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Channel Ports and the ScheldtSeptember – November 1944Problem overview?By late October 1944 Canadian led operations in the Netherlands to open the port of Antwerp became the highest priority Allied effort in the global war. More British and American troops were placed under Canadian command in addition to the British, Dutch, Polish, Czech troops already serving therein. Allied air and naval forces also joined in the Canadian-planned mission.The whole mission stands among Canada’s largest military campaigns in history.? Should that make it significant??How does it compare with Dieppe or D-Day?Problem backgroundFrom September to November 1944, after the victory in the Battle of Normandy, Allied armies surged across France towards the German border. The multi-national First Canadian Army, including British, Polish and Czech troops, formed the left wing, advancing northeast along the coast of Western Europe. There the Canadian-led force was ordered to defeat German units manning ‘Atlantic Wall’ fortresses built to control the port cities along the coast of Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The result was some of the most difficult and bloody fighting experienced by Canadian troops anywhere during the whole Second World War.? The cost in Canadian lives liberated Belgium and opened key ports to Allied shipping, including Boulogne, Calais and especially Antwerp, one of the largest ports in all of Europe. Accessing those ports enabled Allied armies to move their supply and transportation base more than 500 kilometres from Normandy beaches to the very edge of the German border in preparation for both the final battles of the war and to support the massive humanitarian relief effort following behind the fighting front. ?For these reasons Canadian veteran and historian, Brigadier-General Denis Whitaker titled his book about the fall of 1944?Tug of War: The Canadian Victory that Opened Antwerp.?In early September 1944 Allied leaders saw signs that Hitler’s Germany might collapse before the end of 1944.? In that context British and American leaders launched Operation Market-Garden, a massive parachute assault designed to penetrate and defeat Germany as quickly as possible, thereby ending the human suffering in German occupied Europe. The mission was a gamble considering the exhaustion among Allied units fighting at the end of an over-extended supply chain.?? However, in September 1944 many Allied leaders felt it was worth taking the chance to end the war quickly.? They did not know that in the second half of 1944 Hitler’s Germany mobilized the last of their available manpower and materials for one last desperate to fight to win acceptable peace terms, much as they had done in the spring of 1918.? Allied hopes to end the war quickly clashed head-on with German hopes to prolong it enough and inflict enough casualties to make either the British or Americans quit.???????????? First Canadian Army felt the consequences of these decisions. Canadian and Canadian-led operations against German fortified ports in France, Belgium and the Netherlands initially took second priority to the Airborne and armoured drive into Germany.? Canada’s effort had to be mounted with minimum numbers of troops, ammunition and weapons.? Wet autumn weather and low-lying Belgian and Dutch terrain made off road travel difficult to impossible and frequently grounded supporting Allied airplanes.? Canadian commanders responded by applying innovative solutions and specialized technologies to give them an edge.? Yet the German opponent still fought fiercely. Over 6000 Canadians were killed and wounded that autumn, which along with heavy losses in Italy and in the air war created a manpower shortage contributing to the 1944 Conscription Crisis.? Many veterans who served in the Channel Ports and in the water-logged fields around the Scheldt succumbed to battle exhaustion after countless days of hard fighting in cold, mud-filled trenches, under steady German heavy artillery fire reminiscent of the First World War.Helpful Sources:Primary Documents and Official Accounts:Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 184:?Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944. Part V: Clearing the Channel Ports, 3 Sep 44 - 6 Feb 45.24 September, 1947.Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 188:?Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944. Part VI: Canadian Operation, 1 Oct - 8 Nov. The Clearing of the Scheldt Estuary.? 7 April 1948.Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 172:?Canadian Participation in Civil Affairs - Military Government. Part IV: Belgium and the Netherlands, General History Survey.?11 March 1947.?Maps:(Links to Official History print grade files.)See Also:?C.P. Stacey,?Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War: Volume III, The Victory Campaign, The Operations in Northwest Europe.?Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960.(Available online as a PDF file) Resources:??Veterans Affairs Canada – The Battle of the Scheldt(An example of the current Canadian Government-sanctioned perspective on the significance of these events) Affairs Canada - The Liberation of the Netherlands Juno Beach Centre - The Battle of the Scheldt(Includes primary document examples and excerpts) Bomber Campaign1942-1945Problem overview?Contemporaries and modern scholars debated the morality of the bomber campaign and its utility.??For many – then as now – the systematic targeting of German cities and their people was and remains morally indefensible, and meant that the Allies were no better than the evil they fought.? Others – then as now – argued that the bombing campaign was a very reasonable response to German terror bombing of British cities, and the only way in which the Allies could effectively strike back.??At the very least, it opened a “second front” in the air in support of the Russians.Still others – then as now – argued that the bomber campaign absorbed too much effort for too few results.? The wholesale destruction of German cities from the air only occurred as Allied armies approached the German borders in late 1944.? Figures for the scale of industrial effort to build and sustain a massive bomber fleet range anywhere from 7% to nearly 50% of Britain’s industrial capacity, and the crews syphoned off the best and brightest men from the other services.? Some argue that if the same resources had been applied to army and navy operations the war would have ended sooner.? Debate over the utility of strategic bombing and its ability to end wars quickly was clouded by 1945 by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which did force Japan to pare the historical and contemporary arguments regarding the justification of the bomber campaign.Problem backgroundThe idea of winning a war through direct attack on the enemy’s ability – or willingness – to wage war was a powerful influence on air force planning prior to 1939.? In fact, two German bombing campaigns against Britain in 1915-1917, resulted in the establishment of Great Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) as a separate service in 1918 to put that idea into practice. When Germany attacked British cities again during the “Blitz” of 1940-41, the British resolved to strike back on a massive scale.Initial British attempts to conduct “strategic bombing” against industrial and military targets in 1939-1941 were failures.? Bomb loads and aircraft were too small, accuracy was poor, and losses during daylight raids prohibitive.?? When the British turned to night-time bombing losses plummeted, but bombing accuracy was appalling: scarcely 5% of bombs feel within 8 kms of the target.? In 1941 the British began to build-up a massive fleet of powerful four-engine bombers capable of delivering huge bomb loads in a single raid.? In February 1942 they also began targeting whole urban areas of German cities in an attempt to break the will of the German people.? Incendiary bombs became an increasingly important tool in this campaign to burn German cities to the ground.? In 1942 the Americans, who shared the RAF”s passion for strategic bombing, joined-in, flying in daylight in theoretically self-defending formations and attacking key industrial targets.??A sustained Allied aerial assault against Germany began in 1943 with the “Combined Bomber Offensive” – the Americans by day and the British Commonwealth by night.? Despite some dramatic incidents, like the burning of Hamburg in June 1943, aircraft losses remained high and the results still poor.? It was only after the summer of 1944, by which time the German air defences were seriously weakened and the Allied bomber fleets were huge, that the bombing campaign peaked: 70% of all bombs dropped on Germany fell after 1 September 1944.? With over 4,000 four-engined bombers available daily for raids, the destructive power of the Allied bomber force was immense.? It culminated with the burning of Dresden in February 1945, in which some 80,000 people are estimated to have died.The RCAFThe RCAF was a major participant in the RAF’s strategic bombing campaign.? In early 1943 all eleven RCAF bomber squadrons were gathered into “No 6 Group, RCAF” of Bomber Command: the largest and most important formation of aircraft built, operated and commanded by Canada during the war.? The final number of RCAF squadrons in No 6 Group was thirteen, operating over 200 heavy, four-engine “Halifax” and “Lancaster” bombers.? No 6 Group represented a quarter of Bomber Command dedicated bombing groups.? Other Canadian squadrons, such as 405 Sqn, served in the “Path Finder” Group that marked targets.? The RCAF also operated four night fighter squadrons that both defended Britain and often flew in support of bombing operations, attacking German night fighters which tried to shoot down the bombers.? There were also an enormous number of Canadians in RAF squadrons, where they made-up about 25% of the aircrew.Losses of personnel on bomber operations were high, especially in 1942-43 when aircrew survival rates hovered around 25%, and during the so-called “Battle of Berlin” in the winter of 1944.? Because the RCAF squadrons were formed late, they tended to operate older types of aircraft while other squadrons flew higher and faster in newer types.? As a result, Canadian losses were occasionally high, and on several occasions RCAF bomber squadrons had to be diverted to less risky tasks until their turn for better aircraft arrived.Canada made a commitment to the air war in 1939 (See the BCATP), in the expectation of low casualties. In the end, over 10,000 Canadian airmen died in the bomber campaign: one quarter of Canada’s combat deaths during the war.Helpful Sources:Primary Documents and Official Accounts:Maps:(Links to Official History print grade files.)See Also:Historical Section of the R.C.A.F.,?The R.C.A.F. Overseas, Volume 1: The First Four Years.?Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1944.(Available online as a PDF.) Section of the R.C.A.F.,?The R.C.A.F. Overseas, Volume 2: The Fifth Year.?Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1945.(Available online as a PDF.) Section of the R.C.A.F.,?The R.C.A.F. Overseas, Volume 3: The Sixth Year.?Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1949.(Available online as a PDF.) Resources:??Veterans Affairs Canada - Canadians in Bomber Command Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies - The Ronnie Shephard Fonds Operational Research in Bomber Command.(Chapters of the manuscript available in PDF ~40pgs each. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 on night bombing, day bombing and accuracy of bombing operations may be of interest.) Normandy CampaignJune - August 1944Problem overview“D-Day” 6 June 1944 may be the most historically recognizable date in the Second World War in the Western world, including in Canada.?Historians generally agree that Allied international efforts to coordinate the massive sea, air and land invasion of France on 6 June 1944 marked a spectacular achievement and a culmination point of years of planning and secret preparations. The dramatic D-day story dominates popular history, culture, and film-making about the war.? However, 6 June 1944 also marked the first of a 78 day-long Battle for Normandy.? Historians are greatly divided about what happened in the 77 days after D-Day.? Some argue that the Anglo-Canadian stalemate at Caen and the battle of attrition which developed were evidence of superior German fighting skill and the general incompetence of the Anglo-Canadian armies, including their generals.? The apparent “slowness” to encircle defeated German armies in the infamous Falaise Pocket is seen by some as further evidence of this incompetence.? If only the Allies were better soldiers, if only their generals were better, if only the Germans were not so good, maybe the war could have been ended in 1944.??Other historians argue that the Allies fought a skillful and effective, if not always perfect, campaign in Normandy during the summer of 1944.??What evidence led to these perspectives, and how did they shape the narratives about the Canadians in Normandy, and in the war more broadly?Problem backgroundThe Normandy Campaign in the summer of 1944 was the culmination of the war in the west.? On D-Day five seaborne (one Canadian) and three airborne divisions landed, with supporting troops, along the Normandy coast between the Orne River in the east and the Vire River in the west.? The initial landings were an overwhelming success.? Despite a near-disaster on the American “Omaha” beach, the Allies got ashore with fewer losses than feared. The 3rd Canadian Division, landing on JUNO beach, defeated the German attempts to destroy the landings by a massive armoured assault.? Deception operations in the Dover area kept German divisions away from Normandy and drew several armoured divisions north.??In June the Americans made steady progress through the Bocage country west of Bayeux and captured Cherbourg.??Meanwhile, German armoured divisions fought against British and Canadian troops in the open fields around Caen in a grinding and historically controversial battle of attrition.??The situation changed on 25 July 1944. The First Canadian Army attacked south of Caen in Operation Spring to hold German armour in place, while a massive American offensive, code-named Operation Cobra was launched west of St Lo.? Cobra was a stunning success, and by early August the Americans were racing deep into France.? Meanwhile, British and Canadian Armies pushed hard against the Germans south of Caen and Caumont.??Because the Germans declined to retreat in front of the Canadians and British, in early August it was decided to turn American forces northward to link up and encircle the German army in Normandy.? When the Germans finally ordered a retreat on 17 August, it turned into a catastrophic rout. An encirclement was completed when First Canadian Army and Third US Armies closed the “Falaise Gap” on 22 August.? The German army in the west was virtually destroyed and it looked – briefly – like the war would end in 1944.Canada’s roleCanada played an important part in the Normandy campaign.? Ever since the British had been thrown out of France in 1940 everyone understood that Germany could only be defeated by sending troops back to France and defeating the German army.?? The Canadian army in Britain kept that dream alive from 1940 to 1943, playing the role of a “Dagger Pointed at Berlin.”? In the fall of 1943 Operation Overlord was planned as an American-Canadian operation, with the British army following later.By early 1944 half of the First Canadian Army was fighting in Italy and the great powers of Britain and the United States had taken charge of the landings in France.? Nonetheless, the rump of the First Canadian Army deployed in the Dover area played a key role in the deception operations that kept German divisions away from Normandy.?The Canadian Army played a key role in the campaign.? 3rd Canadian Division landed at JUNO beach and defeated attempts by the Germans to crush the whole Allied assault with armoured visions.? The first group of fighter aircraft to deploy to Normandy in support of the Anglo-Canadians was RCAF.? 3rd Canadian Division took most of Caen in early July.? It was then joined by 2nd Canadian Division, II Canadian Corps HQ and First Canadian Army headquarters which assumed command of the eastern flank of the Normandy campaign.? This army pushed south of Caen in late July and August, and was responsible for closing of the Falaise Gap.?Canada’s part of the story lays at the centre of the debate over Allied military effectiveness in Normandy. For decades historians have contested the merits of Canada’s citizen-soldier army.??Historians generally agree that the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 were a tremendous international achievement.? Historians are deeply divided over whether the rest of the 78 –day long Battle for Normandy was an Allied success or fumble that prolonged the war.?Primary Documents and Official Accounts:Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 139?The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in France (6 June – 6 September 1944)?7 July 1945Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 147?Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944. Part I: The Assault and Subsequent Operations of 3 Cdn Inf Div and 2 Cdn Armd Bde, 6-30 Jun 44.?3 December 1945Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 162?Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944. Part II: Canadian Operations in July.?8 November 1946?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 169?Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944. Part III: Canadian Operations, 1-23 August.?14 January 1947Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 183?Canadian Participation in the Operations in North-West Europe, 1944. Part IV: First Canadian Army in the Pursuit 23 Aug - 30 Sep.?22 September 1947See Also:C.P. Stacey,?Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War: Volume III, The Victory Campaign, The Operations in Northwest Europe.?Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960.(Available online as a PDF file) Resources:??CBC Digital Archives Affairs Canada - D-Day and the Battle of Normandy(Photos, videos, lesson plans, information on memorials and events, links to biographies of Victoria Cross recipients on the Directorate of History and Heritage site.) Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies - Canadian War Diaries of the Normandy Campaign(PDF version of the War Diaries for Canadian Divisions and units serving in Normandy July/August 1944. Not all units or portions of the war diaries available.) Ronnie Shephard Fonds - Normandy Invasion Special Observer Report – Beach Party. (Report of initial lessons learned from Normandy landings concerning weapons and defences prepared by a party landing in Normandy on D+6. The first 8 pages may be useful.) Witness – Broadcasting D-Day(Downloadable MP3 file. Uses some of the original BBC reports to tell the story of D-Day. 9 minute general overview, not specific to Canada.) and the Italian Campaign1943-1945Problem overview?Canadian soldiers, aircrew and sailors formed large part of the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy in 1943 and the campaign that lasted there until 1945.?? Historians and veterans debate whether the Italian Campaign was a successful Allied diversion of German forces away from Russia and Normandy, or if it was a failed attempt to attack Germany through Italy’s rugged mountains.???How do you measure the success of a diversion?Problem backgroundWhere, Who and Why??Nearly half of the Canadian Army fought their Second World War mostly in Sicily and Italy from 1943 to 1945.? However, the story is usually overshadowed by the better-known Allied D-Day landings in Normandy and the liberation campaign across Western Europe. Canada’s wartime experience in Italy is clouded by the debate over the Allied decision to invade Italy.? Decision-makers, campaign veterans, and later historians argued over whether the Allied effort served as a diversion of German military power away from more vital places in Russia and France or a failed effort to seize Italy and cross into Austria and Germany from the south.?Participants and historians who see merit in the Italian campaign diversion debate whether the Allied campaign there could have been fought more effectively, thereby avoiding a hard-fought, attritional struggle.?Regardless of which view is most compelling, nearly all participants in Italy agree that Allied troops faced horrendous hardship, operating with limited resources in extreme weather and mountainous terrain that produced conditions that reminded veterans of the Western Front in the First World War. Inside this context of international debate, Canadian troops won controversial victories in Sicily in July-August 1943, at the Moro River and Ortona on the mainland in December 1943, at the Hitler Line and Liri Valley in May-June 1944, and finally along the Gothic Line from August 1944 on to the end of the year.? Those actions were fought against some of the best troops in the German Army, at a cost of nearly 6000 Canadian dead and over 20,000 wounded.?German commanders believed they won a defensive victory in Italy, repeatedly blocking the Allied advances there in 1943 and 1944. Many Allied commanders believed the Germans only achieved their defensive goals at a higher price in men and resources than Germany could afford. Historians debate which side suffered higher casualties in the Italian campaign of attrition.? Another consequence of attrition warfare in Italy was that much of the country was ravaged and many innocent civilians were killed, wounded, or left homeless. Historic Italian communities like Ortona, Cassino, Monte Sole, and Rimini were blasted to ruins.?The Canadians committed to the Italian campaign did not stay through to its end.? Instead, in March of 1945 they secretly withdrew from Italy and joined the rest of First Canadian Army for the Liberation of the Netherlands in April and May 1945.Helpful Sources:Primary Documents and Official Accounts:?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 126?Canadian Operations in Sicily, July – August 1943. Part I: The Preliminaries of OPERATION “HUSKY” (The Assault on Sicily).?16 November 1944?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 127?Canadian Operations in Sicily, July – August 1943. Part II: The Execution of the Operation by 1 Cdn Inf Div. Section 1: The Assault and Initial Penetration Inland.?16 November 1944?Canadian Military Headquarters Report #129?Canadian Operations in Italy. September – December 1943: Preliminary Report.?25 November 1944?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 132?Canadian Operations in Sicily, July – August 1943. Part III: The Story of 1 Cdn Army Tk Bde.?27 February 1945?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 135?Canadian Operations in Sicily, July – August 1943. Part II: The Execution of the Operation by 1 Cdn Inf Div. Section 2: The Pursuit of the Germans from VIZZINI to ADERNO 15 Jul – 6 Aug.?4 May 1945?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 136?Canadian Operations in Sicily, July – August 1943. Part II: The Execution of the Operation by 1 Cdn Inf Div. Section 3: Special Aspects of the Sicilian Campaign.?4 May 1945?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 143?Canadian Operations in Italy. 4 Jun 44 – 23 Feb 45.?4 August 1945?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 178?Canadian Operations in Italy, 5 Jan - 21 Apr 44.?22 July 1947?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 179?Canadian Operations in the Liri Valley, May-Jun 44.?25 July 1947See Also:??G.W.L. Nicholson.?The Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, Volume II, The Canadians in Italy, 1943-1945.Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1956.(Available online in PDF format.) Resources:?CBC Digital Archives – The Italian Campaign Affairs Canada - The Italian Campaign Liberation of the NetherlandsApril – May 1945Problem overview??In April and early May 1945 First Canadian Army liberated the German-occupied Netherlands and fought their way to into northwest Germany in?the largest humanitarian rescue mission in Canadian history.? Queen Wihelmina of the Netherlands and her government in exile appealed directly to Allied leaders to assist the Dutch population threatened with starvation during the winter of 1944-45. German occupation troops banned food shipments into the densely populated western regions in retaliation for the 1944 Dutch railway strike in support of the Allied war effort. ?First Canadian Army, operating on the northern Allied wing, was given the job of rescuing the Dutch people. In March 1945, 1st Canadian Corps transferred from Italy, joining First Canadian Army in the southern Netherlands and Belgium.??The arrival of Canadian troops from Italy made?the April 1945 liberation of the Netherlands the largest Canadian Army operation in history and the only one in which the entire Canadian Army overseas operated together.??Does that make it significant?Even though the war was nearly over, Canadian troops exercised great caution to defeat the Germans in the Netherlands while minimizing harm to the Dutch people, property, and infrastructure.? Dutch and Allied authorities were concerned that the Germans may destroy Dutch dykes and drainage pump system in a last desperate act, flooding the most populated provinces and cities.? During the five week Dutch rescue mission, 1305 Canadian soldiers were killed and over 3000 wounded. A grateful Dutch population forged a deep and lasting relationship with Canada that remains strong to this day. ?The operation took place at the same time as a great race between the Western Allies and Soviet troops to see which would occupy key parts of central Europe.???Canadian efforts were therefore divided between the Dutch rescue and the capture of Germany’s North Sea ports before Soviet troops arrived.Problem backgroundBy the end of March 1945 most of the German armed forces were defeated along their western and eastern borders.? Nevertheless, over two million German soldiers, sailors and aircrew fought on. Allied senior leaders debated the best way to remove Adolf Hitler from power, end hostilities, disarm the German Army, and begin humanitarian relief efforts across Europe.? German forced labour programs and general wartime disruption of life left tens of millions of Europeans homeless, displaced, malnourished at risk of disease. British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery felt that ending the war would be best achieved by focusing all Allied troops on driving quickly into Germany, capturing Berlin and dismantling Nazi-German power. However, Montgomery followed orders from his political leaders to detach most of First Canadian Army under his command to mount the Dutch rescue operation.??In early April 2nd Canadian Corps seized crossings over the Twente Canal?and broke out with mobile columns racing towards the North Sea, cutting off German Twenty-Fifth Army in the Netherlands.? Canadian columns were aided by Dutch Underground forces that provided intelligence and frequently seized control of town centres and vital infrastructure from German troops until Canadian troops arrived, as in Leeuwarden. Canadian units trapped a pocket of German troops in the north east corner of the Netherlands at Groningen and the port of Delfzijl. By 16 April 1945, 2nd Canadian Division fought a bitter but careful battle to clear the city of Groningen without undue harm to people and property.? Germans defending the port city of Delfzijl, opposite the German City of Emden across the Ems River, continued to hold out.??At the same time 1st Canadian Corps that had secretly moved into the area from Italy mounted a dramatic encirclement battle in Gelderland province between Apeldoorn and Arnhem.? By 18 April 1945 they had trapped and destroyed much of the remaining German field units defending the western Netherlands before commencing negotiations with those Germans still holding out.? Many German soldiers sought opportunities to surrender, realizing that the end of the war was near, but other more fanatical Nazi loyalists held out to the last.? In those last days Canadian troops sometimes fought and other times negotiated with the enemy.? The effort was carried out with minimal damage to Apeldoorn and other central Dutch cities.? The Canadians had orders not to advance west into Utrecht Province to prevent the Germans from blowing the elaborate dyke and drainage network that kept much of the reclaimed Dutch landscape above water.? By the end of April German officials agreed to allow Allied bombers to start air dropping food supplies into the occupied zone in what became known as Operations “Manna” and “Chowhound.”? Truck convoys that carried food, medicine, and fuel followed in early May.??In the northeast Netherlands, Major-General Bertram Hoffmiester and 5th Canadian Division attacked the port of Delfzijl in late April. By 2 May, after days of hard fighting, they defeated the German garrison and secured its docks to land ships carrying humanitarian aid.? By 5 May 1945 the whole German force along the North Sea area surrendered. Some argue Hoffmiester should have waited and avoided some of the last Canadian casualties of the war.? Hoffmiester let his men vote on the question and they decided to attack, to ensure German engineers did not sabotage dock facilities.?The last Canadian fighting in Europe occurred on both sides of the Ems River and Dutch-German border along the Ems River at Delzijl in the Netherlands and Leer, Emden and the Kunsten Canal in Germany.? As soon as the surrender was announced, the entire Canadian Army dispersed into every Dutch community to help deliver aid, round up German prisoners and restore basic services. ?They won the lasting gratitude of the Dutch population.Primary Documents and Official Accounts:Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 152?The Concluding Phase: The Advance into North-West Germany and the Final Liberation of the Netherlands 23 Mar - 5 May 45.?21 March 1946Maps:?(Links to Official History print grade files.)See Also:?C.P. Stacey,?Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War: Volume III, The Victory Campaign, The Operations in Northwest Europe.?Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960.(Available online as a PDF file)???????????? See Chapters 21 & 22:??????????? Chapter 21: The 1st Corps in the Western Netherlands, 1-? ? ? ? ? ??22 April 1945??????????? Chapter 22: The German Surrender?Internet Resources:?CBC Digital Archives and the Global War in the Air1939 - 1945Problem overview??By 1941 Germany and Britain were locked into a war of mutual destruction, with huge air raids on urban centres launched in futile attempts to break the will and the ability of the other to continue.? In 1942 the United States joined the British bomber campaign in an attempt to launch a “second front” in the skies over Germany, built around growing fleets of four-engine bombers. Canadians were involved from the beginning.?In an early war effort to avoid high casualties associated with land warfare, the Canadian Government agreed to host and fund the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan across the country.?Airpower played an increasingly vital role in support of the war on land and at sea. The air war then developed an almost insatiable demand for pilots and other aircrew, which put enormous pressure on the BCATP to produce trained personnel.? In particular, very heavy casualties in the bomber war in 1942, 1943 and early 1944, and the rapid expansion of the bomber force itself, could only be sustained by the efforts of the BCATP in Canada. Moreover, the BCATP drew a disproportionate share of its intake – over fifty percent – from Canada itself.??This made the RCAF Canada’s second largest military service and, by 1945, the fifth largest air force in the world. ?What began as a rather modest project to train pilots and aircrew turned into one of the critical training schemes of the Second World War. Without the huge training infrastructure in Canada, the British Commonwealth’s bomber offensive against Germany in particular would have been impossible.?Initially the BCATP assigned trained Canadian pilots and aircrew to Royal Air Force squadrons made up of men from around the Commonwealth.? Later in the war efforts were made to concentrate Canadian flyers in Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons.?Nonetheless, the BCATP spread Canadians spread throughout Royal Air Force squadrons deployed to every corner of the global air war.? Canadian flyers lost while serving in British RAF squadrons are called the RCAF “Lost Legion”.??The results of the BCATP for the Canadian government were mixed.? The scheme was undertaken to avoid heavy casualties, but the bomber war proved to be the second most deadly service for Canadians during the Second World War.??Of the 44,000 Canadian personnel who died on active service between 1939 and 1945, 17,397 were RCAF.??Approximately 10,000 of those were killed serving with Bomber Command, 2,400 during BCATP training and the remaining 5,000 scattered across the global war in the air in both RCAF and RAF squadrons.Problem backgroundDuring the late 1930s the British pressed the Canadian government to make some formal commitment to a common British Commonwealth war effort should the need arise.? Anxious to avoid the horrendous casualties of the Great War and the subsequent conscription crisis of 1917, the Canadian government settled on the training of pilots and aircrew.? The “British Commonwealth Air Training Plan” (BCATP) was signed three months after the Second World War started, on 17 December 1939, and began operation the following April.? With its wide-open skies, good weather – even in winter – and distance from the enemy, Canada made a superb location for this vast scheme.? In time it became the focal point for all aircrew training for the British Commonwealth and Empire, and later (after the fall of Western Europe) for European nations in exile.In 1939 the BCATP was expected to be the major role of the Royal Canadian Air Force in the new war, and Canada’s main contribution to the war effort.? All personnel trained through the BCATP including Canadians were to be sent overseas to serve in Royal Air Force (RAF).? Canada’s air war against Germany would be identified only by a “Canada” shoulder flash on RCAF uniforms.? As a result, most Canadian airmen in the Second World War served in British units, contributing about 25% of personnel in all RAF squadrons.? They added a Canadian presence to every campaign fought by British Commonwealth forces from Europe to Africa, the Middle East, China, South Asia, and the Pacific.?Canadian flyers lost on active service around the world in RAF squadrons constitute the RCAF Lost Legion.????By any measure the BCATP was a tremendous success.? From humble beginnings with little equipment in April 1940, the scheme blossomed to over 231 sites across Canada.? Many of these were new purpose-built airfields.? The BCATP operated ninety schools for Elementary and Service Flying Training, Wireless Operators, General Reconnaissance, Air Navigation, Air Observers, and Bombing and Gunnery Schools, as well as Operational Training Units.? The organization was run by 105,000 personnel (mostly Canadian), and operated 10,900 aircraft.? Of the 131,553 aircrew from around the world who trained in Canada under the BCATP, 72,835 were Canadians.Despite the safety of Canadian skies aircrew training for war remained a dangerous business. Nearly 2,400 RCAF aircrew died in training accidents in Canada.?? Training accidents meant that Canada is littered with British Commonwealth War Graves containing servicemen from around the world who died here while on active service.?Every Canadian province is home to one of these international war cemeteries.??However, for most Canadians the greatest legacy of the BCATP was the nation-wide network of modern airfields and navigation systems that formed the bedrock of Canada’s post-war air transportation boom.In 1939, the Canadian government intended that the RCAF, as an institution, stay home and focus its efforts on training.? As the war dragged on and intensified, however, the sheer numbers of Canadians put through the BCATP grew and so, too, did demands for a Canadian national presence in the air war over Europe. Ottawa lobbied successfully – although not without resistance from the British – for the establishment of RCAF squadrons overseas composed of BCATP trained personnel.? This “Canadianization” of the RCAF overseas was a slow and often painful process, in part because the Canadian government – which paid for the BCATP -- insisted that the British pay for the aircraft in Canadian overseas squadrons.Ultimately 46 RCAF squadrons (all numbered in the 401-449 range) operated overseas.? Typically, Canadian squadrons served in larger British Royal Air Force formations, called “Wings” or “Groups”.? In the end, Canadian squadrons operated in virtually every theatre of war around the globe, from Burma, to North Africa, Italy, Northwest Europe and the North Atlantic.? Home-based RCAF squadrons also flew in defence of Canada, and contributed significantly to the air defence of Alaska.?The single largest group of Canadian aircrew was concentrated in the RAF’s “Bomber Command”, which carried out the strategic bombing campaign against Germany.??Many of those aircrew served in No 6 Group, RCAF of Bomber Command, the largest RCAF formation of the war, with thirteen squadrons of heavy bombersPrimary Documents and Official Accounts:AHQ 74: Offensive Air Support of First Canadian Army During Operations in North-West Europe (5 July 1955) Also:Historical Section of the R.C.A.F.,?The R.C.A.F. Overseas, Volume 1: The First Four Years.?Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1944.(Available online as a PDF.) Section of the R.C.A.F.,?The R.C.A.F. Overseas, Volume 2: The Fifth Year.?Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1945.(Available online as a PDF.) Section of the R.C.A.F.,?The R.C.A.F. Overseas, Volume 3: The Sixth Year.?Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1949.(Available online as a PDF.) Resources:Veterans Affairs Canada – The British Commonwealth Air Training PlanBasic information on BCATP that shows how the plan changed communities including social effects: Dieppe RaidAugust 1942Problem overview?Just after dawn on 19 August 1942 an Allied raiding force of nearly 5000 Canadian soldiers, 1000 British Army Commandos and 50 US Army Rangers backed by substantial Allied naval and air forces landed on German-held beaches at and around the seaside town of Dieppe in northern France.? The attack, code-named Operation?Jubilee,?was not meant as a permanent return to European continent,but a one day raid, the most important intention of which is a matter of debate.??Regardless of the intention, the plan depended on mounting a surprise landing under the cover of darkness.? Fate denied both and the attacking force stormed beaches in growing daylight defended by an alert German enemy.? Historians disagree over some of the dramatic day’s outcomes, but it is clear that 3,367 Canadians were killed, wounded, or captured marking Canada’s worst single day’s loss of the Second World War.?Some believe the Dieppe Raid on August 19th?1942 stands as the greatest disaster in Canadian military history.? Afterwards, participants and then historians focused inquiry more on determining which leaders were responsible for the losses more than on whether the operation achieved its aims.?Problem backgroundIn the summer of 1942 Soviet forces fought desperately to halt the German offensive towards southern Russia’s vital oilfields. The United States was still mobilizing and overwhelmed by the great Japanese offensive across the Pacific and South Asia that began at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. British and Dominion armies had not fully rebuilt after being forced to abandon France in 1940 and were locked in vicious battle against German and Italian forces in Egypt and against a growing U-Boat offensive in the Atlantic Ocean.? That summer the Second World War had entered its darkest days. British and American senior commanders ultimately chose to mount a large single-day raid against the French coast. Goals ranged from diverting German attention off the beleaguered Soviets, testing new amphibious assault equipment and methods probing the German defences on Europe’s Atlantic Coast to more secretive collecting of equipment and technical data about German radar technology and their Enigma wireless coding-machines.? The plan also included a few local and immediate tasks of destroying German military installations around Dieppe. Senior Canadian generals volunteered their troops, desperate from waiting three years to get into action, for the mission.??The assault convoys sailing in the darkness towards France bumped into a German naval patrol which both delayed their arrival by critical minutes and alerted the enemy to their presence.? German forces were already on high alert because of their concerns that their offensive pressure against Russia might force the Allies to attempt an invasion across the English Channel.? German defenders were therefore ready and waiting when the landing craft carrying Canadians touched down at Dieppe beach and nearby Puys.Canadian historians and the available evidence conflict sharply over what happened next.? Some accounts suggest that the vital Churchill tanks of the Calgary Regiment failed to cross the stony beach so that Canadian infantrymen became helpless targets with no heavy fire support.? Other accounts suggest the loss of surprise cost lives, but that Canadian tankers and engineers knew about the stone beach and successfully climbed half of their tanks over the sea wall to take on German positions ashore. Eye-witness accounts from Canadians later captured, reveal how the tanks and infantry fought effectively, if at too high a cost, against German defenders manning fortified houses and machine gun posts until the evacuation commenced.??The Dieppe Raid aftermath resulted in a series of reports confirming key lessons for future Allied amphibious assaults against Axis held territory, including the need for overwhelming fire support from naval and air forces, more armoured vehicles in the first wave, and the danger of attacking fortified ports.? Some argue that many components of Operation Jubilee worked well and were worth repeating, including successful commando landings against long range coast artillery, and effective naval and air protection of the assault convoys crossing the English Channel.??Helpful Sources:Primary Documents and Official Accounts:Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 89 The OPERATION at Dieppe, 19 Aug 42: Personal Stories of Participants. 31 December 1942Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 90?The OPERATION at Dieppe, 19 Aug 42: Further Personal Stories of Participants.?18 February 1943?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 107?The OPERATION at DIEPPE, 19 Aug 42: Further Personal Stories of Participants.?29 November 1943?Canadian Military Headquarters Report # 100?OPERATION "JUBILEE": The Raid on Dieppe, 19 Aug 42. Part I: The Preliminaries of the OPERATION.?16 July 1943Internet Resources:?CBC Digital Archives - Video and audio clips. and Archives Canada - Through a Lens Dieppe in Photographs and Film Affairs Canada - The Dieppe Raid(Photos, lesson plan, memorials, links to the biographies of Victoria Cross recipients on Directorate of History and Heritage website.) Beach Centre - Canada in the Second World War: The Dieppe Raid(A good description of the intentions behind the raid. Considers the raid to have been a disaster.)? ................
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