Canada In World War Two

Canada in World War Two Canada had proven itself an effective fighting force through all the World War One. Meaning that Canada was met with extreme success during World War One, with their stunning victories against immense odds. But would this reputation carry over to World War Two? In World War Two Canada would have success and failures with its first real battle being the defence of Hong Kong. Canada would fight with British and Indian forces, Canadian forces arrived just in time to repel the invading Japanese forces. This invasion lasted from December 8-25 1941. But with Canada’s success in the war there would also inevitably be failures, that failure came in the form of the Dieppe Raid on August 19 1942 … The Dieppe Raid was an attack
launched by the allies on a French port, in which most of the force was made up of Canadians approximately 5,000 of the 6,000 men were Canadian troops. Initially the plan was to land troops at five different points along the port, about a 16 kilometer stretch of heavily defended coastline. Four of the Five attacks would take place just before dawn, and the main attack would take place about an hour and a half later and the main objective was to establish a stronghold within the village. But things would almost instantly go wrong for the allies, on the eastern flank the allies encountered a German convoy which resulted in a firefight and voided any element of surprise the allies may have had. Also the soldiers that came ashore at Berneval and Puys were met with immense fire and were some of the heaviest casualties the allies had during Dieppe. But at least some of the objectives on the western flank were completed such as the gun batteries at Varengeville being disabled. In Pourville, Canadian forces got ashore and pushed the German forces back, but the strong German resistance would eventually force the Canadian forces to retreat. These were only the flanks and the main attack had not even taken place yet.. The main attack was running behind schedule and it was becoming light. The German forces now alerted to the ensuing raid would cut down hundreds of Canadians. No matter, the allied forces pushed to the safety of the sea wall, but this same wall would prevent any allied tanks from moving any further. The heavy German defence also would not allow and engineers to clear the path for the tanks. Small groups of infantry did eventually fight their way into the town of Dieppe But with heavy allied casualties and no tank support, everyone knew the raid could not continue and the allies retreated. Approximately 3,350 casualties, out of those there were 916 fatalities ,and 1,950 were taken prisoner. These were only Canadian numbers…
After many failed attacks, the allies had all but lost mainland Europe and they had one chance to reopen the front in time to end the war as swiftly as possible. This is why D-Day, and Canada’s involvement in it is commonly known as the turning point for the allies in WW2, as it reopened up the western front for the allies. The Normandy Campaign Dieppes planning mirrored the Normandy campaign almost exactly, but if the allies wanted to succeed this time they had to learn from their mistakes at Dieppe and plan a victory at Normandy.
So this was the Normandy plan; The first step to the preparation of D-Day was to create a decoy, so the Germans would send their army elsewhere and weaken their defences at Normandy. This was vital to the planning of D-Day as it would save time, munitions ,and countless lives. The allies started by creating a “fake” army, by using movie props such as tanks and body doubles, also using fake radio chatter and double agents. The allied forces made the Germans think they were landing at Pas de Calais, which in retrospect seemed like the more likely landing zone considering it was closer to England. Instead the allies did land on the beaches of Normandy as we very well know. The beaches would be assigned to the allies; Americans would take Omaha and Utah beach, the British would take Sword and Gold beach ,and the Canadians were taking Juno Beach. Juno Beach was between Courseulles, Saint-Aubin and Bernières, in the department of Calvados, France. The plan for Juno Beach was the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division would land on the 9.7 km stretch of land known as Juno Beach. Then the Canadian forces were landing to establish a beachhead, capture the three small seaside towns (Courseulles, Saint-Aubin and Bernières), advance ten miles inland, cut the Caen - Bayeux highway, seize the Carpiquet
airport west of Caen , and to form a link between the British beachheads known as Sword and Gold.
This was easier said than done…
At June 6th 1944, after the bombardment by the ships and planes the troops were then brought ashore at around 6:30 am, during the first hour of the landing on Juno Beach, the Canadians would take a 50% casualty rate.
But we would prevail and on the first day Canada was the only force to achieve its full objective on the first day. Then after fighting inch by inch. Canadians captured a vital airport outside of Caen known as ‘Carpiquet’ airport. Major Lockie Fulton, of the Canadian army, who has participated in the entire Normandy campaign remarked that the capturing of the Carpiquet airport was “the worst day of the entire war.” He was the only surviving officer of his company… The battle of Carpiquet ended with a Canadian victory. But the Winnipeg rifles had 40 fatalities out of 132 casualties, the North Shore's had 46 fatalities and 86 wounded. The battle of Carpiquet is still remembered as the graveyard of the North Shore's
regiment.
After Carpiquet Canadian and British forces would try to capture the town of Caen, Caen was of strategic importance to the allies because it allowed them to keep a foothold in northern France to bring troops from England to France. At the beginning of the battle German 21st Panzer Division, reinforced by the 12th SS Hitlerjugend, launched a huge attack on Canadian and British forces, leaving them trapped in the cornfields of Caen, about 6.4 km from the actual city. After realizing the German’s wouldn’t let this town go without a fight. The allies attempted another attack on the city with a Canadian vanguard but German resistance prevented it. Eventually the battle would turn into a battle of trenches, a grim reminder of the Great War. After days of bombardment by allied planes, which destroyed houses and even kill French civilians, the allies began the advance to the heart of Caen. And with heavy casualties on both sides, but the allies took the strategic town of Caen. After the campaign was over it cost the Canadians more than 18,000 casualties, 5000 of them fatal. In conclusion the Normandy campaign showed how effective Canada was as a fighting force. But in the bigger picture the Normandy campaign reopened the Western Front which relieved pressure on the Russian and Italian front, this would spread the German army out and would eventually lead to the collapse of the Third Reich.