WWII

Question 1

Why was Prime Minister William Lyon worried about entering World War II?

Answer 1

Because of the heavy casualties from ww1 and also the fear of conscription re-dividing the country

Question 2

Why did Canadians go to Hong Kong?

Answer 2

selected the Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles of Canada to form the core of “C” Force – a military contingent that was the first to see action in ww2
–> neither of these battalions were properly trained for combat

Question 3

what was britains initial worry about japan?

Answer 3

fear that japan would invade and attack british colonies in east asia (when their political relationship began to disassemble)
–> hong kong was a british colony

The British military believed that by sending reinforcements to their colonial garrisons it would deter Japan from starting a war in the Pacific

Question 4

What was Hong Kong like geographically?

Answer 4

consisted of Hong Kong Island and the adjacent mainland areas of Kowloon and the New Territories

Question 5

what were state of affairs like?

Answer 5

War with japan wasn’t considered urgent and it was expected that Canadians would just see non-combat duty
Racial attitudes of the time convinced white troop leaders that they would win easily against the Japanese

Question 6

state of affairs cont’d

Answer 6

no significant air or naval defense (The Kai Take Royal Airforce base in Hong Kong – 5 planes, seven officers and 108 airmen)

Question 7

what was the battle of hong kong?

Answer 7

Dec 8 1941 the 38 japanese div attacked hong kong – after 3 days of conflict, the japanese troops bombed the colonies airfeild and other military installations – after 5 days, Kowloon and the mainland fell to the Japanese
General Maltbly denied Japanese demands for surrender – he split the forces into two brigades (east & west brigade)

Question 8

What were Prisoners of War (POW’s)

Answer 8

approx 290 canadian soldeirs were killed in captivitym and 264 more died as pows (almost 550 wounded, 554 dead)
Japanese captured british indian and canadian soldiers where they were hled for four years of slave labour, starvation and more

Question 9

what were some technology advancements

(war in the air)

Answer 9

the interwar period meant development in tech (aviation)
development of the radar allowed aircrafts to detect and track enemy planes and ships

Question 10

how did the british commonwealth air force contribute to the war

Answer 10

it was the most prominent contribution Canada made to the war effort – canada focused a majority of its resources and soldiers
canada funded and ran the training of the majority of the allied air crew

Question 11

what were the Canadian airforces in ww2

Answer 11

• Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) – majority served with bomber command and as a part of the royal airforce – it was the fourth largest allied airforce with bomber, fighter, reconnaissance and transport missions
• the womens division of RCAF
  *trained as cooks, mechanics, telephone operaterators and drivers however they were not allowed to fly or take part in combat until much later in the war

Question 12

what was operation Sea Lion?

Answer 12

Nazi Germany’s plan to invade Britain via English channel – they had to first destroy the RAF to prevent attacks on the invasion fleet or providing protection (they needed air superiority)

Question 13

what was germany’s plan to invade britain called in 1940?

Answer 13

Operation sea lion

Question 14

1st phase

Battle of britain

Answer 14

1. Channel Battles: attacks aimed at british shipping (bombed convoys, ships and ports)

Question 15

what was the significance of the battle of britain

Answer 15

prevented a possible lethal attack from hilter

Question 16

2nd phase

Battle of britain

Answer 16

Eagle attacks: attacks aimed at airfields and factories in an effort to incapacitate the RAF

Question 17

3rd phase

Battle of britain

Answer 17

Luftwaffe’s efforts increase: Battle began more fierce - increase of dogfighting, large scale attacks during the day to discredit RAF as a fighting force

Question 18

4th phase

Battle of britain

Answer 18

The Blitz: 8 month mass daylight and night raids on London and other strategic cities across Britain - destroyed buildings and killed many civilians

Question 19

what were relations like before the Dieppe Raid

(Operation Jubilee)

Answer 19

Germany had control of Europe
Canadians were eager to be involved, and the soviet union pressured them into attack (they weren’t ready for a full scale battle - winston churchill suggested commando style)

Question 20

what was the objective of the dieppe raid

Answer 20

exact goal is unknown
* Force germany to fight on two fronts (weakens their defenses) uk on western, soviet union on eastern
* show hilter that the allies had not yet been defeated
* invade german territory
* test new strats and learn more about german defenses
* create a diversion to find out info about the Enigma machine and crack the code
* to take back control over dieppe port?

it failed

Question 21

what did the plan for the raid look like?

Answer 21

• led by canadian troops
  *main attack force: 2nd Canadian Infantry div
  *4963 canadian and 1000 british soldiers
• troops were launched from southern england
• main tactic – element of surprise and tanks
• Britains plan - 4 pre-dawn attacks along dieppes coast then main attack on dieppe)

Question 22

what events occured during the dieppe raid?

Answer 22

• august 1942 allies first ship ran into a german convoy /group
  *initiated a sea battle – the rest of the ships were deylayed and arrived in daylight
  *new plan: air force bombers

Question 23

what led to dieppe’s fail

beaches

Answer 23

• blue beach: Royal regiment of canada arrived late, beach below town created height disadvantage
• green beach: saskatchewan regiment arrived on time, the only unit with anti aircraf guns landed on wrong side of the river scie
• germans defended the bridge too well
• red & white beaches: essex scottish and royal hamilton light infantry regiments arrived on time but didn’t have support since the 14th Canadian army tank regiment was late, the few tanks that arrived couldn’t travel (pebbles covered steep shores & got stuck)

Question 24

how long did the raid last, and what were the casualties

Answer 24

9 hours
907 canadian soldiers killed, 586 wounded, 1946 taken prisoner

Question 25

examples of valuable lessons learned from the raid

Answer 25

importance of communication
tanks and surprise are not enought to defeat the enemy
air superiority and extreme firepower is very important

all of these lessons were applied and helped them win D-Day

Question 26

what were origins of Anti Semitism

Answer 26

1. christian anti semitism: Jews rejected Christianity and Christians deemed them satanic
2. Jewish domination in jobs caused many to be jealous and spread false accusations
3. minority groups were targeted

Question 27

what was anti semitism like in politics

Answer 27

• evian conference (1938): USA called for a conference to discuss Jewish refugees
  *mackenzie king didn’t want Canada to join as it would seem like Canada was willing to accept these refugees
  *St. Louis Affair (1939): 907 Jews had boarded St Louis MS for refuge in Canada – refused entry and sent back to Nazi Germany and 254 ppl were later murdered in the Holocaust
• Internment camps: Jews from Germany were seen as “enemy aliens” and if they sought refuge, they were put into internment camps with POWs who were Nazi’s
  *put jews in danger because of close proximity to nazis

Question 28

what was anti semitism like in society

Answer 28

• Nazi ideology in manitoba
  *august 1943, Victoria Beach Herald (a newspaper) suggested property owners to not sell or rent to ‘unwanted’ people (Jews)
• None is too many” – when mackenzie king was asked how many jewish refugees should be admitted to canada
  *

Question 29

what was it’s significance to the war?

anti semitism

Answer 29

Hilters motivations of war included aryan the purification of blood – based on the belief that other then German blood, everyone else is subhuman, which then led to the holocaust
a part of canada’s war measures act was written especially for jew refugees
because of the holocaust, 5000 canadian jews enlisted