Canadian History XI

1. Canadian History XI Major Battles and Storming Juno Documentary

2. 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 • Dieppe Raid • Battle of the Atlantic • Invasion of Italy • D-Day (“Operation Overlord”) • bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki air land see

3. Dieppe Raid • 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.

4. Dieppe • 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. • By 11am a withdrawal of all forces were ordered.

5. Canadian Casualties

6. Clip on The Dieppe Raid

7. Battle of the Atlantic • 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. • Under the attack by the German U-boats • Corvettes – small fast warship used in convoys

9. Invasion of Hong Kong • 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.

10. Invasion of Hong Kong • 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.

11. Battle of Britain • RAF made a surprise bombing on Berlin. • As revenge, Hitler decided to Blitz the cities. He would terrorize the civilians into surrendering. • However, this did not work. British resistance grew stronger. • Hitler could not defeat Britain and Winston Churchill. • Britain used an advanced radar system and retained control of British air space • At sea, British ships torpedoed and sank the German battleship Bismarck in 1941.

12. Pearl Harbour • 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.

13. Hiroshima • 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.

14. Normandy (Juno) • Canadian Third Division of well prepared men • The Division was supported by a great deal of artillery: • 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.

15. D-Day: Operation Overload • 1944, British, American and Canadian and free French troops invaded the French region of Normandy. • General Eisenhower was the commander • Allies had two advantages: • 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

16. D-Day • #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: • 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.