The Battle of the Atlantic was the most important and the longest campaign of WWII; it consisted in shipping food and goods to Britain so that she could liberate western Europe from German occupation. The Germans were trying to starve the British by sinking the Allied (Canadian and US) merchant ships bound for England. So, the Allies came up with a plan: have warships escort the supply boats, protecting them from the German submarines. Canada started massive building and training programs; it's their biggest contribution to the war.
Canada declares war on Germany, one week after Britain.
About 130 000 pilots from countries of the Commenwealth are trained in Canadian training camp in Quebec.
Under the circumstances of the war, the NRMA gave the government special emergency powers to mobilize all the resources in the nation to defeat the enemy. Military training for home defense only; conscripts can not (yet) be sent overseas.
Canadian troops were sent to Hong Kong, a former British colony, they fought against Japan
2000 Canadian POW from the Battle of Hong Kong are kept in isolation camps in Japan for 3 years and a half. They live in very bad conditions and sometimes endure starvation experimentation. In Canada, civilians are outraged by the fate of their soldiers and mad at the government for sending them in Hong Kong.
Under the pressure of the Conservative opposition party, King holds a referendum on conscription. In all provinces except Quebec, the majority voted 'yes' to send conscripts overseas.
The Dieppe raid was Canada's first battle and it went really wrong: several thousands of Canadians are made prisoners.It had experimental purposes: the Allies wanted to evaluate the quality of the the German defense. The Allies did learn from it; this experience helped them plan for the successful invasion of Normandy.
As the war heated up in the pacific, anti-Japanese sentiment grew in Canada. Japanese-Canadians were suspected of espionage and sabotage. Even though these accusations were unfounded, the government caved in to public pressure and sent 22 000 Japanese Canadians to isolated camps in interior British Colombia where they were detained without trial until the end of the war. All their possessions ( house, cars, shops...) were confiscated and sold a federal government official, the Custodian of Enemy Property. After the war, approximately 4000 Japanese-Canadians were repatriated to Japan, the 19000 remaining forced to settle east to the Rocky Mountains, despite the fact that the Canadian government did not have THAT right to deport its own citizen who were innocent of wrongdoing.
After the Allies took over the Italian Colonies in the north of Africa, Canadian troops participate in the invasion of Sicily and then mainland Italy.
Canadians win the Battle of Ortona at the cost of +/- 1400 Canadian lives or 25 % of the Canadian soldiers sent to Mediterranean front.
On june 6 1944, the Allies launched the 'operation overlord'- a full scale in vasion/ liberation of Europe; 30 000 Canadians land on Juno Beach in Normandy. Total amount of casualties 1000, less than expected.
While the Allied forces were attacking Germany, Canada were assigned to free the Netherlands. It took about a month for the Canadian army to encircle the German troops in Holland. Canadians were hailed as heroes in the Netherlands, not only because they made the Germans surrender but mostly because they sent great amounts of food to the Dutch civilian population who had been deprived of vital goods for several months due to the harsh winter and the destruction of the port cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and of trains and rail tracks.
Germany surrenders; the Allies win the war in Europe.
Japan surrenders, after the second US atomic bomb, in Nagasaki.
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