Canada's Role in WWII

Canada and the Second World War
10 SEPTEMBER 1939–15 AUGUST 1945
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
- Under Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) party, Germany wanted
to expand its territory and conquer Europe.
- Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. France and Britain went to

war, with Canada standing by the allies when it declared war separately on
10 September 1939.
- The conflict would expand into the Second World War—the deadliest war
the world has ever known.
The Allies and the Axis Powers were two sides that fought each other in
World War II combat involving all the nations.
- Germany, Japan, and Italy were collectively referred to as the AXIS
Powers.
- The Allied powers were supported by Great Britain, France, the
United States, and the Soviet Union.
ABOUT THE WAR

- Canadians contributed in many ways, fighting overseas, defending the
country at home, and producing the weapons of war and food for Allied
nations.
- During the Second World War, Canadians defended the east and the west
coasts and fought in a series of long and difficult campaigns — on land, at
sea and in the air — to defeat the German, Italian and Japanese forces.
- Canada carried out a vital role in the Battle of the Atlantic
- More than 1.1 million Canadian men and women served in the armed
forces.
- The cost of victory was high with almost 42,000 Canadians killed before
Germany was defeated in May 1945 and Japan in August of the same year.
Battle of the Atlantic

- The Battle of the Atlantic, from 1939 to 1945, was the longest
continuous battle of the Second World War.
- Canada played a key role in the Allied struggle for control of
the North Atlantic, as German submarines worked furiously
to cripple the convoys shipping crucial supplies to Europe.
- Victory was costly: more than 70,000 Allied seamen,
merchant mariners and airmen lost their lives, including
approximately 4,400 from Canada and Newfoundland.
- Many civilians also lost their lives, including 136 passengers of
the ferry SS Caribou.
The Dieppe Raid
19 August 1942
- The Allies chose to mount a major raid on just the French port of
Dieppe. It was designed to gain experience and test the equipment
needed to launch an immense amphibious assault that would one
day be necessary to defeat Germany.
- Canadians would provide the main assault force, and, by May 20,
troops of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division were on the Isle of
Wight, in the English Channel, training intensively in amphibious
operations. Poor weather in July, however, prevented them from
launching Operation Rutter.
- Canadians made up the great majority of the attackers in the raid.
Nearly 5,000 of the 6,100 troops were Canadians. The remaining
troops consisted of approximately 1,000 British Commandos and 50
American Rangers. The raid was supported by eight Allied destroyers
and 74 Allied air squadrons, eight belonging to the Royal Canadian
Air Force (RCAF).
- The Raid on Dieppe took place on the morning of August 19, 1942.
- They unexpectedly encountered a small German convoy. There was a
sharp, violent, sea fight, and that noise alerted the German coastal
defenses.
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy

- Canadians landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, 6 June
1944, and helped begin the liberation of Western Europe.
- Over a brutal ten-week period in the stifling heat of that terrible
summer, the inexperienced soldiers of the First Canadian Army
fought against a powerful enemy, suffering and inflicting heavy
casualties.
- By the third week in August, when the campaign in Normandy at
last came to its end, the armies of the Nazi regime had suffered a
resounding defeat, one in which Canadian regiments played a major
role.
Liberation of the Netherlands
September 1944 – April 1945
- Town by town, canal by canal, Canadian soldiers pushed back the

occupying German forces in the Netherlands.
- The First Canadian Army played a major role in the liberation of the
Dutch people who had suffered terrible hunger and hardship under
the increasingly desperate German occupiers.
- The First Canadian Army gave access to the port was essential to
maintain supply lines to the Allied armies as they continued their
push toward Germany to defeat Adolf Hitler's forces and free
Western Europe from four years of Nazi occupation which had
begun in April 1940.
First Canadian Army
Under the command of General Henry Duncan Graham (Harry) Crerar, the
First Canadian Army was international in character. In addition to the 2nd
Canadian Corps (which included the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry
Divisions, and the 4th Canadian Armored Division), the 1st British Corps, and
the 1st Polish Armored Division, at various times American, Belgian, and
Dutch soldiers were also included as units. The First Canadian Army in
northwestern Europe during the final phases of the war was a powerful
force, the largest army that had ever been under the control of a Canadian
general. The strength of this army ranged from approximately 105,000 to
175,000 Canadian soldiers to anywhere from 200,000 to over 450,000 when
including the soldiers from other nations.
More than 7,600 Canadians died in the eight-month campaign to liberate

the Netherlands, a tremendous sacrifice in the cause of freedom.
THE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR

The human devastation of the Second World War is difficult to comprehend.
Estimates vary widely. Death tolls range from 50 to 80 million people.
Canada contributed significantly to the Allied victory in this just and necessary
war. Revelations of the Nazi atrocities and the Holocaust shocked the world. The
war also led to the decolonization of empires, the creation of the United Nations,
and a new Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and their
respective allies.
Canada was also fundamentally transformed. More than a million veterans came
home to lead Canada into the prosperous second half of the twentieth century.
There was increased urbanization, industrialization, state intervention in the lives
of Canadians, interconnected trade with the United States, and a widespread
desire for greater commitment in world affairs.
A new Canada emerged from the service and trauma of the war.
https://www.warmuseum.ca/learn/canada-and-the-second-world-war/#:~:text=Dur
ing%20the%20Second%20World%20War,served%20in%20the%20armed%20force
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https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/second-world-war-wwii
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/wars-and-conflicts/second-world-wa
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https://www.veterans.gc.ca/pdf/cr/pi-sheets/BattleAtlantic-Factsheet.pdf
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/classroom/exploring-battle-of-the-atl
antic/boa-questions
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/classroom/exploring-battle-of-the-atl
antic/boa-answers

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Canada and the Second World War

10 SEPTEMBER 1939–15 AUGUST 1945

- Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. France and Britain went to

ABOUT THE WAR

Battle of the Atlantic

D-Day and the Battle of Normandy

Liberation of the Netherlands

September 1944 – April 1945

- Town by town, canal by canal, Canadian soldiers pushed back the

More than 7,600 Canadians died in the eight-month campaign to liberate

THE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR

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