"Only two great groups of animals, men and ants, indulge in highly organized warfare."(Charles H. Maskins - Men ‘Zines) Canadian involvement in World War Two was an integral part of winning. Most major battles that were fought had many Canadian troops, seamen, or pilots. Some of the most awe inspiring and disheartening of these battles were the Battle of the Atlantic, Battle of Britain, Dieppe and Normandy. These battles baptized us in fire and created a nation that all gave the deepest respect to. For these reasons, these battles are worth examining much more closely to understand their impact on the war.

The Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic was waged in order to keep allied shipping lanes open. Around the beginning of July 1940, German U-Boats were attacking merchant ships sailing across the Atlantic in their deadly ‘Wolf Pack' formation. The largest problem the allies had was that all their coastal patrol aircraft were not designed to fly across the ocean which made the merchant ship vulnerable in the mid-Atlantic. This gave the 26 German submarines virtual impunity over the high seas. In 1941, around 2.9 million tonnes of allied cargo destined for England was sent to the ocean floor. In 1942, around 6 million tonnes was sunk.  The solution to this problem came from a coastal patrol ship known as a corvette. These ships were small; the first class ships only being 59 metres in length and the second class or Castle class were 77 metres in length. Designed like whaling ships, they were simple and inexpensive ships to build. Their primary design function was to patrol the Canadian coast. However their versatility made them excellent escorts for the vulnerable merchant ships. Corvettes were armed with anti- submarine torpedoes, anti-aircraft guns, depth charges to fend off attacks from German U-boats lurking all around them and one 4-inch deck gun. Also, the Corvettes were equipped with listening devices to detect them. The HMCS Lewis was our first naval loss. It was sunk September 19, 1941. Throughout all of the Battle of the Atlantic, Hitler rarely used his surface ships, relying almost entirely on U-Boats. The German U-Boat attacks peaked with the destruction of 27 merchant vessels. The Battle of the Atlantic never really ended until the end of the war; however as the war dragged on and German resources ran low, the threat of a U-boat attack decreased. In all, 217 merchant vessels were destroyed from the deadly Wolf Pack attack. With the Canadian Corvettes, the seas were secure enough for troops and supplies to be ferried across the Atlantic.

The Battle of Britain

July 10, 1940 the Battle of Britain begins. This was a precursor to Operation Sea Lion, Hitler's plan to capture England. But in order for him to land troops on British soil, he first had to control the air. This was the task of the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe's attack force consisted, at the beginning, of around 2000 aircraft including a large proportion of  Messerschmitt fighters, while the RAF only had about half that number of planes in Hurricanes and Spitfires. Outnumbering the British almost 2 to 1 the German Luftwaffe planned to attack RAF bases, then seaports and finally commence their ground assault. With nowhere else to turn, the British turned to Canada for support. Canada began to produce Hurricane fighters and train pilots to defend Britain. 
The Canadian fighter group 242 began to take a powerful role in the battle of Britain. This group shot down huge numbers of Messerschmitts while the British fighters were regrouping. Their only major loss was when a group of Messerschmitt 109s flew out of the sun in an ambush and shot down nine of them. The battle of Britain took an important turn when a stray German bomber came under attack from flak guns, dropped her bombs to reduce weight but didn't realize that he was flying over London, a target made off limits by Hitler. In retaliation, the Allies began to bomb German cities. With Hitler's subsequent order to bomb British cities, the pressure on British airbases and radar stations was relieved. This gave the RAF time to regroup and it began to achieve victories. German air losses eventually became so great that Hitler, with his attention now more focussed on the forthcoming invasion of Russia, was forced to give up his campaign and Operation Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely.

The Raid on Dieppe

British Military High Command had decided that the Allies needed to establish a beachhead on the mainland. Or so the soldiers of the ill fated Dieppe Attack believed. The real reason for the assault was to prove to the Americans and the Soviets that a direct attack on the northern seawall was impossible and to relieve the beleaguered Russian forces who were being attacked heavily by Luftwaffe planes and soldiers. Originally the Dieppe attack was planned for the beginning of June however, poor weather scrapped the mission. About a month later, the British Combined Operations, experts on beach raids, revived the plan. Two British Commando Groups, 50 American Rangers and 5000 Canadian soldiers were selected for the attack scheduled for August 19, 1942. The slaughter began before the Canadian troops could hit the beach. Towering cliffs around the beach were fortified with pillboxes, howitzers, and mortars. The planned air strikes were cancelled so these positions were never destroyed. These began to shoot at the incoming landing craft sinking some. Most of those that did manage to land on the beach were cut down by German machine gun fire. The guns continued to fire from the cliffs blocking any possible form of escape. Only 20 Canadian soldiers managed to make it to the sea wall. They later surrendered. Colonel C.P. Stacey was later remarked as saying: "Tactically, it was an almost complete failure."(Lotz 104) In the end, it was calculated that 1946 troops were captured, 2210 escaped, and 907 died while the Germans suffered only 333 casualties, 121 of which died.

Normandy

The landing on Normandy heavily improved upon the Dieppe plan. Every aspect was meticulously thought out to avoid another failure. This attack was planned using the combined forced of the air force, the navy, and infantry commandos as well as the general forces. First, a huge wave of bombers were sent to destroy the sea wall and knock out fortifications while surface ships fired on the coast. In the early morning 15000 Canadian troops and 4000 British troops landed on an 8 kilometre stretch of beach code- named "Juno."  Their orders were to destroy enemy resistance on the beach and push their way to Caen and Carpiquet airfield by nightfall. Fierce German resistance kept the Canadian troops from reaching their goals for three weeks. Upon hitting the beaches the Canadians found a huge labyrinth of mines and debris covering the beach. The most troublesome of these were the pillboxes and 88-mm guns in fortified positions on a concrete seawall. Parts of this seawall were destroyed which allowed the Modified Sherman tanks or "Funnies" to gain access to the land. The Canadians had to fight every step of the way to Caen and Carpiquet airfield. At one point they faced the elite 12 S.S. panzer division manned by young German fanatics commanded by experienced officers and non commissioned troops. But the Canadians Triumphed and on July 10th, Caen was liberated by Canadian and British forces. Following the liberation of Caen, the Canadians turned their attention to Falaise. Pushing towards Falaise they came under heavy fire and again engaged the 12th S.S. panzer division. To stop the 12 S.S. panzer division from making any more trouble, Operation Totalize was devised. It was designed to entrap the 12th division in between the Americans from behind and the Canadian forces at Falaise. The plan had proved to be devastatingly effective. Of the 20,000 troops in the 12th S.S. division, only 300 managed to escape the vice created by the Allies. Continuing to push further inward, on August 25, 1944 Paris was liberated. On September 1st, Canadian pride was reestablished as the Canadian Hussars captured Dieppe. Antwerp was later captured on September 4th. With Antwerp captured its dock could be used to land troops and equipment more easily. Unfortunately, German positions on the towering cliffs above were in range of the port and therefore no equipment or troops could be landed. The Canadians were ordered to destroy these positions and were successful in their task but they suffered a high casualty toll. By  the end of Operation Overlord, Allied casualties included 150,000 troops, 1,500 tanks, 5,300 ships and landing craft, 12,000 aircraft, and 20,000 airborne troops while the Allies managed to land 155000 soldiers, 6000 vehicles, and 3600 tonnes of supplies on Normandy's beaches.

As with World War 1, Canadians were not only considered expert and professional soldiers, they were feared by the Germans as an omen of impending attack. The Canadian forces were relied upon to provide defence on the high seas and over Britain, and to spearhead assaults for major battles. Once again Canadians had proved themselves on the battlefield and fought ferociously to win every battle they were engaged in. However because "The grim fact is that we prepare for war like precocious giants, and for peace like retarded pygmies"(Lester Bowles Pearson - Men `Zines) we should now try to avoid any other war at all costs because of technology involved today a new World war would destroy humanity. 

- ©James McAllister

May 15 1998

Works Cited 

 Men `Zines: Quotes, Quotes, and More Quotes. Internet WWW at URL: http://www.smackem.com/quotes/(version current at May 12, 1998) 

 Lotz, Jim. Canadians at War. London: Bison Books Ltd., 1990. 
 

Bibliography 

Byers, A. R.ed. The Canadians at War 1939/45. Westmount: Reader's Digest  Association (Canada) Ltd., 1986. 

Church, Charles S. "Corvettes" Merit Students Encyclopedia. 1981 ed. 

Dept. Of Defence D-NET:Canada's Military Legacy: Wars, WWII, Faces and  places. Internet WWW at URL:  http://admdis01nt.ndhq.dnd.ca/menu/legacy/wwii_face_e.htm. (version   current at May 3, 1998) 

Lotz, Jim. Canadians at War. London: Bison Books Ltd., 1990. 

Men `Zines: Quotes, Quotes, and More Quotes. Internet WWW at URL:   http://www.smackem.com/quotes/(version current at May 12, 1998) 

The 50th Anniversary of D-Day. Internet WWW page at URL:    <http://www.nando.net/sproject/dday/dday.html> 

The History Place: World War Two in Europe Timeline. Internet WWW page  at URL: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.html   (version current at May 3, 1998) 

Veterans Affairs Canada: An Historical Perspective: Second World War.   Internet WWW page at URL:  <http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/historical/secondwar/secondwar.htm> 
 (version current at May 3,1998)