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Declaration of War
With the declaration of war, the Allies (Britain, France, Commonwealth countries such as, Canada, Autralia, New Zealand etc.) got their forces organized and prepared for battle. The alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan became known as the Axis. Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel on May 22, 1939. Then in September 1940, Japan joined in and they all signed the Tripartite Pact. -
Germany invades Poland
Germany invaded Poland from the south, north and west. Poland's army withdrew from the Polish-German border. -
Britain declares war on Germany
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Canada declares war on Germany
As a part of the Commonwealth Canada declares war on Germany. -
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Phoney war
After declaring war, Britain awaited Germany's next move, but nothing happened for seven months, this period became known as the 'phoney war'. -
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Germany invades Russia
Hitler became suspicious of the motives of Russian leader, Joseph Stalin. So Hitler decided that it was the right time to invade the country. The Germans managed to reach the outskirts of Mosow and St. Petersburg, but the winter proved to be horrible and so the operation was stopped. Then in 1942, Germany tried again to invade the USSR. This time they got to Stalingrad, but they were stopped by the severe winter, the Germans lost more than 300,000 men, so in erly 1943 Germany Surrendered. -
Blitzkrieg
When no one expected it, Germany renewed its 'blitzkrieg' (lighting war). They attacked Denmark and Norway. The attack was extremely successful, Norway was conqured within two months, and it took just hours for Germany to capture Denmark. -
Invading the Netherlands
The German Wehrmacht (armed forces), began to invade Netherlands. They had moved quickly through Belgium and were making their way to France. -
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Evacuation at Dunkirk
When the Allies heard that the Germans were nearing the English Channel, they decided to evacuate the French port of Dunkirk, before the Germans captured the town. The British rounded up every boat capable of navigating through the English Channel, civilians also helped with their boats. The evacuation started on May 26, two days later the Germans bombed Dunkirk, making it very difficult to evacuate. Nevertheless, the evacuation contiued and was completed on June 4. Nearly 340,000 were rescued. -
France surrenders
The Germans fought their way through France. The French army was no match for the German army, so France Surrendred. -
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The Battle of Britain
Hitler wanted to take down the Britain air power. The Germans bombed and destroyed harbours and shipping facilities in England. In August they bombed air fields and aircraft factories. By September, the Germans started to bomb civilian towns for fifty nights. England was able to withstand all the attacks, and in May Hitler finally gave up, 23,000 people were killed mostly civilians. -
Pearl Harbour
By 1941, the Japanese were ready to invade US and European colonies in Southeast Asia. So, on December 7, 1941, Japanese planes bombed the US Naval base in Pearl Harbour, in Hawaii, destroying half the fleet. Then they bombed the Philippines, this stunned the Americans, the next day the US gov't declared war on Japan. -
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The Invasion of Hong Hong
Only hours after bombing Pearl Harbour, Japan invaded the British colony of Hong Hong. By Christmas day Hong Hong had fallen to Japan. Canada sent 1975 soilders, they were all either killed or taken prisoner by the Japanese. Of the 555 of who perished half died as prisoners during the three and half years they were imprisoned. -
Dieppe Raid
On the morning of August 19, 1942, troops were sent to the port of Dieppe, they met with a small German convoy on their way and began to engage in a small battle.The noise from the battle was heard and alerted the German soilders. As Canadian soilders began to make their way on land, they were gunned down by the Germans. Commanders thought the troops had landed safely, so they sent more troops, where they faced the same fate. By the end, 907 people killed, 568 wounded, 1874 taken prisoners. -
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The invasion of Italy
On July 10, 1943,Canadian soilders along with the Allies invaded Sicily. After two weeks of fighting, they conquered Italy. In September, the Allies moved inland to Italy where fighting conditions were bad, they faced rugger terrain, and cold & rainy weather. Battles were fought house by house, street by street. In Ortona, Italy 1372 lives were lost before the Germans withdrew, On June 4, 1944 the allies took Rome, but the fighting contiued in Italy until the Spring of 1945. -
Russia on the offensive.
After the Germans surrendered, the Russians saw this as an advantage to take back the territories that they had lost earlier. By early 1944, the Soviets were advancing into Eastern Europe, towards Germany. -
D-Day
The allies started a full invasion of Italy. This was a well plannd operation. On June 6, over 30,000 Canadian troops landed on 'Juno' beach, one of the five code named beaches. The men had to get through erected concrete barriers, through barbed wires, and other obstacles, 359 Canadians died and 715 wer wounded. Atfer getting inland the Allies started an eleven month advance through France and Belgium, towards Germany. The allies were welcomed and liberators of Europe. -
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Liberation of the Netherlands
Canadians were given the task of liberating the Netherlands, an earluer attempt to free them failed and left people starving to death. In April the fighting began. Battles were fought street by street and casualties were high, 6,300 Canadians were killed. However, by April 17 the German army was defeated in Groningen. Then the men worked their wy through the Netherlands. By May 4, 1945 the Germans surrendered. Canadian army trucks delivered tonnes of food to the civilians. Canadians were heroes. -
Germany Surrenders
While the Allies invaded Germany from the west, the Soviets attacked from the east. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. Hitler along with his wife Ava Braun committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin. -
US attacks Japan
On August 6, a US bomber, nicknames 'Enola Gay' dropped an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, 70,000 people were killed and another 130,000 were wounded. Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, another atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki, Japan killing another 40,000 people. Japan had no choice but surrender, and World War II was over.
