Transcript CANADIAN HISTORY XI Major Battles and Storming Juno

CANADIAN HISTORY XI
Major Battles and Storming Juno Documentary
LIST OF THE MAJOR BATTLES FOUGHT
DURING WWII
Dunkirk
 Normandy Juno
 Battle of Britain
(“Operation Sea Lion”)
 Invasion of USSR
(“Operation
Barbarossa”)
 Battle of Stalingrad
 Pearl Harbour
 Invasion of Hong
Kong
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Dieppe Raid
Battle of the Atlantic
Invasion of Italy
D-Day (“Operation
Overlord”)
bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki air land
see
DIEPPE RAID
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French port
Troops should have been covered by
aerial bombers (didn’t happen)
The commander of Canadian 2nd
Division feared bombardment would
block the streets
Politicians feared bombardment
would cause unnecessary casualties
among the civilian population.
DIEPPE
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The 1st operation was cancelled due
to bad weather.
The operation was re-configured
with many new Canadians who did
not receive proper training.
Encountered a German convoy. The
confrontation alerted the German
troops
 Upset the timetable for the raid
 Landing early in the morning the
Germans pinned the troops on the
beaches.
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By 11am a withdrawal of all forces
were ordered.
CANADIAN CASUALTIES
Number Embarked
4963
Killed
907
Wounded
586
Taken Prisoner
1874
CLIP ON THE DIEPPE RAID
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
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Britain needed food and munitions from
Canada and the USA
Germany’s objective was to cut off
Britain’s lifelines to North America.
Convoys of merchant ships, protected by
naval vessels, took what was needed
across the ocean.
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Under the attack by the German U-boats
Corvettes – small fast warship used in
convoys
INVASION OF HONG KONG
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Japanese forces attacked a prepared but ill-equipped
defense.
Japanese aircraft attacked the Kai Tak airport, enemy
advances forced units to fall back to the "Gin Drinkers'
Line".
Shing Mun Redoubt was captured
 High ground and strategic position on in the Gin
Drinker's Line. Attacked in the cover of darkness,
but in the end the Japanese were victorious.
Their victory at night revealed how General Maltby
had completely underestimated his enemy. He
ordered the mainland troops to withdraw from the
mainland.
INVASION OF HONG KONG
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The fighting in Hong Kong ended with immense
Canadian casualties: 290 killed and 493
wounded.
For more than three and a half years, the
Canadian POWs were imprisoned in Hong Kong
and Japan in the foulest of conditions and had to
endure brutal treatment and near-starvation.
In the filthy, primitive POW quarters in
Northern Japan, they would often work 12 hours
a day in mines or on the docks in the cold,
subsisting on rations of 800 calories a day.
BATTLE OF BRITAIN
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RAF made a surprise bombing on Berlin.
As revenge, Hitler decided to Blitz the
cities. He would terrorize the civilians
into surrendering.
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However, this did not work. British
resistance grew stronger.
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Hitler could not defeat Britain and
Winston Churchill.
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Britain used an advanced radar system
and retained control of British air space
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At sea, British ships torpedoed and sank
the German battleship Bismarck in 1941.
PEARL HARBOUR
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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 Harbor. Following
this USA joined the war.
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, coastal BC
was “blacked out.” All lights had to be turned off
or shielded so that cities and towns were invisible
at night.
HIROSHIMA
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The atomic bomb was first used in warfare at
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Key
in the ending of WWII.
The amount of energy 'Little Boy' generated
when it exploded was the equivalent of a 15
kiloton TNT explosion
The explosion of 'Little Boy' also created alpha,
beta, gamma and neutron rays.
 Gamma and neutron rays affected the people
of Hiroshima.
 Radiation poisoning killed many people in the
city.
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NORMANDY (JUNO)
 Canadian Third Division of well prepared
men
 The Division was supported by a great deal
of artillery:
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Battleships
Cruisers
Destroyers
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.
D-DAY: OPERATION OVERLOAD
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1944, British, American and Canadian
and free French troops invaded the
French region of Normandy.
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General Eisenhower was the
commander
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Allies had two advantages:
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The allies had 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
D-DAY
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#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:
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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.