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1. Canada Goes to War
From Canadian History Portal - HCO
| A. Canadians and World War II - 1939-1945 →→ 1. Canada Goes to War → 2. Early Disasters → 3. The Home Front and War Production → 4. The Road to Victory →→ B. Canada Comes of Age - 1945-1963 |
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Contents |
After the long struggle of the Great Depression of the early 1930s, the coming of the Second World War would speed up Canada's transformation into a modern urban and industrialized nation. War productivity quickly brought an end to the hard times, as Canadian factories and farms geared up to produce the materiel and goods needed to fight the war.
But first the nation had to make peace with the ghosts of World War I. The building and dedication of the world's most magnificent war memorial at Vimy Ridge was a salute to old warriors and an expression of hope for a new world that would not yet come to pass.
The Vimy Memorial
On June 29, 1922, at Canada's request, France formally transferred ownership of 100 hectares at Vimy Ridge to the government of Canada. This land is not strictly speaking part of Canada, but France granted freely, and for all time, the use of the land exempt from all taxes. Unlike an embassy, it is subject to the laws of France.
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial was officially unveiled on July 26, 1936 by King Edward VIII, in the presence of French President Albert Lebrun and almost 100,000 Canadian and French veterans and their families.
When the King arrived on the site, accompanied by Canadian Minister of Justice Ernest Lapointe, the crowd started signing 'God Save The King' and 'O Canada'. The King moved freely amongst the crowds shaking hands. After inspecting the Guard of Honour from HMCS Saguenay, he ascended the monument where a number of Canadian dignitaries were present including Robert Borden, Canada's wartime Prime Minister: George Perley, wartime Minister for the Overseas Military Forces, Canada (later Canadian High Commissioner to Britain): Vincent Massey, Canadian High Commissioner to the UK: Brig. Gen. Raymond Brutinel, wartime CIC Canadian Machine Gun Corps and Gen. John J. Pershing, wartime CIC of the United States Army.
After the King shook hands with the dignitaries, the crowd sang 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' and he once again mingled with the crowds. After a flypast by French, Belgian and British warplanes, he ascended the dais for the Service of Dedication led by Monsignor E.A. Deschamps of Montreal, wartime padre and official chaplain to the Canadian pilgrimage.
Deschamps offered ' the homage of unfailing gratitude' and spoke of the need for the 1914-18 conflict to serve as a necessary example to the pathway for permanent peace; "Let the peoples learn to love one another until the word 'enemies' has passed from the lexicon of mankind." Vimy veteran Canon F.G. Scott followed, offering a prayer from the dais when the ashes from Armistice Day Remembrance fields were scattered at the base of the monument. The religious ceremony was concluded by the playing of the traditional Scottish regiments lament 'Flowers Of The Forest', by the pipers of the Nova Scotia Highlanders.
Then it was the turn of the King to speak: The Canadian Broadcasting Commission sent it to thousands of homes in Canada via short wave, and the Mutual and National Broadcasting systems of America carried the program in the United States:
With the words "It is a memorial to no man but a memorial for a nation" the King unveiled the Spirit of Canada. He spoke softly, reminding his subjects that Vimy was "...not alien soil..." - it would be forever Canada, affirming "Though their mortal remains lie far from home, they lie on Canadian soil - battlefields abound on which is indelibly written their story. Vimy is one such name. The splendour of their hope fills us with thankfulness for their example. Now peace and the rebuilding of hope is our task."
As His Majesty finished speaking, the Last Post rang out signalling two minutes silence - eyes were moist as memories of sacrifice filled the assembled crowd; Reveille heralded another day and a prayer for peace. Voicing the gratitude of France for Canada's sacrifice President Le Brun said the monument would serve as a permanent reminder "That here several thousand men, come from a faraway land, spilled blood to defend their hearth."
Mackenzie King's was unable to be present. His address was read by the Hon. C.G. Power, Canadian Minister of Pensions and National Health:- "Canada asks that the nations of Europe strive to obliterate whatever makes for war and for death. She appeals to them to unite in an effort to bring into being a world at peace. This is the trust which we, the living, received from those who suffered and died. It is the trust we hold in common."
As Canada’s Minister of Justice, Ernest Lapointe, added: "The grandest tribute we could offer to Canadian soldiers is to affirm that their sacrifices have contributed to the introduction into our civilization of its highest modern conception — that of universal Peace founded on recognition of the basic right of people to life and justice."
Walter Allward, the sculptor, and his wife were in attendance, and he said,: "....this altar in stone, gives something beautiful to France, is worthy of the men who gave their lives for it and, as a protest against the futility of war, makes men regret that humanity has to go to war instead of being proud of it."
The Memorial
The Memorial was constructed as the National Memorial for Canada's 66,000 war dead and is located on the site of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, atop Hill 145the highest point of the the 14 kilometre-long Vimy Ridge, near the towns of Vimy and Givenchy-en-Gohelle, in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France. It overlooks the battlefield to the West, still pock-marked by countless shell-holes and mine-craters. The battlefield is still a dangerous place, and there are many signs warning visitors not to stray from the marked paths - there is still a very real danger from unexploded munitions under the ground.
The Memorial was built between 1925 and 1936. Construction workers used 11,000 tonnes of concrete and masonry, and 5,500 tonnes of limestone brought from a quarry in Yugoslavia. The designer was Canadian sculptor and architect, Walter Seymour Allward. The figures were carved in situ, individual "studios" being constructed around the stone blocks which were to form each group.
Carved on the walls of the Memorial are the names of 11,285 Canadians missing in France from the Great War, and who have no known graves. (There are a further 6,994 names of Missing Canadians in Belgium, carved on the walls of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, in Ypres, Belgium.)
At the base of the Memorial, in English and in French, are these words: To the valour of their countrymen in the Great War, and in memory of their sixty thousand dead this monument is raised by the people of Canada.
A portion of the Grange Subway, originally 1,230 metres long, still exists to be viewed. Roughly 250 metres of this underground communication tunnel and some of its chambers and connecting dugouts have been preserved. Canadian interpretive guides provide tours of this subterranean feature daily from May 1st to November 30th.
In 1922, France donated the land for the site of the memorial (about 1 sq km) in perpetuity to Canada, and deemed the area surrounding the monument to be Canadian territory, as an expression of gratitude to the Canadian people for their sacrifice during the war. The entrance to the park bears the sign "the free gift in perpetuity of the French nation to the people of Canada".
The memorial was designed by Canadian architect and sculptor Walter Allward, who stated in a 1921 interview that his idea for the memorial was inspired by a wartime dream that he had never forgotten:
"When things were at their blackest in France, I went to sleep one night after dwelling on all the muck and misery over there, my spirit was like a thing tormented... I dreamed I was in a great battlefield. I saw our men going in by the thousands and being mowed down by the sickles of death... Suffering beyond endurance at the sight, I turned my eyes and found myself looking down on an avenue of poplars. Suddenly through the avenue I saw thousands marching to the aid of our armies. They were the dead. They rose in masses, filed silently by and entered the fight to aid the living. So vivid was this impression, that when I awoke it stayed with me for months. Without the dead we were helpless. So I have tried to show this in this monument to Canada’s fallen, what we owed them and we will forever owe them."
Allward's design was selected from 160 submissions by Canadians who participated in a competition held in the early 1920s. Construction of the memorial commenced in 1925 and took 11 years.
The two main pylons of the memorial, representing Canada and France, tower 27 metres above the base of the monument. The memorial includes various stone sculptures which exhibit a wealth of symbolism and assist visitors in contemplating the memorial as a whole. Due to the height of Vimy Ridge, the topmost stone sculpture — representing peace — is approximately 110 metres above the Lens, Pas-de-Calais|Lens Plain to the east. The sculptures were created by Canadian artists, and record and illuminate the sacrifice of all who served during the war and, in particular, to the more than 66,000 men who lost their lives. The names of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died in France but who have no known grave are carved on the memorial (the names of those who died in Flanders are on the Menin Gate).
Visitors approaching the front of the monument will see one of its central figures: a woman, hooded and cloaked, facing eastward toward the new day. Her eyes are downcast and her chin rests on her hand. Below her is a tomb, draped in laurel branches and bearing a helmet. This grieving figure represents Canada — a young nation mourning her fallen sons.
Between the pylons stands a figure holding a burning torch. Entitled ‘The Spirit of Sacrifice’, it is a reference to one of the most famous poems of the Great War, ‘In Flanders Fields,’ by the Canadian Army Medical Corps officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.
The 20 statues present on the Vimy Memorial site were originally sculpted by Allward in roughly life-size out of unfired clay. These were then replicated in more durable plaster, and the plaster copies were sent to France, where French stonecarvers replicated them again in stone, while doubling their size. The plaster working copies, nearly destroyed in the 1960s, are now on display in Canada, with the Canadian War Museum showing 17 and the Military Communications and Electronics Museum attached to CFB Kingston|Canadian Forces Base Kingston showing the remaining 3.[1]
In 2004 the memorial and statues were closed for restoration work, including cleaning, restoration and the recarving of names. The restored memorial will be inaugurated on April 9, 2007, the 90th anniversary of the battle.
On April 10, 1997, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial was designated as a National Historic Site by then Minister of Canadian Heritage, Sheila Copps.
The Memorial During World War II
In 1940, after his armies conquered France, Hitler toured the Vimy Memorial and its preserved trenches. Because he believed that he had kinship with the soldiers of the First World War, he ensured that the Allied monuments and military cemeteries throughout conquered France remained safe from harm.
In 1944, General Harry Crerar' First Canadian Army passed by Vimy Ridge and printed Christmas cards of the Memorial, and as a soldier wrote, "all Vimy saw of the fighting was the dust of armoured divisions as they poured through".
Background to War
The Imperial Conference of 1926 confirmed in its Declaration of Equality that the dominions had become "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another." At the same time, they were "united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations."
The 1931 Statute of Westminster confirmed these resolutions and provided that no law passed in the future by the United Kingdom should extend to any dominion "except at the request and with the consent of that Dominion." That provise included future declarations of war.
Canada had been a founding member of the League of Nations in the 1920s, but elected to remain neutral throughout the 1930s. Mackenzie King had even met with Adolf Hitler and decided he was not a threat.
King Visits Germany
On the morning of June 29, he met with German Air Minister Hermann Goering. They talked for an hour and a half about trade between Canada and Germany, Canada's relationship with Britain, and German expansion in Europe. When Goering declared that England was trying to control Germany's actions, King replied that what "England was most concerned about, was danger of some quick, precipitate action being taken in any place, which might set the whole of Europe aflame." (Diary, June 29, 1937)
King praised Hitler's regime for its rebuilding, and then mentioned the fear and suspicion caused by German rearmament. Hitler indicated that Germany was rearming to gain respect and blamed all of Germany's difficulties on the Treaty of Versailles. He told King, "so far as war is concerned, you need have no fear of war at the instance of Germany. We have no desire for war; our people don't want war, and we don't want war." (Diary, June 29, 1937)
King stressed the fact that Canada was a free and independent nation, even though it was a part of the British Empire. He said, however, that in the face of an act of aggression on the part of any country, all parts of the Commonwealth would stand together.
King saw similarities between himself and Hitler, writing, "As I talked with him, I could not but think of Joan of Arc. He is distinctly a mystic .... He is a teetotaller and also a vegetarian; is unmarried, abstemist in all his habits and ways." (Diary, June 29, 1937)
On June 30, King called on German foreign minister, Baron von Neurath. Neurath said Hitler was opposed to war, and then alluded to the Jewish population of Berlin. "He said to me that I would have loathed living in Berlin with the Jews, and the way in which they had increased their numbers in the city ... He said there was no pleasure in going to a theatre which was filled with them .... They were getting control of all the business, the finance .... It was necessary to get them out to have the German people really control their own City and affairs." (Diary, June 30, 1937) King naively suggested to Neurath that everyone should try to overcome prejudices and promote goodwill.
"Looking back on the German visit,", King wrote, "I can honestly say it was as enjoyable, informative and inspiring, as any visit I have ever had anywhere. Indeed I doubt if I ever had four days which were more interesting or indeed comparable in significance." (Diary, June 30, 1937)
King was "tremendously relieved" by the comments of the German leaders, and believed there would be no war. In two years that followed, his notions were to be severely challenged.
Causes of the War
The battle between Communism and Fascism also assumed near-religious proportions as well, as the Soviet Comintern (Communist International) exported the idea of world revolution to other countries. A clash between the two totalitarian systems was inevitable. Hitler allied himself with the Italian and Spanish fascists led by Mussolini and Franco.
A number of regional hostilities had broken out before the entire world was plunged into war. The Spanish Civil War, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Italian Annexation of Abyssinia and Libya all tested the resolve of the democracies faced by an escalation of the conflict between left and right.
The Germans moved rapidly into Poland using a new technique they called Blitzkrieg ("lightning war"), inspired by the triumph of the Canadian Corps at Amiens in World War I. Using dive bombers, they blasted tracks through Polish defences; tank columns poured through these, and charged forward into rear areas, followed by motorized infantry. A month later, the western half of Poland was theirs.
The Soviets promptly seized the east part of Poland, as well as the independent states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. On September 3, 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. Britain soon despatched an Expeditionary Force to France to help defend that threatened country. For the first few months nothing happened; the period was known as "the phony war".
Canada Declares War
On August 25, 1939, in light of the deepening crisis in Europe, the Department of National Defence called out all units of the Canadian Militia to defend vital locations. When Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Canada mobilized the Canadian Active Service Force, a corps of two divisions.
Unlike World War I, when Canada was automatically at war as soon as Britain was, Canada's decision to enter World War II at the side of Britain was a decision made completely on its own as a fully self-governing country, the most senior of the British Dominions. Canada would make her own declaration of war after remaining neutral for a week after Britain declared war;
Mackenzie King insisted on recalling Parliament to debate Canadian participation, to underscore Canada's autonomy from Britain, and to pass the required war measures acts. After three days of discussion and debate in the House of Commons, King's cabinet produced a declaration of war that was immediately signed by Governor General John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir.
On September 10, 1939, King announced that Canada was now at war with Germany. He noted that there were currently 4,500 soldiers in the Canadian Army (+60,000 reserves); 4,500 in the Royal Canadian Air Force; 1,800 in the Royal Canadian Navy. His government also created the Department of Supply, later Munitions and Supply, with a war budget fixed at $100 million.
King also used the 10-day period after the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany to use its neutral status to purchase $20 million worth of arms from the United States before entering the war on Great Britain's side.
Mobilizing for War
Canadians were, for the most part, reluctant to return to war. But the country entered the Second World War more or less united.
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When war was declared, Canada moved rapidly to mobilize its forces, under the command of General Andrew McNaughton. Within three months the military had transported an entire division of the new Canadian Active Service Force to the UK in two "flights", under heavy naval escort. The Canadians will serve a long and frustrating period of guard duty throughout the period of greatest threat of German invasion.
The Royal Canadian Navy that put to sea in September, 1939, had six destroyers and some small craft. These were to grow by 1945 to 378 warcraft and more than 400 smaller vessels; the personnel of 3,604 increased to 95,705. By 1945 Canada was the world's fourth naval power, and did the major share of antisubmarine and convoy work in the western Atlantic, successfully escorting 25,343 ships with more than 181 million tons of cargo. Canadian destroyers were part of the escort of the Canadian army to Britain.
National Registration and the French Canadian Regiments
Prime Minister Mackenzie King, recalling the Conscription Crisis of 1917, was sensitive to public opinion in French-speaking Québec. He assured Canadians that there would be no conscription for overseas duty. King promised a war of "limited liability" – wherein Canada's principal contributions to the war effort would be economic and productive rather than military. On October 26, 1939, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis, who had opposed Québec's participation in the war, was defeated by the Liberals on the issue.
French-Canadian volunteers were front and centre, in their own units, throughout the war, highlighted by actions at Dieppe (Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal), Italy (Royal 22e Régiment), the Normandy beaches (Régiment de la Chaudière) and the thrust into Holland (Régiment de Maisonneuve).
Canada's Mobilization
The Armed Forces
Mobilizing Canada for war required a huge affort. In 1939, Canada's armed forces were small, poorly equipped, and neglected. The Permanent Active Militia (or Permanent Force (PF), Canada's full time army) had just 4,261 officers and men. The Non-Permanent Active Militia (Canada's reserve force) numbered 51,000 partially trained and ill-equipped soldiers.
With a population of only 11.5 million, Canada still raised a very substantial armed force to fight Germany, Italy and Japan. Over the six years of war, Canada will enlist 1.1 million military personnel: the Canadian Army 730,000; the RCAF 260,000; and the RCN 115,000 personnel. In addition, thousands of Canadians served in the Royal Air Force. As a percentage of the population, Canada's enlistment was smaller than that of Great Britain, Australia, or New Zealand, without 60% of Canadian males aged 18 to 45 not serrving in the armed forces during the war. Also, about half of Canada's army and 75% of its air-force personnel never left the country, with most air force personnel dedicated to training in the BCATP.
Even overseas, most of the Canadian army overseas did not engage in sustained combat until mid-1944. Apart from the Dieppe Raid in August 1942, the Canadian Army fought no significant engagement in the European theatre of operations until the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943, by which time the war was nearly four years old.
Still, more than 40,000 Canadians will give their lives and another 55,000 will be seriously wounded. Many Canadians will share in the suffering and the hardships of war at home and abroad.
The Mobilization of Industry
In addition Canadian plants built about 16,000 aircraft, including the Avro Lancaster and De Havilland Mosquito bombers. By the end of 1944, Canadian shipyards had launched hundreds of naval vessels, such as destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and some 345 merchant ships, giving Canada one of the largest merchant navies in the world.
The metals industries wer vitally important, providing half of Allied aluminum and 90% of Allied nickel. Even the fuel for the Atomic bombs was from Canadian uranium refined in Port Hope, Ontario.
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
On December 17, 1939, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia signed an agreement creating the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).
The Plan's mandate was to train flight crew - pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators, air gunners, and flight engineers for war service, away from the battle zone in Europe.
The first recruits were accepted on April 29, 1940, and the Plan remained in effect for 59 months, with few alterations, until March 31, 1945. Some 15 schools and 200 ancillary units were established at 231 sites across Canada, with a ground organization of 104,113 men and women.
The Prairies were a perfect training ground, with wide open skies and generally clear weather, with lots of flying room for novice pilots.
Cities and towns lobbied hard to get one of the BCATP bases. As Peter Conrad wrote in 'Training For Victory', "careful consideration and due deliberation was given to all factors involved (best possible location for weather, logistics, accessibility, etc)... Most long time Liberal constituancies received a school early in the war (except for Kings constituency which received two), followed by constituencies that had a CCF member of Parliament, especially those CCF constituencies that had previously been Liberal. (The district of) Melville was an exception to the pattern because it had been a longtime supporter of the Liberal party and continued to elect Liberals during and after the war. Few Conservative constituencies received facilities."
The schools were big business on the Depression-depleted Prairies. As the Lethbridge Herald of October 24, 1941 headlined, "Vulcan Booming as Air Station Development Brings Big Payroll."
The BCATP opened its first schools on April 29, 1940, and as early as September 30, 1940 the first 39 pilots passed out of Camp Borden. In June 1942 the number of schools rose to 67 (including 21 double schools) and 10 specialist schools were added for operational personel and flying instructor training.
In the years that followed, the BCATP transformed Canada into what U.S. President Roosevelt called "The Aerodrome Of Democracy". By the end of the Second World War, the BCATP had turned out a total of 131,553 aircrew, including pilots, wireless operators, air gunners, and navigators for the participating Air Forces.
Many Americans came north to train, and at one school there were so many Californians that the Royal Canadian Air Force was locally dubbed the Royal Californian Air Force.
Notes
| Canada Goes to War - Gallery | Stories & Texts | Web Links | Student Activities | Student Projects |
| A. Canadians and World War II - 1939-1945 →→ 1. Canada Goes to War → 2. Early Disasters → 3. The Home Front and War Production → 4. The Road to Victory →→ B. Canada Comes of Age - 1945-1963 |
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