Canadian History 11

Because of widespread unrest, the period between WWI and WWII has often been called the “long armistice” (20 year period of peace was only temporary)

German new method of fighting was the blitzkrieg (lightning war). It was a sudden, swift, overpowering attack that used airplanes to bomb cities and to machine gun soldiers and civilians. Then, German ground forces would rush into battle.

Blitzkrieg tactics made Germany successful during the early years of the war because they caught other nations unprepared. Within a week, they conquered Poland. Poland was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Hitler’s army advances on Denmark (1 day), Norway (2 days), the Netherlands (5 days), Belgium (18 days), and Luxembourg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ha0qKquG2E

Between 1930-34 France was building forts along its eastern border.

Known as the Maginot line, it was the key to France’s defense against invasion.

Germany went around the northern end of the Maginot line and marched unopposed into Paris.

Italy invaded southern France.

France signed an armistice at Compiegne, the same place where Germany surrendered to France in WWI. (6 weeks to defeat France)

Nazi forces would occupy most of France; French resources and factories were to placed at the disposal of Germany.

A few brave French leaders flew to England where they set up a “Free French” government.

Led By Charles de Gaulle, the French organized an underground movement, the Resistance. It carried out secret missions against the Germans.

After the defeat of France, Canada became Britain’s main ally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFpCHnW2nUs

Total WarPrime Minister KingIn 1939 Canada was still

in the grip of the Great Depression.

By 1945, Canada had become one of the world’s foremost industrial nations.

Government sold Victory Bonds and increased income taxes to help pay for the war. These paid for 2/3rd of the cost of the war.

To avoid inflation, Canadian government introduced wage and price controls (government restrictions placed on wages paid to workers and prices charged for goods and services.)

They strictly regulated wages, prices (to control inflation) and production. They were given rations books.

Gasoline and food was rationed. The use of metal and rubber

was restricted. Children collected paper,

metal, rags, rubber and bones. All these things could be recycled into war materials.

They had contests to see who could make the biggest ball out of aluminum foil.

Women replaced enlisted men in the workforce.

Women in War = Nurses, flying airplanes, driving vehicles, running communication equipment and performing administrative support work

Women were recruited for all branches (45000 enlist)

Canadian Battalions were no longer segregated during WWII.

Natives had to get permission of the Dept. of Indian Affairs, as they were not citizens. They had to give up their status as registered Indians.

Army 730 625

RCAF 249 624

RCN 106 522

TOTAL 1 086 771

Women

ARMY 21 624

AIR FORCE 17 018

NAVY 6 781

MEDICAL SERVICES

4 518

DOCTORS 58

Increase marriages, combined with postwar economic prosperity and peace time stability, caused the largest birthrate in Canadian History. These post war children came to be known as the baby boomers.

National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA), required all single men over 18 to register for compulsory military service. They were for home defense.

Became known as zombies = term used for soldiers who were conscripted into army but refused to serve overseas during WWII.

1942, King had a referendum (issue goes for direct vote by the people).

French vote = 73% no and English vote = 80% yes. The men were sent overseas.

If you had roots linked to the enemy you had to register with RCMP.

There was a curfew. Interned if you were a Nazi sympathizer. Italian and German immigrants who became

citizens after 1922 had to register as enemy aliens and some were sent to internment camps.

1939-45 only 5000 Jewish immigrants were allowed in Canada. The

St. Louis ship of 900 German Jews was not allowed to seek refuge and was sent back to Europe where many were detained and sent to death camps.

Secret War: Camp X It was located on Lake Ontario near

Oshawa It was a top secret training post for

spies, secret agents and sabotage experts.

It was under the direction of Canadian mast spy, William Stephenson.

Agents from the camp were dropped behind enemy lines to spy and report by radio.

They connected with underground movements in occupied countries to disrupt enemy activities.

One agent who was trained at Camp X was Ian Fleming. After the war, he wrote the James Bond Spy Stories.

Station M was a vital part of Camp X. It was staffed by forgers, safecrackers, chemists, movie set designers and costume experts. It provided agents with false passports and money, battered suitcases and European items.

Canadian Spies Among the 28 Canadian agents who went into Europe, 8 died. Guy Bieler’s spine was badly injured when he parachuted into

France. Even so, he organized a sabotage group. They derailed and blew up trains carrying troops and arms. They sabotaged locomotives. In the end Guy was captured and shot.

Frank Pickersgill was captured when he landed in France. Nazi double agents had given him away. He refused to break under questioning. When his captors switched from threats to bribery, he broke a bottle on his interrogator’s desk, slashed the throat of an SS guard, and jumped out a 2nd floor window before being stopped by 4 bullets. In prison camp he organized resistance, helping prisoners regain some lost pride. The Nazis finally executed him and 15 other agents by hanging them from meat hooks.

3 Canadian Services: The Army, The Royal Canadian Navy, The Royal Canadian Air Force

1939 Canada’s navy was the 4th largest in the world.

Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was the 4th largest in the world

RCAF Training Plan – trained airmen from all across the Commonwealth at more than 200 sites across Canada.

BCATP provided bases, aircraft and instructors to train Commonwealth air and ground crew

The Lancaster Bomber was the largest four-engine plane flown by the RCAF. During the war 7,374 were made and many of them in Canada.

The Luftwaffe made countless bombing raids.

At one point every British fighter was in the air.

RAF made a surprise bombing on Berlin. As revenge, Hitler decided to Blitz the

cities. He would terrorize the civilians into surrendering.

However, this did not work. British resistance grew stronger.

Hitler could not defeat Britain and Winston Churchill.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) fought back. Britain used an advanced radar system

and retained control of British air space

At sea, British ships torpedoed and sank the German battleship Bismarck in 1941.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXbfWPyMLFI

Germany reneged on its non-aggression pact (an agreement between nations not to launch a military attack against one another) and attacked the Soviet Union.

Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union as he needed oil and wheat.

He used the Blitzkrieg. This attack was a costly

mistake, because he began a 2-front war.

It also made the Soviet Union and England allies.

Britain needed food and munitions from Canada and the USA

Germany’s objective was to overcome Britain by cutting off its lifelines to North America.

Convoys of merchant ships, protected by naval vessels, took the needed across the ocean constantly under the attack by the German U-boats (known as wolf-packs)

Corvettes – small fast warship used in convoys

Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian merchant marines played a crucial role.

USA started to sell war materials to England and France.

Roosevelt also had a lend-lease agreement where he would lend military equipment and those nations could pay for the equipment after the war.

Churchill and Roosevelt also drew up the Atlantic Charter, which promised that neither Great Britain nor USA wanted to gain territory after WWII.

French portDespite the original plan for

the troops to be covered by aerial bombers, this was not the case.

The commander of the Canadian 2nd Division feared bombardment would block the streets, making it difficult for his tanks to pass

Politicians feared bombardment would cause unnecessary casualties among the civilian population.

In July, the 1st operation was cancelled due to bad weather.

In August, the operation was re-configured with many new Canadians who did not receive detailed training for the raid.

The raiding force set sail and as it approached Dieppe it encountered a small German convoy.

Shots were exchanged which alerted the German troops in Dieppe and this upset the entire timetable for the raid.

They planned for the 1st landing to be at half-light, but it happened in early morning at 6am.

With good visibility, the Germans pinned the troops on the beaches.

By 11am a withdrawal of all forces were ordered.

Number Embarked 4963

Killed 907

Wounded 586

Taken Prisoner 1874

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5OtNZloUWo

Japan was gaining territory in Asia. In 1940, America stopped exporting gasoline and metal to Japan (embargo) in an attempt to stop the Japanese by hurting their economy.

In 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

USA declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on USA and the USA declared war on them.

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, coastal BC was “blacked out.” All lights had to be turned off or shielded so that cities and towns were invisible at night. There was a fear in Canada that we could be attacked by navy vessels or aircraft.

Lost civil rightsIn 1941, 23,000 Japanese were

living in Canada. 14,000 were born in Canada.

They were established fishers, agriculturalists and professionals.

Many volunteered for the armed forces at the start of the war.

After Pearl Harbour, a wave of hysteria swept across North America.

1942: 22,000 Japanese Canadians were displaced from their homes and evacuated to internment camps in BC and labour camps in Prairies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3pWLO-RaC4&feature=related

They were allowed 1 suitcase of possessions.

The rest of their things were sold in public auctions and the profits were used to pay for internment camps.

Housing was un-insulated shacks with no running water or electricity. Men and boys were separated.

If you protested, you were sent to concentration camps in Ontario and he had to wear a uniform with a large red circle

Men were put to work on roads and were paid .25 a day.

Women, children and seniors were confined to the camps until the end of the war.

After the war, many were forced to resettle in the Prairies and Ontario.

4000 were deported This was considered a violation of their civil

rights and in 1988 the government agreed to pay 21,000 in compensation to each surviving evacuee.

4 main theatres of war = Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands

Japan = Guam, Wake Islands, Hong Kong, British Malaya, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. In 1941, 1,900 Canadians went Hong Kong to help the island defend itself against Japan. But they were unsuccessful.

Nazis had advanced as far as Stalingrad (Soviet Union). In North Africa Germany reached Egypt and threatened the Suez Canal and the British naval base at Alexandria.

Pacific American flyers led a surprise attack on TokyoBattle of Coral Sea = stopped the Japanese threat of invasion of AustraliaMidway Island = Japanese were defeated

North Africa and EuropeGermany was driven out of Egypt and eventually out of Africa.Allies invaded Sicily including the Canadian First Division. The Italian campaign was long and difficult. The battle for Ortona was a difficult for Canadians.The Germans turned it into a series of house-to-house fights. Canadians found it too dangerous to fight their way up the streets, so they found a way to move directly from one building to another. They would blast a hold through a connecting wall in a top storey. Before the smoke cleared, troops raced through the hole throwing grenades and firing machine guns.The technique was called “mouseholing,” and soldiers worked their way down entire blocks without ever going into the street. Canadians became known as experts in street fighting. It took a month to capture the town.650 Canadians were killed or wounded.

Allies’ Turning PointSoviet Armies, aided by a bitterly cold winter,

made a heroic stand at Stalingrad and stopped the Nazi advance.

Allied planes made a series of round-the-clock raids on German factories. The German people realized how terrible was could be and what Hitler caused.

1944, British, American and Canadian and free French troops invaded the French region of Normandy.

General Eisenhower was the commander.

Allies had two advantages:#1 was sheer numbers.

They had superiority of air power, backed by the large armada ever assembled, as well as the ability to land upwards of 1 million ground troops within 2 or 3 weeks after the initial landing

Air 6000 planes, 3000 fighters, opposed by just 300 German planes

Sea 4000 ships of all sizes – battleships, cruisers, destroyers, troop transports, and landing craft – with 200,000 sailors. Canada provided 110 ships and 10,000 men

Army An initial force of 107,000 soldiers, with reserves in England of over 1 million. Canada contributed an infantry division and an armoured brigade; another infantry division and two armoured divisions were in reserve in England.

#2 The Allies kept the destination of the invasion force a secret from the Germans until after it landed.

Part of the success rested on the appointment of General George Patton, a top field commander, to lead a fictitious American Third Army in Southeast England.

Patton’s “force” consisted largely of dummy tanks, trucks, and a massive number of false radio transmissions.

The Germans, feeling that Patton was too valuable to kept out of important action elsewhere, believed totally in the deception.

Canadian Third DivisionMen were well preparedSupported by a huge amount

of artillery – Battleships, cruisers, destroyers and specialized landing craft had been equipped to fire rockets on the German defenders.

Allied aircraft had extensively bombed behind the German positions on the beaches, so as to prevent reinforcements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_SfDEzT8TQ

Allies began the offensive that took them across France to Germany and final victory.

1944 Allied soldiers liberated Paris

Germans made their last counter-offensive in Belgium in Dec. 1944. This was known as the Battle of the Bulge. 76,000men killed. The Allied forces won and moved into Germany.

1945 Allied armies advanced into Germany.

Canadians were given the job of the liberation of Holland.

6300 Canadians killed or wounded

By mid-April, most German units had surrendered.

War ended in 1945Roosevelt died suddenly, Mussolini was shot by

anti-Fascists and Hitler passed his last days hidden in a bombproof shelter. He killed himself when the Soviet army entered Berlin. Fighting ended in Italy on the same day.

May 8th 1945 victory in Europe was proclaimed (known as V-E Day)

Japanese defeat was near. Philippines and island of Okinawa were captured. The Atomic bomb was used on Hiroshima (Little Boy) and Nagasaki (Fat Man). The next day, Japanese surrendered.

Sept. 2, 1945 the Japanese signed the agreement which ended the war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB-atl3YBSQ

Army 22 910

RCAF 17 047

RCN 1 981

Total 41 938

United Nations was formed to be the new global organization for maintaining peace.

Free elections would be held in Eastern European countries

Poland was to given German land in exchange for Polish land to be taken in the east by Russia.

Germany was divided into American, British, French, and Soviet military zones.

Trials of Nazi war criminals were to take place

July 1945, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam, Germany where they agreed on a peace settlement with Germany and drew up plans for Japan’s surrender and occupation.

1947 Canada became the 1st Commonwealth Country to define its citizens as Canadians first and British subjects 2nd.