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Canadian Army's Role In Ww2

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“As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable.” The Royal Canadian Army, which consisted of many brave men, contributed significantly towards the victory of the Allies in World War II. They played the largest role in securing the victory for the Allies, compared to the other roles of Canadians. The Royal Canadian Army consisted of roughly 709,000 men. The army was quickly expanding, and by late 1942, the army had five divisions overseas. The reason for the firm belief that they played the largest role was because they were deployed in every theatre of war, took on the most casualties compared to any other group of Canadians, and had to take on the most dangerous missions. Firstly, the Royal Canadian Army was deployed in every theatre of war, while other Canadians, such as citizens, stayed home and …show more content…

While other Canadian groups, such as citizens, stayed at home contributing to the war effort, the army was deployed in many parts of Europe, fighting against the Germans, who were not only well trained, but also well equipped. Examples of the most dangerous missions they took on would be D-Day and the Dieppe Raid. The Dieppe Raid was a mission that ended up failing due to their loss of element of surprise against the Germans. It ended with many Canadian lives being lost (totalled at 3,367). On D-Day, of the 150,000 Allied troops deployed, about 14,000 were Canadians. They either landed or parachuted into the designated area. They encountered German defences which consisted of artillery, machine guns, mines, and booby-traps, thus they had a high chance of losing their lives. In February 1945, the Canadian First Army took part in pushing the Germans back across the Rhine. In addition, the Royal Canadian Army had to clear coastal areas North of France and capture launch sites of German rockets, in a successful attempt to end the attacks on

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953 Words | 4 Pages

Canada’s Defining Moment: D-Day Canada played an important role in World War I as they showed great perseverance, courage, and gained decisive victories as shown in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. In World War II, Canada failed to disappoint once again in their contribution to the Battle of Normandy. During that time, Germany had invaded northwestern France and the Allies, which includes Canada, planned on liberating them. The Allies prepared a plan to mislead the Germans into thinking they were not going to invade through the coast of Normandy. Fortunately, the operation to deceive them was a success and the members of the Allied Forces landed on their designated areas.

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The Canadian Corps, a 100,000 strong fighting formation, was ordered to the Passchendaele front, east of Ypres, in mid-October 1917. Horrible Conditions Launched on 31 July 1917, the British offensive in Flanders had aimed to drive the Germans away from the essential Channel Ports and to eliminate U-Boat bases on the coast. But unceasing rain and shellfire reduced the battlefield to a vast bog of bodies, water-filled shell craters, and mud in which the attack ground to a halt. After months of fighting, Passchendaele ridge was still stubbornly held by German troops. Sir Douglas Haig, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, ordered the Canadians to deliver victory.

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They felt little attachment to the Imperial ‘mother country’ and viewed the Canadian army as an almost entirely English Canadian institution. French-English tensions were already running high; French Canadians were still very enraged that Ontario had banned French as a language of instruction in its schools in 1913. Of the 400,000 Canadians who volunteered for service in the Great War, less than 1 in 20 were French. Of English Canadian volunteers, 70% were recent immigrants from Britain.

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World War Two would not have been won if they did not have the help and contributions of the Royal Canadian Navy and the merchant marine. The Royal Canadian Navy and merchant marine had to grow and expand exponentially to support Britain in the war. The Royal Canadian Navy and merchant marine had critical contributions to the outcome of World War Two because of convoys with supplies, battles with German u-boats, and the Battle of the Atlantic. To begin with, one major contribution to the victory of World War Two was the supplies brought to Britain from the merchant marines and the help of the Royal Canadian Navy. As a result of the fall of France, Canada became Britain’s largest ally.

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206 Words | 1 Pages

The Battle of Normandy was the allied invasion of Normandy, and Canada was given the middle beach which shows that Canadian forces were trusted by the allies. Before the operation

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397 Words | 2 Pages

The Canadian forces had been prepared, dispersed all around the Island of Hong Kong even before the Japanese attacked (“Canadians in Hong Kong”). The Canadians fought their hardest but suffered horrible outcomes. Due to the Japanese “air raids and artillery attacks” (Hillis, Erik), they defeated the Canadians on every defense. The Japanese victory was nearly set in stone when they demolished the majority of aircrafts from the Royal Air Force (Hillis, Erik). On Christmas night this battle came to an end when the Japanese set out to kill the last of the Canadians (Hillis, Erik).

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The outcome of the second World War had a beneficial change on Canada leading to an autonomous refined nation. World War 2 has many beneficial changes on the country such as it was a enormous economic boost which led to a powerful economy after going through the depression. There was a large number of social changes made like civil rights were being accounted for by the government in a free democratic country. In Canada, there was a political change as the nation becomes an autonomous middle power country. Lastly, any recommendation on war can be positive or negative and may certainly lead to a pathway of favourable outcomes an independent middle power

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1125 Words | 5 Pages

As a country Canada’s strengths included, gaining autonomy through persevering and showing just how mature and ready Canadians were to be in charge of their own army; and be recognized as a separate country from Britain. Another one of Canada’s strengths was how calmly autonomy was achieved after the war. Canada did not need to make a fuss about becoming their own country because it was obvious that they were already ready for that. Their proof was presented in how they planned and executed their battles, and fought alongside Britain to successfully defeat

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The French and British tried to take control of Vimy from 1914 to 1916 but failed with about 150,000 casualties with no positive results. Compared to Canada, there were 3,598 dead out of 10,602 Canadian casualties. Which was why the French and British commanders thought it was impenetrable to capture Vimy from Germany. Canada proved them wrong and captured Vimy on their first try. This is because all the strategies the French and British tried failed and got more soldiers killed then Canada did.

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The Canadians had shown the world and themselves that they could effectively plan and execute an effective offensive. In fact, they could mount an offensive to make the greatest advance since the start of the Great War. The Canadians were now seen as the elite troops of the British Army. Now, the fact that they were still considered a part of the British Army does speak to the idea that Canadians were still working to push themselves out of the role of ‘colony’ and into the role of ‘independent nation’ but the praise

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175 Words | 1 Pages

Canada’s dedication to the war, one of the biggest mission failures, and affecting the outcome of future battles are the reasons the battle of Dieppe was a defining moment during World War Two. Canada demonstrated their courage and commitment to the war by assisting the Allies to defeat German forces despite losing so many troops. The battle itself was a total failure with many dead, wounded and taken prisoner, due to the poor planning and execution of the battle. Even though it was not a success, there were some important lessons learned such as they needed to change their strategy, equipment, and communications. Canada's dedication and commitment to the war especially to the battle of Dieppe proved to be a major failure and a huge success

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1266 Words | 6 Pages

This was the first ever battle where gas was introduced. It was brought by the Germans and swept the French trenches (Christie, 9). The French retreated and the Canadians had to hold down the trenches. Germans attacked when the gas cleared and the position was held by The Royal Highlanders from Montréal. Because of Canada’s selfishness, they helped win this battle.

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963 Words | 4 Pages

The day before to the battle of the Ypres commanders of the Allies forces had been warned of an attack with poisonous gas that the Germans were planning for the next day but they decided to ignore the warnings. On the 13th of April of 1915 the German troops released a chlorine gas attack over no man’s land that dispersed the French troops and killed many of them; the Canadian troops were positioned meters behind the battle front and, when the saw the French troops running away from the gas, they stood their ground and with just a cloth over their mouth as protection against the gas the Canadians fought the German soldiers. That day the Canadians proved themselves as strong capable forces but many of the soldiers on the field that day died due the effects of the chlorine gas in their system. Another of the battles were a bad plan resulted on unnecessary bloodshed of Canadian troops was on the Somme, where the reckless attitude of General Haig resulted on the death of thousands of soldiers on the hands of the enemies’ troops and where, once again the Canadian regime of Newfoundlanders proved their military value and were the Canadian troops earned the name of

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963 Words | 4 Pages

During WWII, Canada played a crucial role in the Battle of the Atlantic and the air war over Germany. They contributed troops to the allied forces and punched far above their weight for a small nation of then only 11 million people. Because of Canada’s oversized role in the War, it established itself as a middle power. This position helped define Canada in a number of ways, primarily being one of the first non-great powers to help build the United Nations. It earned respect from other countries and with The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

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707 Words | 3 Pages

World War 1 was a historic event which began in 1914 and ended in 1918. This bloody conflict took the lives of more than 17 million people who were fighting for their countries. Being a British colony at the time, Canada was dragged into the war that did not impact the country in any way, yet thousands of Canadians volunteered to devote their lives for their nation. The first World War had the greatest impact on Canadian history during the 20th century, as this event helped Canada gain more independence from Britain, it helped introduce women in the workforce, and also introduced non-white Canadians in the army. For the longest time, Canada had been under British control, however, this changed a bit after World War 1 took place.

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