Canada Declares War Canada and Early WWII March
- Slides: 11
Canada Declares War Canada and Early WWII
March, 1939 – Hitler invades Czechoslovakia (wasn’t happy with just the Sudetenland) August 23, 1939 – Germany and the USSR sign a nonaggression pact August 31, 1939 – Germany invades Poland Britain & France Declare War: September 3 rd, 1939 Canada Declares War: September 10 th, 1939
The "Phony War" (Sept. 1939 -May 1940) • Allied troops were not prepared for war • Troops that were deployed were very inexperienced • Spent months training, sometimes with wooden bullets
Germany & The USSR Begin Taking Europe… • Jointly take Poland by the end of September • November 1939 – USSR invades Finland • 1940 - USSR take Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) - Germany take Denmark in a day, Norway in a month -Canadians and Britons went to help, but it was too late - The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are taken by Germany Interactive Map of Nazi Aggression
Maginot Line – France • France had built concrete defences between themselves and Germany • They were preparing for a war like WWI • Germany goes around this defence by cutting through Belgium • Allied defences are pushed back to Dunkirk
The "Miracle" at Dunkirk • Hitler paused to plan tactics in dealing with the Allies in Dunkirk • In that time, the British assemble about 800 civilian boats + volunteers + 222 naval vessels • 4 of the naval vessels are Royal Canadian Naval Destroyers • The smaller boats picked up the Dunkirk soldiers and took them to the larger ships • 200 of the civilian ships are sunk • Churchill calls the successful evacuation a "miracle"
France Surrenders: June 25 th, 1940
Battle of Britain: Begins July 10, 1940 • Germany wants to destroy the British air presence • Germany has better planed, well-trained pilots and land crew • German air force is called the Luftwaffe • British have better radar to help the Royal Air Force (RAF) find and destroy Luftwaffe planes • 100+ Canadian pilots, 200+ bombing raid pilots + ground crew
Douglas Bader Buzz Beurling
• Germany accidentally bombs London – the RAF bomb Berlin Hitler is angry and begins carpet bombing London for 57 nights causing 43000 deaths • The RAF get time to regroup and by 1941 the Battle of Britain is won in their favour The Blitz
Do you think Canada has made a "significant" contribution to the war effort from what we have learned so far? What else is important to consider that you perhaps don't know yet?
