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Battle of the Atlantic (http://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_ii/battle_of_the_atlantic.php)
During World War II both the Allies and the Axis Powers fought for control of the Atlantic Ocean. The Allies wanted to use the Atlantic to resupply Great Britain and the Soviet Union, The Axis Powers wanted to stop them. Germany used submarines (U-boats) to sink supply ships coming into Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Canada set up 50-60 convoys that were protected by 3-4 corvettes. They safely escorted 25,000 merchant ships to Britain and 1000s to Russia. -
Battle of Britain
The battle of Britain started on July 10th, 1940, and it lasted for 3 months. Germany wanted to invade Britain, but they first need to destroy Britain's Royal Air Force(RAF), 25% of the pilots were Canadians, sadly, 16 of the first 25 Cdn pilots died. 3000 Nazi planes were shot down, Nazis gave up trying to invade Britain due to their strong air force. (http://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_ii/battle_of_britain.php) -
Hong Kong (http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canadians-hong-kong)
Japan attacked USA at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.
Canada was protecting Hong Long for the Great Britain, they held war against Japan. But unfortunately, some troops were inexperienced in the war before, and Japanese had better military and weapons (airplanes and battle ships). 290 Canadians died, 500 wounded. 267 Canadians died in Japanese prison camps. Canadian soldiers surrendered on the Christmas day after 17 days of fighting. -
Canadians in the air
Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was small in 1939, but became the 4th largest in the world in 1945. Canadians flew dangerous night raids and bombed German cities at night trying to destroy factories that made war supplies. But it was not very successful as many pilots died and factories were not totally destroyed
(http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931rcaf_e.shtml) -
Dieppe Raid
During the Second World War, the Allies wanted to make a successful raid on German-occupied Europe over water, so they launched a major raid on the small French coast port of Dieppe. It was Canada's worst defeat, 5000 Canadians land but 900 died, 1000 were wounded, 1900 of them became prisoners. (http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/historical-sheets/dieppe) -
Italian Campaign (http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/italian-campaign/history/pish)
Operation Husky happened on July 10, 1943. It was the beginning of the attack on Italy. Canadian soldiers were the first to take the island of Sicily. Sicily was captured after 1 month, but 2310 Canadian were dead and wounded. The battle of Ortona happened on December 1943, it was the key city to capture Rome. It was the bloodiest battle of the Italian Campaign defended by the best German soldiers. Canada used “mouse-holing” technique to blast holes in walls of buildings to avoid fire shots. -
D-Days/The invasion of Normandy (http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day)
On June 6th, 1944, the Allied forces decided attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. It was Canada’s largest military operation of WW 2. 14,000 soldiers landed on the beach and 10,000 sailors on 100 ships. Canada, USA and Britain attacked Normandy while France to take France back from the Germany . Canada was most successful at Juno Beach, but had 335 dead and 739 wounded. The allied forces gained a victory that became the turning point for World War II in Europe -
The Liberation of Europe
On May, 5th, 1945, Canadians freed Netherland from the Germany. Canadians gave food to the Dutch people, and they rain flowers on Canadian soldiers in gratitude. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945 (VE Day Victory in Europe Day)
(http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/liberation-netherlands) -
Commandos in the Pacific (http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/chinese-canadians-get-the-vote-in-1947)
Canadian government discouraged Asian Canadians from enlisting because they were feared giving voting rights, but due to British & Australian pressure. Canadians were forced to recruit Chinese Force 136 which is an elite commando unit that used to destroy Japanese railways and weapons behind enemy lines while Japanese Canadians served as translator and conduct propaganda. They both won the right to vote at 1947 and 1948.
V-J Day was Aug 14, 1945 after USA dropped 2 atomic bombs in japan.
