Chapter 11
World War II
Hitler’s Rise April 10: Hindenburg is re-
elected President by a small margin over Hitler.
June: An international conference effectively ends German reparations obligations
July 31: National elections, called by Chancellor to strengthen his position in the Reichstag, results in doubled Nazi representations.
Hitler’s Rise Jan. 30: Hitler becomes Chancellor Feb. 27: Fire partly destroys the Reichstag building. The
government increases persecution of the opposition parties.
March 5: In national elections the NSDAP wins 44% 1934: Hitler becomes president in an 88% vote
Union with Austria “Anschluss” 90% of Austrians were
German speaking Austria would welcome
German aid due to economic downturn
1934—Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss rejects Nazi overtures, assassinated by Nazis July 1934
Italy sends 100,000 troops to Austrian border to defend Austria, Hitler retreats
Rome Berlin axis of 1936
Union with Austria
Union with Austria 1938: Hitler and Mussolini in
agreement Nazis bomb public buildings
in Vienna to stir up fears March 8: Chancellor
Schuschnigg forced to resign by Nazis, replaced by Nazi sympathizer Seyss-Inquart
March 11: Germany marches into
Austria Orders troops to retreat
The Policy of Appeasement Sudetenland Crisis—Reasons for Takeover1) To prevent war on two fronts (Russia)2) Resources3) Possible Russian attack through Sudetenland4) Hatred of Slavs
The Policy of AppeasementHitler instructs Sudetenland leader Henlein to
demand separation from CzechoslovakiaStages protests and riotsMunich, September 27 1938—Chamberlain,
Hitler, Mussolini, and Daladier of France (Czechoslovakia and Russia not invited)
“How horrible is it that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel far away between people we do not know.”
The Policy of AppeasementMarch 23: Hitler takes
Memel from LithuaniaAppeasement is no
longer viableAugust 1939: Nazi-
Soviet PactSeptember 1: Poland
Wartime Europe
World War IIBlitzkrieg—Maginot Line1930’s—Switzerland to
BelgiumPhony War / SitzkriegBritish secure in the
safety of the Maginot Line—war of trenches—WWI
World War IINorway, April 1940—iron ore, naval basesMay 1940—Chamberlain resignsMay-June—Belgium and HollandDutch open their canals, but the Germans
drop soldiers behind the linesHolland surrenders in 5 days
World War II: Key Battles
World War II Dunkirk: 380,000 British troops,
“Miracle of Dunkirk”—340,000 rescued
Battle of Britain: July-September 1940
Operation Sea Lion—the need to secure the air before launching a sea attack
Britain lost 857 planes, Germany lost twice as many
September 7: Operation Barbarossa
3 million Germans attack the Russian border
January 31, 1943: 200,000 German troops surrender at Stalingrad, General Von Paulus of Germany ignores Hitler’s orders to fight to the last man
World War IIJune 1943: 3,000 German tanks attack Kursk
—lose 2,000 tanks and 70,000 menAugust 1942: Dieppe—no air cover, and
limited naval supportJune 6, 1944: Deliverance Day, Operation
OverlordCanadians live in a fireproof house, far from
inflammable materialsA vast ocean separates us from Europe—
Senator Raoul Dundurand
World War II Isolationism and a policy of
appeasement Mackenzie King—overrides
the Canadian ambassadors attempt to include oil in the Italian embargo. Claims to have saved Europe from war.
Creates a Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion in answer to the Spanish civil war. Many communists and CCF members join.
1600 volunteers in total, and one half killed
War declared on Sept 1, 1939, but Mackenzie waits one week—September 10.
On the Battlefield Hong Kong 1941: a symbolic defense by Britain. 1900 Canadian troops are sent to defend Hong Kong from the Japanese.
December 18: Canadian, Indian and British troops are swarmed. Sergeant-Major John Osbourn dives on a live grenade, and Brigadier John Lawson runs at the Japanese to allow his troops to escape.
December 25: the surrender of Hong Kong begins the Japanese brutalities
Dieppe Prime Minister Winston
Churchill and Chief of Combined Operations Lord Mountbatten—Operation Jubilee
Poor reconnaissance, inaccurate field reports and no attempt at early shelling.
August 19, 1942: 6000 troops including 5000 new Canadians
Incorrect landing sites, an attack in broad daylight, and tanks breaking down on rocky shore lines
Battle plans over 100 pages in length
Dieppe Royal regiment of Canada—secure a beachhead, eliminate coastal defenses, cross a 12 foot sea wall and rows of barbed wire, scale a 200 foot cliff, and take out heavy machine guns and coastal batteries in under 30 minutes.
3,300 casualties including 900 dead. Dead bodies floating onto shore for days
1900 Canadian soldiers were sent to prison camps. Germans found memos ordering the Canadians to bind the hands of the German captives so that they could not destroy information or battle plans—Canadian soldiers had their hands manacled for a year in retaliation.
Deliberate incompetence?
Ortona July 1943: A Canadian
infantry and tank division begin the march up Italy
Sea side village of Ortona—two German divisions in a naturally defended city
Montgomery personally visits to demand success
Mouseholing 502 dead and 1,837
casualties one morning, the Germans simply left
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord June 6, 1944: 107,000
men attack French soil, including 14,000 Canadians with 110 Canadian warships
In total, more than one million Canadians fought in World War Two, and 45,000 gave their lives. 55,000 were wounded.
The Homefront C.D. Howe—Minister of
Everything (Minister of Munitions and Supply)
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. 131,500 airmen trained in Canadian skies
Battle of the Atlantic: Canadian fleet grows from 13 to 373 ships. 1200 Canadians died during the battle of the Atlantic
Malta and George “Buzz” Beurling: 31 kills and among Britain’s’ top ten aces
The HomefrontConscription if necessary, but not necessarily
conscription—1942 a plebiscite is held on whether Canadians should release the government from its’ promise
Quebec votes 73% against conscription and the rest of Canada votes 80% in favour.
King decides to draft the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) volunteers—those that had volunteered for home services (Zombies)
Quebec is satisfied that King tried to keep his promise, and few Zombies are ever harmed in the promise. 100,000 are called up, but over half desert. 13,000 are actually sent overseas, and 2,500 actually make it to the battlefield. 69 are killed in action.
The Holocaust Immigration numbers during 1933-45
Britain: 195,000 USA: 200,000 Argentina: 50,000 Brazil: 25,000 Canada: 4,850
“…to keep this part of the continent free from unrest and from too great an inter-mixture of foreign strains of blood.”—King
Abbe Groulx denounces Jews as a “race that refused to be assimilated.”
Adrien Aucoin (fascist leader) demands that quotas be restricted even more
McGill instills quotas in university…
Japanese Canadians B.C Asiatic Exclusion League— “Stand for White Canada” Ian Mackenzie, Minister of Pensions and Health: “Let our
slogan be for British Columbia: ‘No Japs from the Rockies to the sea!’”
All Japanese who refused to leave would be imprisoned Sept. 1942: 22,000 (75% were Canadian citizens) had been
moved inland as well as 660 Germans and 480 Italians Loyalty commissions were held at the end of the war to
determine who to let back in—in the end, over 4000 Japanese were hounded out of Canada—1/3 were children who did not speak Japanese
NOTE: Canada’s action contravened the new United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
Japanese CanadiansDeportations based on racial grounds were actually
declared as crimes against humanityKing writes in his diary after the atomic bomb was
dropped that he was glad this happened to the yellow people, and not the decent white people
Government studies show that the Japanese lost at a minimum $443 million in property.
1988 government awards an apology, full pardon to all those wrongly convicted, as well as $21,000 compensation
1990—Canada apologizes to all Italians who were imprisoned, but no compensation