History Browser

On 6 June 1944, Allied forces invaded Western Europe along an 80-kilometre front in Normandy, France. Of the nearly 150,000 Allied troops who landed or parachuted into the invasion area on D-Day, 14,000 were Canadians.

This article explains the history of the Cold War era of NATO, the Warsaw Pact. It focuses on Canada's role during this era. Includes a list of suggested readings.

By 1942, fearing an Allied invasion in the west while embroiled in war with the Soviet Union in the east, Hitler endeavoured to create the "Atlantic Wall", or "Fortress Europe", by encrusting the Atlantic seacoast with concrete and steel defences. This article describes these German fortifications and how the First Canadian Army participated in capturing these defensive positions. Includes reading list.

Despite early growing pains, the Royal Canadian Navy grew into a formidable anti-submarine force. The R.C.N. sank 28 enemy submarines and escorted Allied shipping across the Atlantic and along the northeastern seaboard of North America.

Across the British army’s route lay the Klipriversberg Range. In its midst was the position of Doornkop, which the Boers had occupied in force. In preparation for a direct assault, the commander of the cavalry division gave the task of crossing the river and gaining a foothold on the other side to the 1st Mounted Infantry Brigade, which included the Royal Canadian Dragoons and the Canadian Mounted Rifles.

The Second World War was fought over vast distances, with airpower and technology playing crucial parts. Both sides tried to avoid the stalemates of the First World War, and usually succeeded. This resource provides an index of World War II battles.

On October 28, 1940, the Italian Duce, Benito Mussolini, invaded northern Greece from Albania, which was at that time under Italian control. Although greatly outnumbered, within a month the Greek army had pushed the Italians back into Albania. Adolf Hitler was unwilling to allow Italy, his major ally, to be humiliated and he prepared to attack Greece, Britain's last European ally.

In June 1942, some 8,500 Japanese personnel, supported by naval forces, occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, American parts of Alaska at the western end of the Aleutian island chain. Their aim, which was successful, was to distract the Allies and cause them to take resources away from more significant areas in the central Pacific. When the landings finally went ashore, the troops found that the Japanese soldiers had slipped away. Newspaper articles of the day discussed the battles of the far north.

The North West Europe Campaign came in response to Stalin's demands that the allies open a "Second Front" in western Europe to relieve pressure on his Eastern Front. Canadian soldiers were once again ready to contribute to the battle and Canadian newspapers were there to cover the push to Germany.

After the German occupation of Poland, nothing much happened for month after month. War did not seem like war. A "phoney war," the British called it. But in the spring of 1940 Hitler's forces struck again, and by June he held Europe in his grasp. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, France and Belgium all fell quickly to German forces.