Canada entered the war in 1939 with a tiny army, a navy of 13 ships and an air force with few modern planes. By 1945, more than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders had served in uniform, from a Canadian population of only about 11.5 million, and Canada had one of the largest navies and air forces among the Allies. More than 45,000 of them lost their lives. Canadians fought on the ocean, in the air over Europe, on the beaches of France, in the mountains of Italy and in the flooded fields of the Netherlands. This lesson follows where they served and why each campaign mattered.
Training the air forces: the BCATP
Canada's wide skies, distance from the fighting and closeness to US aircraft factories made it an ideal training ground. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), agreed in December 1939, airfields and schools were built across the country. By 1945 the plan had trained more than 130,000 pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners and other aircrew from Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere; more than half were Canadian. Canadians then flew in every theatre; in Bomber Command alone, which included the all-Canadian No. 6 Group formed in January 1943, nearly 10,000 Canadian airmen were killed.
The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939–1945
Britain could not survive, and no invasion of Europe could happen, without a steady flow of food, fuel, weapons and soldiers across the Atlantic. German submarines (U-boats), often hunting in groups called wolf packs, sank thousands of Allied merchant ships. Canada's answer was the convoy: groups of merchant ships sailing together, guarded by warships, many assembling in Halifax's Bedford Basin and at Sydney, Nova Scotia. The Royal Canadian Navy grew from 13 ships to about 400 vessels and some 95,000 people, many crewing small, wet, uncomfortable corvettes. The fighting reached Canada itself: in 1942 U-boats sank ships in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, including the passenger ferry SS Caribou in October 1942. More than 1,600 sailors of Canada's and Newfoundland's merchant navy were killed, a higher death rate than in any of the fighting services, yet merchant mariners were long denied full veterans' recognition.
Hard defeats: Hong Kong and Dieppe
| Hong Kong | Dieppe | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Japanese attack began December 8, 1941; the colony surrendered December 25, 1941 | August 19, 1942 |
| Canadians involved | 1,975 soldiers of the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada, sent to reinforce the British garrison | Nearly 5,000 of the roughly 6,100 troops in a raid on the German-held French port |
| What happened | Outnumbered and without air or naval support, the garrison fought for more than two weeks before surrendering | Troops landed around dawn against strong, alert defences; most were pinned on the beaches, and the raid was over by early afternoon |
| Human cost | About 290 killed in battle; about 264 more died as prisoners of war after years of brutal treatment | 916 Canadians killed and nearly 1,950 taken prisoner |
| Significance | First Canadian army units to fight in the war; raised questions about why poorly prepared troops were sent | The bloodiest single day for the Canadian Army in the war; planners drew lessons used for D-Day |
Italy, Normandy and the Netherlands
- Sicily and Italy (July 1943–February 1945): more than 93,000 Canadians fought up the mountainous Italian peninsula. At Ortona in December 1943, they fought house to house for a week, blasting through walls to avoid German fire in the streets. Nearby, Captain Paul Triquet of the Royal 22e Régiment earned the Victoria Cross for leading the capture and defence of Casa Berardi. More than 5,900 Canadians died in the Italian campaign.
- D-Day (June 6, 1944): in the largest seaborne invasion in history, about 14,000 Canadians landed at Juno Beach, and Canadian paratroopers dropped inland in Normandy. Canadian troops pushed farther inland on the first day than most Allied forces. That day cost 1,074 Canadian casualties, including 359 killed; the Normandy campaign that followed, around Caen and Falaise, cost thousands more.
- The Scheldt (October–November 1944): the First Canadian Army cleared the Scheldt estuary in Belgium and the Netherlands so ships could use the port of Antwerp, which was vital for supplying the Allied armies. It cost 6,367 Canadian casualties.
- Liberation of the Netherlands (1944–1945): Canadians freed much of the Netherlands while the Dutch suffered the Hunger Winter, when food ran out in the occupied west. In late April 1945 a truce allowed food deliveries, and German forces in the Netherlands surrendered on May 5, 1945. More than 7,600 Canadians died liberating the Netherlands. The Dutch still send tulips to Ottawa every year in thanks.