Canada in World War II

[3] During the war, Canada was subject to direct attack in the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and in the shelling of a lighthouse at Estevan Point on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

The Second World War had significant cultural, political and economic effects on Canada, including the conscription crisis in 1944 which affected unity between francophones and anglophones.

After the long struggle of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the challenges of the Second World War accelerated Canada's ongoing transformation into a modern urban and industrialized nation.

The government had to describe it as primarily for defending Canada, with an overseas war "a secondary responsibility of this country, though possibly one requiring much greater ultimate effort."

Among its highlights: King's cabinet approved this policy on 24 August 1939, and in September disapproved of the proposal by the Chiefs of Staff to create two army divisions for overseas service, in part because of cost.

When the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed a resolution criticizing the government for not fighting the war "in the vigorous manner the people of Canada desire to see," King dissolved the federal parliament, and at the resulting election on 26 March 1940, his Liberals won the largest majority in history.

[13] After two days of debate, the House of Commons approved an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne on 9 September 1939 giving authority to declare war to King's government.

[20] By 13 June 1940, the 1st Battalion of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment was deployed to France in an attempt to secure the southern flank of the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium.

The end of British equipment deliveries threatened the training plan, and King had to ask US President Franklin D. Roosevelt for aircraft and engines by stating that they would help defend North America.

[22][10]: 35–36 As the fall of France grew imminent Britain looked to Canada to provide additional troops to strategic locations in North America rapidly, the Atlantic and Caribbean.

In addition to the Canadian destroyer already on station from 1939, Canada provided troops from May 1940 to assist in the defence of the West Indies with several companies serving throughout the war in Bermuda, Jamaica, the Bahamas and British Guiana.

Nonetheless, many remained adamantly opposed to any form of conscription; when Mayor of Montreal Camilien Houde spoke out against the draft in August 1940, he was arrested and sent to an internment camp.

In the fall of 1940 a British defeat seemed so likely the joint board agreed to give the United States command of the Canadian military if Germany won in Europe.

Two Canadians received the Victoria Cross for actions at Dieppe: Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Merritt of the South Saskatchewan Regiment and Honorary Captain John Foote, military chaplain of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry.

[39] Because the treads of most Churchill tanks were caught up in the shingle beaches of Dieppe, the Allies initiated pre-operation environmental intelligence collection, and devised appropriate vehicles to meet the challenges of future landing sites.

Three Victoria Crosses were awarded to Canadian Army troops in Italy: Captain Paul Triquet of the Royal 22e Régiment, Private Smokey Smith of The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and Major John Mahoney of The Westminster Regiment (Motor).

By the end of D-Day, the Canadians had penetrated deeper into France than either the British or the American troops at their landing sites, overcoming stronger resistance than the other beachheads except Omaha Beach.

[45] Several costly operations were mounted by the Canadians to fight a path to the pivotal city of Caen and then south towards Falaise, part of the Allied attempt to liberate Paris.

Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, the only child of then-Queen Wilhelmina and heir to the throne, sought refuge in Canada with her two daughters, Beatrix and Irene, during the war.

To ensure the Dutch citizenship of this royal baby, the Canadian Parliament passed a special law declaring Princess Juliana's suite at the Ottawa Civic Hospital "extraterritorial."

Various Canadian special forces also served in Southeast Asia including the "Sea Reconnaissance Unit," a team of navy divers tasked to spearhead assaults across the rivers in Burma.

[10][54] Conditions aboard HMCS Uganda, compared to ships in the United States Navy, strict discipline, and the inability to display a separate Canadian identity, had contributed to poor morale and resentment amongst the crew.

This happened on 27 July 1945, when HMS Argonaut joined the British Pacific Fleet and Uganda departed for Esquimalt arriving on the day of the Japanese surrender.

When the submarine fired a torpedo at the loading pier, Bell Island became the only location in North America to be subject to direct attack by German forces in the Second World War.

From 1940 to 1945, the income resulting from selling farm products such as livestock, grains, and field crops saw a dramatic increase because of the growing worth and necessity of those goods in the war effort.

[66] In contrast, the government had given 4,000-5,000 women a new responsibility- to regulate the food supplies so that it is preserved nor wasted in accordance with the fluctuating consequences of war and weather, something understood as squarely within the domestic sphere.

In 1938, Canada's automotive industry ranked fourth in the world in the output of passenger car and trucks, even though a large part of its productive capacity remained idle because of the Great Depression.

[78] Rivals Ford and General Motors of Canada pooled their engineering design teams to produce a standardized vehicle series, amenable to mass production: the Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) truck, which served throughout the British Commonwealth.

[83] References to indigenous culture and contributions to the war effort were largely erased, with recruitment guidelines for the Royal Canadian Air Force as well as Navy requiring volunteers be white.

"[83] The political astuteness of Mackenzie King, combined with much greater military sensitivity to Quebec volunteers resulted in a conscription crisis that was minor compared to that of the First World War.

Recruitment poster for the Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division from 1941
A request from Prime Minister Mackenzie King to King George VI that war be declared against Germany
The lieutenant governor of British Columbia announcing Canada's entry into the war on 10 September 1939
A recruitment station at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, 1939
HMCS St. Laurent departed with Convoy HX 1 just six days after the Canadian Declaration of War.
George VI , king of Canada , salutes, with his consort, Queen Elizabeth beside him, as the Toronto Scottish Regiment mount the King's Guard at Buckingham Palace , December 1939
A British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCAT) facility in Uplands , Ontario. More than half of BCAT graduates were Canadian.
Workers machining a QF 4-inch naval gun Mk XVI in Sorel , 1940.
Pilots of No. 1 Squadron RCAF in the UK, October 1940. The squadron was deployed to the UK in June 1940, shortly before the Battle of Britain .
HMCS Cobalt near Hvalfjörður , Iceland. Canada occupied Iceland following the British invasion of Iceland . in June 1940.
Pulling a Royal Canadian Air Force Douglas B-18 Bolo out of Newfoundland waters, 1940. Newfoundland was occupied by Canadian forces during the war.
The 57th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment, August 1940. Several regiments from Newfoundland were formed under the British Royal Artillery , serving in North Africa , and Europe.
Canadian soldiers on exercise in Hong Kong prior to the Japanese invasion of the colony , 1941
Bodies of Canadian soldiers at Dieppe after the failed raid against the port, August 1942
German soldiers inspect an abandoned Canadian Army Daimler scout car after the Dieppe Raid. The raid led to the development of specialized armoured vehicles for later Allied landings.
Fighter planes of the Royal Canadian Air Force conducting patrol operations in Alaska.
Members of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment enter Modica , Sicily, 1943
Riflemen of the 48th Highlanders of Canada take cover during a German counterattack in the Moro River Campaign , 1943
Canadians aboard LCAs heading towards Juno Beach during D-Day, June 1944
Amphibious vehicles of the First Canadian Army cross the Scheldt , in the effort to open shipping routes to Antwerp , September 1944.
Many Thanks spelt in tulips after Operation Manna . The operation saw humanitarian airdrops , to help relieve the famine in the Netherlands .
Members of the Dutch royal family in Ottawa, 1943. Members of the Dutch royal family were sheltered in Canada during the war.
Map of the Atlantic Ocean and ships sunk in 1941. Canada was given the responsibility of defending Allied convoys traversing the Mid-Atlantic Gap from German wolfpacks .
Royal Canadian Navy sailors man a gun aboard HMCS Assiniboine , while escorting a convoy to the UK
Gun crew of HMCS Algonquin during a naval bombardment of German positions at Normandy, prior to the D-Day landings.
HMCS Uganda bombards Miyako-jima , serving as a part of the British Pacific Fleet , May 1945.
German submarine U-190 surrenders in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador , June 1945. U-boats operated in Canadian and Newfoundland waters during the war in an attempt to disrupt the convoys.
Interned Japanese Canadians working a farm in Turin, Alberta , 1942.
The Eldorado Mine , 1944. Expropriated by the Canadian government in 1939, it produced uranium for the Manhattan Project .
Female workers assembling munitions at a GECO munitions factory.
Children in Montréal take rubber tires and shoes to a salvage centre in support of the war effort, 1942.
Chinese Canadians recruited to serve in the British South East Asia Command , 1945
A British Army CMP truck in North Africa, November 1940. Most CMP trucks were produced in Canada during the war.
Celebrations for the launch of the 1,000th Canadian-built vessel for a Victory Loan drive, 1944.
Mackenzie King voting in a plebiscite on conscription for overseas service. Although the 1942 plebiscite passed by over 65 per cent, conscripts were not levied until November 1944.