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Germany Invades Poland
On September 1st 1939, Germany had invaded Poland as Adolf Hitler planned to rule Poland. Within just a few weeks after the invasion Poland was defeated. The attack from Germany, on Poland started with a German aircraft bombardment of Wielun - a town in Poland, leaving 1,200 dead. Next, Germany sent a battleship called the Schleswig-Holstein which opened a fire in Westerplatte in the Free City of Danzig, on a transit depot. Soon enough, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was known as the longest battle in World War II. It lasted a total of six years from 1939 to 1945. In the battle, u-boat attacks began and were fired after Britain declared war on Germany. After this, Canada took a stance and declared war on Germany as well. This was Canada's biggest role in World War II. Merchant marine and air force from Canada's navy were pushed into the battle. Britain and Canada's air forces protected the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
During May 10th, the Netherlands were Invaded by Germany and the German forces went into Belgium and France. They almost reached Dunkirk, where allied forces were surrounded and trying to escape - which could only be through the sea. Next in May 26th, Britain organized its boats to go to the beaches of Dunkirk and save the allied forces. Although, Luftwaffe - a German air force bombed Dunkirk. This caused it to be more difficult for allied forces to leave, but they still were able. -
Battle of Britain
Germany had planned to attack Britain, as they declared war on them. In Southern England, Germany bombed harbors and shipping facilities. Also, bombing raids that took place in airfields and aircraft factories, and civilian targets for about 55 nights - leaving a ton dead and buildings destroyed. The bombing activity is referred to as the "Blitz". Even though Germany has more planes, they did not defeat Britain as they knew when German raids would be and also shot German bombers, sucessfully. -
Pearl Harbour and Pacific War
On December 7th, 1941 about hundreds of fighters from Japan took their planes and attacked the American navy base at Pearl Harbour, just near Honolulu, Hawaii. The bombardment was devastating after only two hours. Within this time the Japanese were able to destroy around 20 American navy vessels, and eight battleships, also more than 300 airplanes. This attack caused over 2,000 deaths of the American soldiers and sailors. Plus an addition of 1,000 were wounded. -
Invasion of Hong Kong
Japan next invaded Hong Kong, a Britain colony and this left Hong Kong surrendering on Christmas Day of 1941. Canada had also sent troops to Hong Kong, although by 1945 the Canadians were killed or prisoned by the Japanese. There was 1,975 Canadians sent to Hong Kong in the beginning, but near the end of the battle 290 were killed and 493 were left wounded. As well as, 264 Canadians which were prisoners of the war had died and only 1,418 of the Canandians returned to their hometown. -
The Dieppe Raid
On the 19th of August, 1942 the Second Canadian Division were chosen under German occupation to attack the French port of Dieppe. The Canadians were training in Britain and were actually excited to be joining the war effort in Europe. Through this raid there was four attacks along the coast, but one main attack on Dieppe. The Germans met the Canadians at sea and noise had alerted that the German troops were on shore. Poor communication caused many deaths and Dieppe is considered a huge lesson. -
Battle of Ortona, Allied Troops in Sicily
Soon enough, on July 10th, 1943 Italy and Sicily were invaded by Nazi Germany. They thought it would be easy, yet it was not and almost lasted two years which costed many lives. The Canadians had participated in Allies during the invasion of Sicily and they were successful. Then in September, 1943 they moved to the mainland of Italy where the conditions were similar to World War I. It was very muddy, cold and rainy, and rugged terrain = slow battles.
- Battle over Ortona, Germany withdrew. -
D - Day
On June 6th, 1944 the Allies had invaded and attacked Western Europe. This battle initiated when about 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches - ("Sword", "Omada", "Utah", "Gold", and "Juno"). This was all along the coast of the Normandy region, in France, along 50 miles. The attack details were a secret and the German defence was poorly planned. There was over 425,000 Allied and German troops that were killed, wounded and missing and about 209,00 Allied casualties. -
VE Day
VE Day, also known as Victory in Europe Day was a holiday celebrated on May 8th, 1945 to mark the acceptance by the Allies of World War II and Nazy Germany's surrender of the war and its armed forces. Over millions celebrated this public holiday on the streets. In conclusion VE Day marks end of World War II in Europe. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
From August 6th, 1945 until August 9th the United States used an atomic bomb on Japan in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They chose these cities because of the industrial significance, military they have and large population - (to increase damage). In the history of warfare, this attack was the first and only with the use of nuclear weapons. About 100,000 people were killed and only few luckily survived. The Enola Gay dropped the bomb nicknamed as "Little Boy" and then "Fat Man".
