Transcript Canada`s Role in Battles of WWII

World War II:
Canada’s Role
Recap: The War Begins…
• When did WWII
break out?
• What was Hitler’s
last action before
Britain and France
declared war?
• What tactic did
Hitler use? Why was
it effective?
Enter Canada…
• How did Canada’s entry to
WWII differ than her entry
to WWI?
• What new law allowed
Canada to make her own
decisions?
• Prime Minister Mackenzie
King was prepared to send
roughly 40 000 troops and
anticipated a role as the
main supplier of food and
war materials for Britain
The House of Commons on
September 7, 1939, the first day of
the special session in which
Canada's Parliament decided to
declare war on Germany. Canada
declared war on Sept. 10, 1939
Phoney War…. Then War!
• Sept. 1939 – May 1940-
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called “phoney war”: due
to lack of any military
operation or attack by
either side….
THEN in 1940, Hitler’s
modern army overran
Denmark, Norway,
Belgium, Luxembourg and
the Netherlands. Soon,
Hitler turned his attention
to France.
The Miracle of Dunkirk
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Thousands of British troops raced across the English Channel to defend France. A
contingent of Canadian soldiers remained in Britain to defend against the expected German
invasion.
Despite Britain's valiant effort, the Germans advanced rapidly into France leaving both
British and French troops trapped.
In May, 1940, British troops had to be evacuated from the seaport town of Dunkirk on the
French coast.
300 000soldiers were rescued by boats of all sizes- in addition to the British destroyers, a
makeshift fleet of sightseeing boats, river ferries, fishing boats and privately owned crafts
sailed across the British Channel to return the stranded troops safely back to Britain.
• Despite the “miracle” it was a terrible defeat, much of the heavy
British war equipment had to be abandoned and France fell in
six weeks.
The Move to Centre Stage…
• QUESTION: How would Hitler’s
successes in Europe change
Canada’s role in war?
• Canada’s role in WWII evolved to
the centre stage:
-convoys became a vital lifeline to
the survival of Britain
-more Canadian troops sent to
Britain
-Canadian increased wartime
industries such as food, guns,
munitions, supplies and armed
forces
The Russian Front
• On August 23rd, 1939,
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Stalin and Hitler signed a
“Non-Aggression Pact”
which vowed not to
interfere in each other’s
business
On June 22nd, 1941,
Germany invaded the
Soviet Union
Having purged his military
of many of its best officers,
Stalin and the Soviets were
not ready for war
The Eastern Front
• Operation “Barbarossa” –
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began on June 22nd, 1941
The early days saw the
Germans drive into the
Soviet Union almost
reaching Moscow by
October
The German army besieged
Leningrad for what was to
become a two year struggle
ending in the death of more
than one million civilians
When the severe Russian
winter arrived the Nazi
offensive broke down and
the German attack was
halted
The Tide Turns
• The Nazis needed supplies and
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resources to continue the war so
victory in the Soviet Union was
essential
From Sept. 14th, 1942 – Feb. 2nd,
1943 – the Germans and
Russians fought for the strategic
city of Stalingrad on the Volga
River
Hitler and the Nazis lost the
battle – 500 000 German and
other troops were killed or taken
prisoner
By the Autumn of 1943 the
Germany army of 2.5 million
soldiers faced an army of 5.5
million Soviet soldiers
Operation Barbarrosa – (Russian
Campaign)
• The Russian Red Army was successful in
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defeating the Germans because of 3 key
reasons:
1.) use of the scorched earth policy – burned
everything to the ground as they retreated
2.) the size of the Russian Red Army – every
man, woman and child fought including civilian
militias
3.) Russian Red Army attitude – never run,
desert, or refuse an order from above or face
getting shot yourself
Operation Barbarrosa
• Watch:
• https://youtu.be/8yOBCGwMpeo
• https://youtu.be/oJ3bzg-Tvt4
• https://youtu.be/wMvTR012Dmg
What was the situation in
1944?
 The Russians have
defeated the Germans
and are advancing in
the East
 The Allies are
victorious in Africa and
launch an assault on
mainland Italy through
Sicily
Italian Campaign
 From July 10th to August 17th – the Allies
including the Canadians fought and took
Sicily from the German Army – Codenamed
“Operation Husky”
 The Campaign of Italy was designed to take
the pressure off their Russian Allies and pull
German troops out of north-western Europe
readying the area for Operation “Overlord”
 9th September, 1943 the attack began on
Italy
 The Canadians were forced to fight for every
metre of the mountainous terrain as the
Germans refused to give it up
 Italian Campaign Animated Map
The Italians Surrender > Germany
vs Allies
 On the 8th of September, 1943,
the Italian Government
surrenders
 When Italy formally
surrendered on September
8th, the Italians separated into
two camps, pro-Allied and
pro-German factions.
 By September 26 the Allies
had built a force of 189,000
men and 30,000 vehicles.
 Following the Italian
surrender, the German Army
took control of the defence of
Germany
Ortona
 Ortona is an ancient city that
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consists of narrow streets and
connected houses
Much of Ortona was reduced to
rubble, making it difficult for the
Canadians to use tanks
The Germans barricaded
themselves in houses and mined
the streets
The fighting was house-tohouse-literally – the Canadians
blasted their way through walls
to get from building to building
called “mouseholing”
The battle continued over
Christmas Day, 1943 but three
days later the Germans
withdrew.
The Liberation of Rome
 It took four major
offensives between
January and May 1944
before the Allies
including British, US,
French, Polish, and
Canadian Corps broke
through
 Rome was declared an
open city by the German
army and the Allies took
possession on June 4th.
 Having
the Germans
occupied in Italy
allowed the allies to
move forward with
their plan to open up
the long awaited
western front in
Europe
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Winston Churchill and
Franklin Roosevelt
agreed it was time to
open up a new front in
the West through the
beaches of France
The obvious choice for a
landing area was the Pas
de Calais so the Allies
decided to attack in
Normandy instead but
believed they had to
deceive the Germans
they intended to attack
elsewhere
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Normandy is a peninsula on the French Coast
It was chosen because the Germans expected the attack
to be on the Pas de Calais
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The enemy must
remain ignorant of the
proposed landing site
The enemy must be
prevented from
bringing up
reinforcements quickly
once the allies landed
Complete Allied air
and naval superiority in
the English Channel
Local defences must
largely be destroyed
by air and sea
bombardment
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There would be five
sectors that would
be attacked:
Utah – American
Omaha – American
Gold – British
Juno – Canadian
Sword - British
 The
Atlantic Wall
was an extensive
system of coastal
fortifications built by
the Germans
between 1942 and
1944
 Built along the
western coast of
Europe to defend
against an
anticipated AngloAmerican led Allied
invasion of the
continent from Great
Britain.
• Early in 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was assigned to improve the defenses of
the Wall.
• A string of reinforced concrete pillboxes were built along the beaches to house
machine guns, antitank guns, and light artillery.
•Minefields and antitank obstacles were planted on the beaches and underwater
obstacles and mines were planted in the waters just off shore to destroy incoming
craft
•By the time of the invasion, the Germans had laid almost 6 million mines in northern
France.
 Operation
Overlord Simulation
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On the evening of
June 5th
paratroopers
dropped in to
secure bridges for
the allied advance
Heavy bombers
dropped their
payloads on what
was supposed to be
the beach defences
In the early morning
the largest armada
of ships left Britain
for the French coast
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Of the nearly 150,000 Allied
troops who landed or
parachuted into the
invasion area, 14,000 were
Canadians
The Royal Canadian Navy
contributed 110 ships and
10,000 sailors in support of
the landings while the
R.C.A.F. had helped
prepare the invasion by
bombing targets inland
Canadians suffered 1074
casualties, including 359
killed.
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Element of surprise (date, location)
Attack at low tide / first light
Massive air and naval support
(paratroopers)
Dividing of beaches (different objectives
based on geography, location, German
defences)
Breaking of German defences with Allied
tanks (pincers) and troops encircling Nazis
 Saving
Private Ryan: Chapter 1 (first 30
minutes)
The Liberation of Northwest Europe
 September 1944 the British captured
the Belgian port of Antwerp (docking
port for supplies)
 Canadians given the task of securing
the Scheldt Estuary (70-kilometre
long Scheldt River estuary linking
Antwerp to the sea)
 After 5 weeks of difficult fighting, the
1st Canadian Army with support from
other countries secured the Schedlt
Estuary
 By Nov. 8, 1944- Allies had cleared the
ports but at a cost of 12 873 Allies
casualties, half of them missing
The Battle of the Bulge
 The Ardennes Offensive known to the general
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public as the Battle of the Bulge, started on
December 16, 1944
Three powerful German armies plunged into the
semi-mountainous, heavily forested Ardennes region
of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg.
Their goal was to reach the sea, trap four allied
armies, and impel a negotiated peace on the Western
front.
Allied forces fought Germans
German losses were critical- reserves gone, Luftwaffe
had been broken and German army pushed back on
two fronts (east and west) > Germany now retreating
The Final Days
 In April 1945, the battle is
coming to a close.
 On the 30th April, Hitler
commits suicide together with
his mistress Eva Braun hours
after they were married.
 Hitler gave strict orders for his
body to be burned, so that his
enemies wouldn't do what they
had done to Mussolini, who was
publicly displayed hanging
upside down.
The Soviets Arrive – Berlin Falls
 By 2 May, the Reichstag, the old
German parliament falls and Berlin
surrenders to Marshall Zukhov,
who receives the honour of being
the conqueror of Berlin.
 The battle for Berlin cost the
Soviets over 70,000 dead. Many of
them died because of the haste with
which the campaign was
conducted.
VE-Day
 The major Allied ground offensive
from the west against German
territory began on 8 February 1945
 In April, Canadian troops liberated
most of the Netherlands
 The Germans formally surrendered
on 8 May 1945, known as Victory-inEurope, or ‘V-E’ Day
Why was the US Fighting Japan?
September 1940. The U.S. placed
an embargo on Japan by
prohibiting exports of steel, scrap
iron, and aviation fuel to Japan,
due to Japan's takeover of
northern French Indochina.
 June 1941 through the end of
July 1941. Japan occupied
southern Indochina. Two days
later, the U.S., Britain, and the
Netherlands froze Japanese
assets.
 The U.S. wanted to stop Japanese
expansion but the American
people were not willing to go to
war to stop it.
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Pearl Harbor
Prior to December 1941, Japan
pursued two simultaneous
courses: try to get the oil
embargo lifted on terms that
would still let them take the
territory they wanted, and to
prepare for war.
 Their greatest concern was the
the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based in
Pearl Harbor so the Japanese
navy planned to cripple the
Pacific Fleet by a surprise attack.
 The U.S. had broken the
Japanese diplomatic code and
knew an attack was imminent. A
warning had been sent from
Washington, but it arrived too
late.
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The Attack!
On December 7th 1941 the first
wave of Japanese airplanes left 6
aircraft carriers and struck Pearl
Harbor a few minutes before 8 AM
local time.
 Over the course of two hours, they
killed or wounded over 3,500
Americans and sank or badly
damaged 18 ships - including all 8
battleships of the Pacific Fleet
 At least 1,177 lives were lost when
the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona
exploded and subsequently sank.
 Both USA and Canada formally
declared war on Japan following
attack on Pearl Harbour
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Movie Clips:
Pearl Harbor:
 https://youtu.be/bxIsVYdB0lA
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War in the Pacific
Now that Germany had unconditionally
surrendered (VE Day), the Allies could
now put all effort to fighting Japan in the
Pacific
 Memories of Pearl Harbour still resonated
with Americans who wanted revenge
 After Pearl Harbour, both USA and Canada
interned Japanese- Americans and
Japanese Canadians
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Was the United States Justified
in Dropping the Atomic Bomb?
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Following FDR’s death, Harry
Truman becomes President of
the United States
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Truman decided to use the
bomb on Japan--- why?
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What do you think?
Justified or Unjustified?
Pros and Cons to Dropping the Bomb
YES- JUSTIFIED
 Strategic and conventional
bombing part of WWII
 Japan refused to unconditionally
surrender to Allies
 The alternative to using the
atomic bomb (bombardments /
blockade) would have had
devastating effects on the
Japanese population and would
have prolonged the war and their
suffering (starvation).
 The Japanese military were
preparing a desperate defense of
their homeland that would
inevitably produce high casualties
on both sides (estimated 500 000
Allied soldiers)
NO- UNJUSTIFIED
 Unethical and immoral- new
weapon with harsh effects
(radiation poisoning). William D.
Leahy, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs
of Staff stated: “My own feeling is that
in being the first to use it, we had
adopted an ethical standard common
to barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was
not taught to make war in that
fashion, and wars cannot be won by
destroying women and children.”
High civilian death toll (150 000)
 By 1945, Japan was crippled as a
result of the Allied blockade and
bombings and neared collapse =
surrender was immiment
 Americans wanted to show USSR
they had atomic bombs =
ushered in the Cold War
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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United States decided to use
atomic bomb on Japan
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Cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki chosen because of its
military and industrial
significance and concentrated
population (maximize the
damage)
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These are the only attacks with
nuclear weapons in the history
of warfare
Fat Man and Little Boy
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On August 6th, 1945 a lone B-29
Superfortress called the Enola Gay
by its crew took off and headed
for Hiroshima
At 8:15am the atomic bomb
nicknamed “Little Boy” was
dropped on Hiroshima
Within seconds two thirds of the
city was flattened and thousands
were dead
On August 11, a bomb called “Fat
Man” was dropped on Nagasaki at
11:02 am
At noon, August 15th, 1945 –
Emperor Hirohito spoke directly to
his people to tell them Japan had
surrendered
Atomic Bomb Clip
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Clip
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rHr
V2QhArA
Effects
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The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people
in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the
end of 1945,with roughly half of those deaths
occurring on the days of the bombings.
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Amongst these, 15–20% died from injuries or
the combined effects of flash burns, trauma,
and radiation burns, compounded by illness,
malnutrition and radiation sickness
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Since then, more have died from leukemia or
cancer attributed to exposure to radiation
released by the bombs. In both cities, most of
the dead were civilians.
Why Did the Allies Win?
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Complete material superiority – weapons
etc.
More soldiers
Better Strategy
Technology
Morale
Material and financial Wealth