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.

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.

After the fall of France, the British were left with few ways to strike back at Germany. One was the bombing of German cities, workers, and industry. This method of attack was blunt and brutal. It cost the lives of many German civilians as well as Canadian air crew.

Japan used Burma as a stepping stone to invade India. This proved costly for Japanese forces as British-led Indian Army troops held them off for 80 days. Neither side seemed to have the upper hand in this battle as was reflected in newspaper accounts of the conflict.

In 1937 the Japanese army took charge of much of eastern China. Although China was a Second World War backwater, the largest part of the Japanese army was tied down in China, maintaining internal order, and this limited what Japan could do in its war against the Allies. The conflict between China and Japan affected Canada both socially and militarily.

In 1940, Adolf Hitler issued orders to invade the British Isles, but the Germans were unable to break the British fighter defence. In the first battle fought solely in the air, the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom, but not without severe losses.

Canada’s contribution to Britain's Bomber Command was an extremely powerful aerial striking force known as No. 6 (R.C.A.F.) Group. Organized in January 1943, the majority of their targets were cities with military and industrial facilities.

Canadian involvement in the battle of the Netherlands was appreciated both by allied governments and the Dutch people. The actions of Canadian troops during combat and afterwards, assisting the population, were preserved in the archives of the "Hamilton Spectator."