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The SS St. Louis
On May 13, 1939, the St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba. There were 937 passengers. Almost all the passengers were Jews fleeing from the Germans. -
Canada Declares War on Germany
Canada declared war on Germany 7 Days after Britain & France. Canada was fighting on the Britain side so they waited 7 days to show independence. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was Canada's longest militarily engaged battle of the Second World War. It lasted from September 11th, until May 1945.More than 4,600 courageous service men and women lost their lives at sea. -
Wartime Industries Control Board Established
It established C. D. Howe’s Department of Munitions and Supply and the Wartime Industries Control Board, both in the spring of 1940, and applied tough wage and price controls in 1941.
It lent money to Britain interest-free, gave it a gift of war supplies in January 1942 and then donated surplus production to Canada’s allies through the Canadian Mutual Aid Board -
Government Imposed Rationing
As Canadians were regularly reminded by propagandists and advertisers alike, food truly was a “weapon of war.” After the fall of France in June 1940, Canadian food exports provided an essential lifeline to Britain. By the end of the war, it was estimated that Canadian exports accounted for 57 per cent of British wheat and flour consumption – down from its 1941 peak of 77 per cent -
The Battle of Britain
July 10th German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force. Britain’s decisive victory saved the country from a ground invasion and possible occupation by German forces while proving that air power alone could be used to win a major battle on October 31st. -
The Battle of Hong Kong
The Battle of Hong Kong was one of the first battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Forces of the Empire of Japan attacked British Hong Kong. The attack was in violation of international law as Japan had not declared war against the British Empire, Local troops as well as British, Canadian and Indian units. Japan's stiff resistance was met with local troops as well as British, Canadian and Indian units. Within a -
Dieppe Raid
The Dieppe Raid was one of the most devastating and bloody chapters in Canadian military history. Out of the 4,963 Canadians who embarked from England for the operation, only 2,210 returned, and many of them were wounded. Casualties totalled 3,367, including 916 dead and 1,946 prisoners of war. -
The Battle of Ortona
The Battle of Ortona was a battle fought between a battalion of German paratroops from Germanys 1st Parachute Division, and assaulting Canadian forces from the Canadian 1st Infantry Division under Major General Chris Vokes. It was the culmination of the fighting on the Adriatic front in Italy during "Bloody December". The battle, known for the deadliness of it its close-quarters combat, took place in the small Adriatic Sea town of Ortona, with its peacetime population of 10,000. -
D-Day
Determined to end four years of often-brutal German occupation, on June 6th 1944, Allied forces invaded Western Europe along an 80-kilometre front in Normandy, France. The nearly 150,000 Allied troops who landed or parachuted into the invasion area, 14,000 were Canadians. They assaulted a beachfront code-named “Juno”, while Canadian paratroopers landed just east of the assault beaches. Although the Allies encountered German defences with artillery, machine guns & mines.
