Chapter 5 History - Part III

Question 1

1. Planning of D-Day

Answer 1

• D-Day June 6, 1944, Allies invaded Europe in “Operation Overlord”, where Allies planned invasion carefully.
• Allies landed troops on 5 beaches along 80 km stretch of Normandy coast in northern France, code-named Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah.
• Soldiers had air/naval support, and transportation/communication lines disrupted before attack by paratroopers behind enemy lines and bombs on beaches.
• Naval support brought Allies +1,000,000 troops w/ vehicles after 1st landing.

Question 2

3. Battle of the Scheldt

Answer 2

• Allies took weeks of constant fighting before advancing through France and Belgium toward Germany.
• In October, Canadians required to clear enemy troops from Scheldt River in Belgium, connecting Antwerp to North Sea.
• Although Allies liberated Antwerp, Germans controlled river and access to sea.
• Canadians achieved goal after month, allowing Allies to bring supplies.

Question 3

4. Battle of the Rhine River

Answer 3

• Feb. 1945 - Allies w/ 175,000 Canadians drove Germans back to Rhine River and out of Netherlands, struggling through mud and flooded fields against Germans.
• Nearly 23,000 Allies including +5,300 Canadians killed. Germans lost 90,000 including 52,000 taken prisoner.
• German army later withdrew to east bank of Rhine River.

Question 4

5. Canadian Task for the Netherlands

Answer 4

• Canadians had to liberate Netherlands, yet earlier Allied attempt to do so failed and Germans destroyed port cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and flooded much of countryside.
• By 1945, food and fuel to Dutch cut off and many starved, bitter winter of 1944-45 made conditions worse.

Question 5

6. Victory in the Netherlands

Answer 5

• Another month of fighting needed to drive Germany out of Netherlands. Allies negotiated truce w/ Germany that allowed supplies to Dutch.
• Convoys of trucks carrying thousands of tons of food and fuel delivered to civilians. Canadians hailed as heroes.

Question 6

7. Victory in Europe - War in Pacific

Answer 6

• Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, w/ Hitler committing suicide in bunker in Berlin before capture. War in Europe over and Allies declared May 8 Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
• War in Pacific intensified after Europe Victory. Most of Japanese air force and navy destroyed by 1945 but army still strong.
• Americans (main allies in Pacific) began fire-bombing cities to force surrender, but despite killing thousands Japanese declared they’d “fight to the last person”.

Question 7

8. The Manhattan Project

Answer 7

• American and British scientists worked on Manhattan Project to develop atomic bomb.
• Canada notified of project in 1942 and asked to contribute uranium.
• Canadian govt agreed and secretly brought Eldorado mine at Great Bear Lake, NWT.

Question 8

9. End of WW2

Answer 8

• American bomber plane (“Enola Gay” named after pilot’s mother) dropped bomb over Hiroshima, before second bomb Nagasaki three days later.
• Estimated that two bombs killed about 135,000 in Hiroshima and 50,000 in Nagasaki.
• Japan surrendered from nuclear bombs Aug. 14, 1945, ending WW2 after 6 years.

Question 9

10. Atrocities in Germany

Answer 9

• Atrocities on civilians and POWs during WW2 brought human rights to world’s attention and led to Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Racist views of Nazis well-known in 1930’s. Nazis adopted “Final Solution” of genocide, ordering Jews and “undesirables” shipped to concentration camps.
• Ex: Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald in Germany and Auschwitz and Treblinka in Poland.

Question 10

11. Conditions in Concentration Camps

Answer 10

• Guards stripped victims of clothes and valuables, shaving heads and separated families.
• Weak, old and young killed in gas chambers while healthy people slaves, before murdered from overwork, starvation and disease.
• Germans killed 6 million Jews and 5 million “undesirables”. Allies didn’t realise full extent of Holocaust until entering Germany, despite knowledge of concentration camps.

Question 11

12. Nuremberg Trials

Answer 11

• Allies established International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany to prosecute Nazi leaders and others for atrocities during war.
• Twelve sentenced to death and others imprisoned, first time in history that leaders of country charged for immorality during wartime, becoming model of war crime prosecution in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

Question 12

13. The Tokyo Trials

Answer 12

• Japanese POW and civilian camps committed war crimes, like mass killing, human experimentation, famine, torture and forced labor.
• Alleged crimes subject to trial in international courts similar to Nuremberg Trials as acts violated international law.
• Tokyo Trials heard cases and passed sentence on military personnel found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Question 13

14. Canadian Military Contribution in WW2

Answer 13

• Canadian factories dedicated to producing supplies and war materials.
• 1944 - Canada produced 14,000 tanks and personnel carriers, +4,000 aircraft and 16,000 artillery pieces
• Factories operating non-stop w/ long working hours.

Question 14

15. Industrialization during WW2

Answer 14

• Women joined war industries as welders, drillers and punch-press/machine operators.
• “Rosie the Riveter” popular nickname for working women - in high demand as factory workers, moving from rural areas to industrial centers.
• Companies built dorms close to factories to house workers w/ govt funding.

Question 15

16. The Economy in WW2

Answer 15

• People had more money to spend w/ increased production and employment, yet fewer goods as most of production shipped to Britain.
• PM Mackenzie King wanted to avoid inflation and hoped to prevent massive debt after WW1.
• James Ilsley (MofFinance) encouraged Canadians Victory Bonds, using money to finance war and people cashed bonds for profit after war.

Question 16

17. Conditions for Canadians in WW2

Answer 16

• Increased income taxes came and Wartime Prices and Trade Board (set in 1939) froze all wages and prices in 1941 to limit inflation.
• King introduced food rationing in 1942. Canadian adults limited to 1 kg meat, 220 g sugar, 250 g butter and 225 g coffee per week.
• Generous compared to England and US rations.

Question 17

2. Canadian Victory at D-Day

Answer 17

• Allies kept details of attack from Germans, latter believing attack would come from north.
• A storm delayed initial attacks and Germans believed Allies wouldn’t attempt landing in bad weather, so Germans poorly coordinated.
• June 1944, 14,000 Canadians at Juno Beach made way past concrete barriers, barbed wires and land mines to take beach.
• By end of day, Canadians fought way inland by 9 km w/ 359 Canadians dead and 715 wounded.

Question 18

18. Treatment of Unions in WW2

Answer 18

• Wartime Prices and Trade Board prevented social unrest, limiting union power by controlling wages so striking less effective.
• Shortage of labour worked to unions’ advantage, many ignoring restrictions on right to strike. Workers wanted higher wages and right to bargain.
• Board unable to stop steel workers in NS and coal miners in Alberta and BC from striking in 1943.
• 1944 - Federal govt gave workers right to join union and forced employers to recognize unions.

Question 19

19. Canadian Views of Government Involvement

Answer 19

• Wartime govt involved in Canadians’ lives w/ Canadians wanting some to continue.
• Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party and social reform increasingly popular at national and provincial level, not lost on PM King.
• CCF formed Opposition in ON in 1943 and formed govt in Sask. under T.C. “Tommy” Douglas in 1944.

Question 20

20. PM King’s Response to New Views

Answer 20

• King brought in unemployment insurance in 1940, bringing in 1945 Family Allowance program helping w/ cost of child maintenance, “cradle to grave” beginning.
• “Cradle to grave” social security: Assistance provided by govt from birth to death.

Question 21

21. PM King’s Response to Conscription Crisis

Answer 21

• PM King promised no conscription, yet speed which Germans occupied Europe in 1940 stunned Canadians and made clear thousands of soldiers needed.
• Canadians and Conservative Party demanded more for war effort, to which King’s govt brought National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA).
• Govt held emergency powers to take over nation’s resources and allowing conscription for home defense.

Question 22

22. PM King’s Treatment of Conscription

Answer 22

• Conservative opposition pressured King bring conscription, but PM knew resistance in Quebec, didn’t feel connected to war in Europe not directly affecting Canada.
• King held plebiscite getting Canadians’ views on conscription, using “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary” to describe govt’s position.
• April 27, 1942, voters asked to release govt from promise not to send conscripts overseas. +80% in all provinces but Quebec voted yes, whereas Quebec voted 70% no.

Question 23

23. Quebec Response to Conscription

Answer 23

• King allowed conscription for overseas service by amending National Resources Mobilization Act in Aug. 1942, many Quebecois betrayed by King’s actions.
• Montreal riots protested King’s decision, Quebec legislature passing motion condemning govt’s actions.

Question 24

24. Final Response for Conscription Crisis

Answer 24

• King avoided conscription for next two years, but heavy Canadian casualties in Italy and NW Europe lead to severe shortage of trained infantry.
• 1942 - King conscripted 15,000 men for active service where in final months of war, 12,908 NRMA conscripts sent to Europe, of which only 2,463 ever reaching front.

Question 25

25. Canada’s Economic and Military Contribution

Answer 25

• Arsenals supply armies w/ weapons. Before US entered war in 1940, Roosevelt called US “arsenal of democracy”, promising to support Allies while staying out of actual fighting.
• Canada supplied both arsenals and soldiers. Canada provided major military and economic support to Allies.
• Value of goods produced from Canada from $5.6 B in 1939 to $11.8 B in 1945, and gave billions of dollars in financial support.

Question 26

26. Canadian Economic Boom After WW2

Answer 26

• Rapid increase in production of aluminum used in the manufacture of aircraft.
• Wood, paper, mining and smelting rose. Increase in demand for petroleum to fuel tanks, trucks and airplanes.
• Wave of exploration led discoveries of oil fields in Alberta, jobs created in production, transportation, processing and providing services for new industries.
• Boom overtook agriculture by manufacturing. From 1939 to 1949, Canada transformed from rural economy to modern industrial nation.

Question 27

27. Social Changes After WW2

Answer 27

• Women’s contribution raised profile in society and promoted rights as workers.
• Wave of immigration as 48,000 war brides w/ 21,000 children arrived from Europe to join soldier-husbands after war.
• Govt encouraged war brides to come to Canada by paying for trip, many facing difficult adjustment in new culture.

Question 28

28. Immigration After WW2

Answer 28

• Thousands displaced by war came to Canada.
• Govt allowed more people in Canada for demand for labour, but immigration policy otherwise unchanged.
• Allowed mainly immigrants from preferred countries.

Question 29

29. Recognition of Canada After WW2

Answer 29

• Two decades earlier, Canada was colony in British Empire, emerging w/ one of world’s largest navies and 4th largest Allied air force by end of WW2.
• Troops recognized for contribution to victory, and efforts of minority Canadian soldiers furthered civil rights for all Canadians.