World War II was one of the most prolific conflicts the world ever saw. About 62,000,000 deaths occurred worldwide as a result of the war (www.canadiansoldiers.com), and Canada had an important role to play during the Allied campaign against Germany and its Nazi Party's regime. Without Canadian support, the Allies in Europe may have never been able to mount an offensive against Germany's vast forces. The Treaty of Versailles, meant to pacify Germany and keep it from becoming an aggressor again, worked too well. The reparations and restrictions it placed on Germany left it with no way to cope on its own. Inflation ran wild; the price of bread jumped from 2 marks to 6 million marks from 1918-1924. Germany was not the proud nation it used to be until Hitler and his extreme nationalist Nazi Party became the second largest party in German parliament the election of September 1930. Three years later, Hitler became chancellor of Germany and changed his title to "der Fuhrer" and soon became the absolute ruler of the country. (Eaton & Newman) Hitler's extremist platform included "Anschluss", or union of Austria and Germany, the expansion of German borders into eastern Europe to reclaim lands that Germany surrendered to the Treaty of Versailles in 1918, and the ethnic elimination of not just Jews but races that were "racially Jewish" such as the Slavic races in the Balkans. (www.canadiansolders.com) As Hitler's territory expanded further into part of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France became worried about the sudden growth of Germany and decided that if Poland was taken, they would not appease Hitler any more and declare war, even though they couldn't launch effective offensives. After Hitler made peace with Russia by signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the two countries secretly decided how they would share Poland. When Germany's ground forces rolled into Poland and crushed its armies in only a few weeks on September 1, 1940, Britain and France declared war two days later, but had to wait instead of coming to Poland's aid; France had fortified the French-German border with fortresses in a line known as the Manginot Line, and was not about to abandon its defenses for an ineffective assault on Germany's parallel defensive structures across the Manginot Line. With no backup, Britain could not successfully counterattack. (World Book 2000) Canada decided to go to war against the Axis only 7 days after Britain declared war. Though Canada had no obligation to immediately agree with Britain, the fact that our Parliament made the decision on its own is an important example of Canada's independence after the Statute of Westminster. Canada only had two divisions of infantry mobilized; the first was sent to France after it was already mostly occupied by Nazis, and was reluctant to send the 2nd division until the Battle of Britain - Canada was still squeamish about losing forces after the great losses of World War I. Canada's Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) also greatly augmented Britain's air force in this battle. (www.canadiansoldiers.com) Poland fell to the Germany's new style of warfare known as blitzkrieg (German for 'lightning warfare'). Tank divisions, with air support from the German air force (the Luftwaffe) would crash through the enemy lines at their weak points and keep driving forward, sowing mass confusion among defenders. (Eaton & Newman) The Blitzkrieg came to Denmark and Norway next, garnering two more territories for the German Wehrmacht. Denmark surrendered peacefully and Norway suffered an embarrassing defeat even with British forces backing them in a few weeks. (www.canadiansolders.com) Canadian troops were supposed to be sent to Norway on a ship for that conflict, but were instead swapped for British forces. (Eaton & Newman) The 1st Canadian Division retreated across the English Channel from France, a 3rd Canadian Division was mobilized and sent to England, and the 2nd Division kept training in England. By June 1940, Canada's forces were all concentrated in Britain. (www.canadiansoldiers.com) When a raid on the French port of Dieppe failed, resulting in the casualties of 70% of the Canadians sent to assault the heavily fortified city, (Eaton & Newman) the Allies looked for another way to make landfall on the mainland of Europe, which was now covered in Nazi occupation. Italy and its neighbouring island, Sicily, were identified as the weakest points of the Axis territory, and the 1st Canadian Division was chosen to cooperate with the American 7th Army and the British 8th army to begin invasion on the 10th of July, 1943. The Allies tried to encircle German troops in Sicily, but an exit was left open for too long and the retreating German forces poured into Italy intact. The first battles of the Sicily Campaign were still very favourable for the Allies; many Italian troops were captured because they surrendered easily, and Sicily was won fairly quickly. However, Italian defenders were replaced with more experienced German ones, including the veteran 90th Light Panzer Grenadier Division, known for their steadfastness in North Africa. (Eaton & Newman) As the Allies pursued into Italy, they were joined by the 5th Canadian Armoured Division, and I Canadian Corps set itself up in the Italian theater as a command post of sorts. (www.canadiansoldiers.com) On the way to Rome, the Canadians were blocked by the old town of Ortona, built on cliffs. While the Allies conducted a meticulous assault uphill, the Germans built strong defensive lines behind the town all the way past Northern Italy, such as the Gothic line, the Gustav line and the Adolf Hitler line. (www.wwii.ca) With help from American armour and British and Polish infantry, the Canadians assaulted the peak of Cassino on the Hitler line and forced the Germans to retreat through the Liri Valley to their last line of defense. The tenacious Canadians eventually went on to smash the German fallback positions and reconnect with the rest of the Canadian armies in northwestern Europe in 1945. (www.wwii.ca) Just 48 hours after the Italian campaign was successfully completed, the famed D-Day invasion of the beaches of Normandy began in order to gain a foothold across the English Channel. On June 6, 1944, the 14,000 Canadian troops of the 3rd Canadian Division and 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade stormed Juno Beach, which was covered with mines and exposed to machine gun fire from concrete bunkers on higher ground. 340 deaths and 574 wounded were recorded. Though this may seem costly, it is still less than 10% of the forces allocated for the assault. (www.members.shaw.ca) After five beachheads were established by the Allies, Germany launched a predictable counterattack. The Germans were easily surrounded and thwarted. Once solid ground had been established, so was Canada's II Corps HQ and only Army-level headquarters. Canada's 4th Armoured Division also landed ashore. By the end of August, Nazi forces from Normandy to the Seine river were obliterated and Paris was liberated. Canada continued to hug the coast, taking the Allied forces' left flank. From there, they liberated other French ports and captured German V-2 rocket launch sites, putting an end to the near-constant shelling of London. (www.canadiansoldiers.ca) Though the Allies had access to numerous ports, they were too far from Germany and too damaged to keep up a strong offensive into their final target. A hasty assault by paratroopers over the Rhine river called Operation Market Garden ended in failure, demonstrating the need to extend the pace of the fighting for another year. The Allies needed a more efficient port for supplies, and since the British had pushed north and captured Antwerp, it seemed like a good idea to clear out the Scheldt estuary leading into Antwerp's almost fully intact port facilities. As described in CMHQ Report No. 188: "The long distances over which the Allied armies had pursued the enemy had carried our fighting troops so far away from their bases of supply within the bridgehead at Normandy as to place our administrative services under very considerable strain. While this condition remained it would be impossible to sustain the momentum of our advance along the entire front and it had already begun to appear that the Germans, reorganizing with desperate efficiency and disposed to take their stand in rearguard actions of increasing bitterness might succeed in prolonging the defence of their own country through a winter campaign. Given better fortune, the further projection of our offensive by means of the airborne thrust across the Mass and Rhine might have deprived the enemy of any such opportunity. On the other hand, our early possession of the port of Antwerp, which had fallen into our hands so surprisingly without resistance, and so marvellously intact, had invited an immediate effort on the greatest scale to eliminate the enemy from the environs of the city and the shore lands of the estuary as a preliminary to making use of those ample docks and warehouses for the purposes of supply." Thus began the most difficult two months of the Canadian Army's service in Europe. The clearing of the Scheldt estuary became known as the Battle of the Scheldt, and it was divided into four phases. Strangely, had the British kept marching right through Antwerp right after liberating it, they would've found the Scheldt poorly defended. Instead, the Germans panicked and rushed defenses all over the estuary. The first phase consisted of the struggles to control the town of Woensdrecht, which was a choke point for the entrance into South Beveland, on the north side of the estuary. Mines and muddy weather bogged down the infantry badly and Canada's Black Watch was nearly wiped out. It took 15 days for a final assault to finally force the Germans out of Woensdrecht. British armour divisions cleared Germans out of the areas easy of Woensdrecht to scare away potential counter-attackers. While this happened, the Canadian 3rd Division crossed the Leopold and Derivation de la Lys Canals to attack the Germans on the south side of the Scheldt. They fought from across the canals with WASP Carriers equipped with flamethrowers, while the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade and British 5th Assault Regiment snuck around to the back of the Germans by crossing the Braakmen Inlet in their assault boats. Despite a 24 hour delay in the execution, the Nazi army was still caught by surprise and was outflanked. The third phase was a sequel to the first, with a push further into South Beveland. The Beveland Canal was heavily fortified with mines, mud and strong enemy resistance, so the British commenced a landing behind the canal while the Canadians assaulted from the front in their assault boats. The amphibious assault worked, and the final phase was ready to go underway. The only part of the Scheldt still under German control was Walcheren Island, a rhombus-shaped island with coastal batteries along its southwest coast and fortresses on the land entrance on the east. RAF bombers breached dykes and flooded the island, concentrating the German defenses and leaving them vulnerable, and also allowing the use of amphibious vehicles. Walcheren was attacked from all sides and on November 6, 1944, the Scheldt was cleared of all German forces. (www.wwii.ca) Antwerp was a key port for the Allies to control. A large German counterattack known as the Battle of the Bulge was an attempt to regain Antwerp, but fell short because of fuel shortages. Germany also fired more V-2 rockets at Antwerp than any other city, hoping to disrupt Allied shipping activity. The supply nexus was very close to Germany, which led to quick end to the war in Europe in 1945 as the Allies closed in from Normandy and Italy, while the Russians came in from the East. Some Canadian forces broke off to turn around and liberate Holland from years of German oppression at the cost of 7,600 casualties. (www.wwii.ca) Canada had fought very well in World War II. Between 1,000,000-1,500,000 Canadians enlisted, and only suffered 37,476 dead and 53,174 wounded. (World Book 2000) This is a much better percentage of recruits to casualties than World War I (9% compared with 37% (Eaton & Newman)), and is a much lower number of casualties compared to other nations; China suffered 2,200,000 casualties during the war. Canada had proven itself on the battlefield once again, but didn't come out as a military superpower this time. The nation was deeply in debt, as the national debt had quadrupled from $4 billion in 1939 to $16 billion in 1945 despite collecting many more millions of dollars in income tax revenue in 1943. (World Book 2000, Eaton & Newman) Bibliography / References World Book. 2000 ed. S.v. "World War II" by James Malbury??? Eaton, Diane and Garfield Newman. Canada: A Nation Unfolding. Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 1994. Bernard L. Montgomery. CMHQ Report No. 188. [Online] Available http://http://www.forces.gc.ca/dhh/downloads/cmhq/cmhq188.pdf Veterans' Affairs Canada. WWII: The Battle of the Scheldt. [Online] Available http://www.wwii.ca/index.php?page=Page&action=showpage&id=47 WikiSysop. Second World War - www.canadiansoldiers.com. [Online] Available http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/mediawiki-1.5.5/index.php?title=Second_World_War