1. World War II

2. Causes of WWII
• Hitler and the Nazis gained power in
Germany in 1933 during a state of economic
depression
• Hitler blamed Germany’s problems on the
terms of the Treaty of Versailles signed at the
end of WWI
• Hitler ignored the Treaty of Versailles and
began rebuilding the German armed forces
• March 1938, the Nazis annex Austria
– In June the allied countries appease
Germany by allowing them to annex part
of Czechoslovakia

3. Causes of WWII
• When German armies invaded Poland,
England and France declared war on
Germany
• WWII started in September 1939 when
Germany invaded Poland
• The two sides would be:
1) The Allies – Britain, France, the U.S.S.R.,
the U.S., Canada, and other
commonwealth countries
2) The Axis – Germany, Italy, Japan

4. The Phony War
• German armies invade Poland in September of 1939
• When German armies invaded Poland, England and
France declared war on Germany
• The Nazi armies crushed Poland in less than 1 month
• Hitler used German tanks and Stuka dive bombers to
invade like lightning, a strategy he called Blitzkrieg or
“lightning war”
• Although England and France declared war on Germany
neither country immediately went to the aid of Poland.
This period of the war became known as the “Phony War”
or “Sitzkrieg”
The city in Poland destroyed by
Luftwaffe bombing

5. Canada Entering the War
• Statute of Westminster (1931) – gave Canada
complete control over
its dealings with foreign nations.
• One week after Britain declared war, PM King
called Parliament and a declaration of war was
passed.
• King told the Canadians that Canada would not
practice conscription and would send few soldiers,
but would help the war effort in the form of food
and manufactured goods.

6. Canada Entering the War
• King did not want to divide Canada with the issue
of conscription as in WWI.
• Only after the defeat of France (1940) did Canada
make a full-scale war effort
• By then, France, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Norway, and other smaller countries had fallen to
the Nazis.
• Britain stood alone and was in danger of defeat.

7. Total War
• Canada with the fall of France in 1940,
became Britain's’ most powerful ally until
1941
• In 1941 Japan declared war on the USA
by attacking Pearl Harbor and thus
(somewhat predictably) brought the US
into the war against the Axis powers
• Japan also attacks Canadian forces in
HONG Kong in 1941 and takes the
surviving soldiers as prisoners of war.
• The Fall of France
• Attack on Pearl Harbor Roosevelt's speech

8. Battle of Dunkirk
British fisherman giving a
hand to an Allied soldier
while a Stuka's bomb
explodes a few meters
ahead
BBC - History - Animated Map: The
Fall of France (Dunkirk)

9. Dunkirk
Battle of France, Dunkirk: May 25-31, 1940
• German armed forces pressed the Allied armies
trapped in the north, from south and east, into the
English Channel. Meanwhile, German infantry
divisions reinforced the southern flank of the
German penetration.

10. The “Miracle of Dunkirk”
• As men retreated, they moved North towards
England. They had no way to cross the channel, the
Germans pursued behind them. If caught, the
soldiers would be forced to surrender, and England
and the allies would lose hundreds of thousands of
troops.
• The officers of the German air force told Hitler they
could defeat the allies in three days, so Hitler turned
towards Paris with his land army, to complete the
conquest of France.

11. The “Miracle of Dunkirk”
Continued..
• As news reached Britain, a plan was developed to evacuate
the British and French soldiers back to England.
• In one of the most heroic examples of civilian bravery during
WWII hundreds of ships, including many pleasure craft and
other non-military vessels crewed by civilians crossed the
channel to do their part and help the men of England.
•
Miraculously, while the men were being evacuated foggy
weather inhibited the efforts of the German Luftwaffe. The
channel usually choppy waters, remained calm, allowing for
quick evacuation. By June 3rd, 338,226 men were evacuated
from Dunkirk.

12. Battle of Britain (1940-1941)
• Only Britain remained unconquered
• Hitler ordered his air force to attack military
targets, and then civilian targets in Britain
• The Royal Air Force, along with many
Canadian pilots, fought back against all odds
until the German air raids ceased.

13. Battle of Britain (1940-1941)
• The “Battle of Britain” lasted 8 months and
cost the lives of 40 553 men, woman and
children.
• Hitler, after failing to gain air superiority over
Britain during the summer months, decided to
turn his army East against the U.S.S.R.
• It was the first German defeat of the war.
Battle of Britain Newsreels

14. • The Supermarine
Spitfire was the
most notorious of
the RAF’s WWII
arsenal. (But the
Hurricane was way
more important and
did a lot more than
the spitfire!!)

15. Battle of the Atlantic

16. Battle of the Atlantic
• During WWII, supplies for England and the Allied
forces in Europe were carried by ship across the
North Atlantic Ocean.
• Thousands of Canadian merchant sailors served on
ships carrying food, fuel, weapons, ammunition,
and other supplies to English ports.
• These sailors faced the constant threat of attack
from German submarines.

17. Battle of the Atlantic
• Thousands more Canadians served on Naval
vessels and in aircrafts that were assigned to
protect the merchant ships from enemy attack.
• In 1940, the German navy launched a campaign of
submarine warfare using U-Boat Wolf-packs to cut
off Britain’s oversea lifelines.

18. Battle of the Atlantic
• From 1940 on these sailors faced the constant threat of
attack from German submarines
• Known as U-Boats they traveled in groups known as wolfpacks through out the North Atlantic Ocean
• The wolf-packs were particularly dangerous in the area of
the Atlantic Ocean that air-planes could not defend called
the Black Pit.
• Battle of the Atlantic

19. Bomber Command
• In October of 1942, No.6 Group of Bomber
Command was created to be completely
manned by Canadian officers and men and at
the end of the war it had grown to thirteen
squadrons
• The Canadian Squadrons were based at
airfields in England except three squadrons
temporarily posted to North Africa to aid in
the invasion of Sicily and Italy in 1943.
• Eight thousand decorations for bravery were
awarded to No. 6 Group aircrew

20. Eastern Front
• The eastern front of the war effort was as
important (if not more so) to the allied victory
as the western front.
• Russia and Germany’s campaigns against one
another marked the largest, costliest and
most ferocious fighting in the war
• Some of the most lethal battles in human
history occurred on the eastern front of WWII

21. Lend-Lease Act
• The USA passed the Lend-Lease Act, allowing
President Roosevelt the power to spend $7
billion to lend or lease military aid to Britain
and its allies
• By 1942 Canadian and American shipyards
were able to build merchant ships at faster
rate that U-boats were sinking Allied Vessels.
• Until that point the U-boats were sinking
allied vessels faster than the Allies could
produce them

22. Merchant Sailors
• After the war Canadian merchant sailors were
treated as civilian participants and were not given
the same benefits as veterans of the army, navy or
air force.
• Examples, they were not eligible for:
– Pension-able benefits
– Free university education
– Housing or land-grant benefits
– No small business financial aid
– Veteran’s health care benefits

23. Hong Kong
•
•
•
Japanese victory parade in Hong
Kong, 1941
•
December 1941, 2000
Canadian Soldiers are sent
to hold Hong Kong
they are unable to hold
Hong Kong in the face of
overwhelming odds
Part One Invasion of Hong
Kong
Part Two Invasion of Hong
Kong

24. U.S. Enters the War
• U.S. boycotts Japan
• Japanese attack naval
base at Pearl Harbor, HI,
Dec. 7, 1941.
• U.S. declares war on
Japan, Germany & Italy
declare war on U.S.
• U.S. and other allies
decided to defeat
Germany first, then
defeat Japan
The USS Arizona burning after the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941

25. Dieppe, France
• By 1942, the Allies were making plans to
retake Europe
• To accomplish this, the Allies launched a series
of raids across the English Channel
• One of these raids was against the French
town of Dieppe which was in enemy hands
• Canadian troops were given the job of
capturing the town

26. Dieppe, France
• The Plan: During the cover of night, Canadian
troops were to surprise the enemy from the
beach while bombers destroyed the German
guns from the air.
• Problems: Delays caused the ships to land on
the beach during daylight
– Delays caused the bombers to be late on the
attack.
– Soldiers were picked off as they scrambled for
cover.
– Commanders in the boats could not see what was
happening and continued to send reinforcements
onto the beach.

27. Dieppe, France
• The Aftermath:
– Of 4963 Canadians who landed, 2853 were
killed or captured
– More Canadian soldiers died in those few
hours at Dieppe than in any other day of
the war (but still less than Vimy Ridge in
WWI!!!)
– Dieppe remains
under German
control until the
liberation of France
in 1944

28. The Raid on Dieppe
Footage from Dieppe

29. “Soft Underbelly”
The Italian Campaign
• Canada invaded Sicily in July, 1943
• Mussolini forced out of office, later shot and
hung
• The new Italian government surrendered on
September 3, 1943
• Italy then declares war against Germany, Oct.
1944. the Germans immediately seized control
and thus it was German troops that the Allies
faced in their advance up the Italian peninsula

30. “Soft Underbelly”
The Italian Campaign
• Germans held Northern Italy (Alps) until
spring, 1945
• Sometimes the soldiers of the Italian
Campaign are called “D-Day Dodgers” because
they were already fighting when the primary
invasion of the mainland began
• However the brave men who fought against
Hitler’s elite Waffen SS paratroopers do not
care for the nickname.

31. D-Day
• In June 1944- D-Day – the long awaited allied
invasion on Europe across the English channel
began.
• It was code named Operation Overlord, and
involved almost 1 million soldiers.
• British, American, and Canadian troops
stormed ashore along the entire coast of the
French province of Normandy.
• Juno Beach was the Canadian objective
• Canadian troops struck at first light, pouring
out of their landing craft and advancing
across the sand up into the town of Caen.

32. D-Day
• The allies were back on French soil
• D-day marked the beginning of the end for
Germany.
• Canadians continued to fight for months in
order to take back all of the French ports
along the English Channel.
• They then helped to liberate Belgium and the
Netherlands from German control.

33. • D-Day, The Beginning of the End of World
War Two

34. Canada at the end of the War
in Europe
• Canadian soldiers were give the difficult task of
liberating Holland whose people had suffered
severely under German control. Canadians in
Netherlands Veterans Remember
• 6300 Canadians were killed and wounded in the
operation, but by mid-April, most German units had
surrendered and the Canadians turned their
attention to helping the Dutch
• Canada was also crucial in the success of the Italian
Campaign in Europe The forgotten army

35. The End of the War
• In March of 1945, the Allied armies advanced into
Germany
• On May 8, 1945, the German forces surrendered and
the war in Europe was officially over. This becomes
known as VE or Victory in Europe Day. The war in the
Pacific continued.
• The Allies agreed that the US, the Soviet Union,
Britain and France should occupy Germany
• They would oversee a program of political and
economic reform that would restore peace to
Europe.
• End of the War
• Churchill’s declaration of peace

36. Yalta Conference, February 1945. Original caption: "Conference of the Big Three at Yalta makes
final plans for the defeat of Germany. Here the "Big Three" sit on the patio together, Prime
Minister Winston S. Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Premier Josef Stalin

37. The End of the War in Japan
• While peace came to Europe on May 8th 1945 war
with Japan continued
• In the US, American, British, and Canadian
scientists had spent years developing a powerful
new weapon: the atomic bomb
• President Truman of the US decided to bomb two
Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Close to 500 000 died
• The Japanese realized they could not continue a
war in which the enemy was willing to use atomic
weapons on civilian populations
• On August 15th 1945, they surrendered

38. World Peace: Canada and the
United Nations, the creation of the
U.N
• As WWII drew to a close, delegates from
countries around the world gathered in San
Francisco to create an organization that
would ensure that such a global conflict
would never happen again
• The U.N. was a compromise between the
US, Britain, France, China and the Soviet
Union, and other smaller countries.

39. Organizations sponsored by the UN
• The World Health Organization (W.H.O) battles global
health problems
• United Nations International Children's Emergency
Fund (UNICEF) Originally, responsible for assisting child
welfare in countries devastated by the Second World
War
• Expanded its scope to developing countries after 1951
• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) works to improve education
standards and promote cultural activities
• Canada has always seen the UN as the best means of
contributing to world peace to solving problems of
global health, poverty, pollution and discrimination