. Each one had the necessary fire power to cover the two nearest ouvrages to the north and south. They were protected by reinforced steel that was inches deep and capable of taking a direct hit from most known artillery fire.http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/maginot_line.htm


3. Germany’s Western Offensive


Using “Blitzkrieg tactics - on May 12, 1940 Germany punched through the Maginot line near a town called Sedan, France and quickly moved 1 million troops and 1500 tanks through what the French intelligence thought was the “impenetrable” Ardennes Forrest.

The Netherlands surrendered in 4 days; France in 5 weeks.

Germany occupied most of Europe by 1940 (all the grey countries).

The French mistake was to be too

defensive minded.


Winston Churchill


By late May, 1940 - 400 000 French and British troops

were now trapped in Northern France.



4. Dunkirk Evacuation• This meant the Allied forces were

surrounded in the French port of Dunkirk.

• They had to be rescued but how?

• All sea-worthy vessels were sent across the channel to France to pick up as many allied troops as possible.


Transportation

Both passenger lifeboats and massive British and French Destroyers answered the call.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/British_troops_lifeboat_dunkerque.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/British_troops_lifeboat_dunkerque.png

Process of Evacuation" Evacuation began on May 26th, 1940, and

concluded June 4th, 1940.

Number of men rescued (in chronological order):

• 27 May (7669 men)

• 28 May (17,804 men)

• 29 May (47,310 men)

• 30–31 May (120,927 men)

• 1 June (64,229 men)

• 2–4 June (up to 54,000 men)


Losses

" Despite the success of this operation, there were significant losses.

• Heavy equipment and vehicles were abandoned on Dunkirk side.

• Several thousand French troops captured near Dunkirk

• 6 British, and 3 French destroyers were sunk; 19 severely damaged.


• The rescue of the British troops at Dunkirk provided a psychological boost to British morale which ended any possibility that the British would seek peace terms from Germany

• For every seven soldiers that escaped through Dunkirk, one man was left behind as a prisoner of war

• The very significant loss of military equipment abandoned in Dunkirk reinforced the financial dependence of the British government on the United States

• Even though there was noteworthy loss, this was considered a miraculous operation on the Allies part.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war

5. The Battle of Britain(July - Sept ‘40)

Luftwaffe raids on England’s cities - 40 000 civilian deathsReading...FILM Clip


6.Barbarossa Code name for German attack of the USSR - beginning June 22, 1941

Leningrad was sieged by German troops - lasting 872 days

Stalingrad was also sieged from July 1942-February 1943 claiming 1.5 million lives

• German troops were eventually routed out of the USSR by July 1944


About 400 000 Soviet women saw front line duty! Bernard A. Cook (2006). "Women and war: a historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present


http://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Battle of the Atlantic 1941-1945Britain was dependent upon Canada + US for food + military supplies

100’s of allied merchant ships were sunk by “Wolf packs” of German U-boats merchant vessels sailed in convoys

Corvettes (Canadian vessels) were created to assist by escorting the convoys

small, quick, maneuverable but tippy

by 1945 - there were 400 ships & 100 000 sailors in our navy (half of all escorts by Canadians)

5th largest navy.

7


8.Canadian Contribution in the AirBritish Commonwealth Air Train Plan (BCATP) - trained more than 170 000 air crew

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) included 250 000 people

48 overseas squadrons (4th largest)

took part in bombing raids - Europe, N Africa, S E Asia, Italy.

in 1943 - participated in some controversial bombing raids such as bombing of Hamburg.


9. Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbour Dec 1941- Newspaper

This attack was planned with meticulous detail for months in advance

high level bombers dropped bombs from 3 kms until accuracy could be guaranteed

torpedo planes practiced diving to within meters from sea level - if necessary lead planes were to crash into torpedo nets below surface


Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbour

• 6:00 am ...230 kms north of Oahu, 6 Japanese aircraft carriers stopped after a week long sail from Japan in radio silence

• 6:10 am - the first wave begins: 185 planes take off from Akagi (43 fighters, 49 high level bombers, 51 dive bombers)

• they circled for 15 minutes until the last plane was in the air, then flew in formation for 1.5 hours to their target (Pearl Harbour Naval Base)

• as many took off an hour or so later in second wave


so...the first wave flew from the aircraft carriers from 6:20-7:50

then attacked

then flew back and landed on aircraft carriers at 10:10 (4 hours in the air)

after the second wave the damage was:

a destroyed 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 4 auxiliary ships, 87 planes and killed 2403 US serviceman


radar at P Harbour did detect planes but a delivery of 17 new B17’s were expected from San Diego that very hour so nothing was done to intercept

It was definitely a surprise attack!

the US Army and Navy Commander were preparing to go golfing



Japanese Internment


followed Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on Dec 7, 1941

Britain requested a Canadian army be sent to Hong Kong (British colony) a few months earlier

by Christmas Day 1941, Hong Kong “fell” to Japanese forces

all 1975 Canadians were killed or taken POW

555 Canadians dead by war’s end - half while prisoners - terrible conditions...

10.Hong Kong Disaster


11.Dieppe Raid - 19th Aug 1942Much of mainland Europe had been Nazi occupied since 1940

a re-invasion was necessary

2nd Canadian Div chosen for trial run on French port of Dieppe

to test new techniques

reconnaissance mission

a decoy for a highly secret (sub)mission to obtain German code machine (Enigma)


Dieppe Disasterin the 9 hour battle:

907 Canadians killed (more than any other day of fighting in entire war)

506 wounded

1874 taken prisoner

4131 (total) men killed, wounded or captured most from Canadian 2nd Div.


Why did Dieppe raid fail?one of the vessels carrying Canadian troops met German convoy of ships

a small naval battle ensued - alerted German troops on shore

element of surprise lost - now it was daylight

poor communication b/w ships and land - more men sent ashore thinking first raid a success

German troops strategically perched along cliffs - with machine guns

tanks had poor traction on gravel shores


12.Italian Campaignin summer of 1943 there was still no second front in Europe - Stalin angry - his Soviet troops were fighting Germany in eastern Europe alone

Churchill suggested invading Europe from “soft underbelly” of Italy - turned out to be a gruelling battle.

Canada played large role

July 10, 1943 - Sicily was invaded - taken in 2 months


Mainland Italyhouse by house

street by street

town by town

eg: Ortona - took a month & 1372 dead Canadians before Germany surrendered this town

by June 1944 - Rome was taken back by allies

http://www.canadianbattlefieldsfoundation.ca/Route_of_Honour/Text/Ortona.htm


13. D-Day Invasion June 6, 1944code name - Operation Overlord

What? Invasion to take Europe back via Normandy, France - largest allied invasion

Where? 5 landing points in Normandy, France

1 million troops landed in 3 weeks

a success due to element of surprise

one of the 5 landing points - Juno Beach - was assigned to Canadian troops

16 000 Canadians landed on Juno Beach on D Day Canadians penetrated further than other allies

1000 Canadian casualties (359 killed) that day - jarMonday, 17 November, 14





Storming Juno

26. 30 min


14. Liberation of Netherlands

by Fall 1944 - the Netherlands was in serious trouble - ie - civilian starvation

in April 1945 - Canadian troops liberated this nation at cost of 6300 of our men

air drops (food) followed

Canadians were hailed as heroes there

Mr. Koehlman will tell us more



15. German SurrenderOn May 7, 1945 - Germany surrendered to Allied forces -

USSR had fought from East and the rest of Allies from West

Adolf Hitler and his wife - suicide in their bunker just before this

other NAZI leaders tried at famous Nuremberg trials after the war


16. Japan’s Surrender

Japan surrendered after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (140 000 killed) and Nagasaki (74 000) this was in August 1945


17. Holocaust


How did WWII Change Canada?


Documents

Canada and WWII - Mr. · PDF fileCanada and WWII WWII lasted from ... 1000 soldiers with artillery. Between each ouvrage were ... packs” of German U-boats merchant vessels sailed