Operation Overlord - Yonis Ali

The final plans for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France, and its assault phase, Operation 'Neptune' was made in early 1944. The invasion plan called for an amphibious assault by five divisions on a fifty-mile length of the Cotentin Caen area of the normandy coast. The five divisions, two British, one Canadian and two American were assigned to beaches with code names, from east to west, Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah. Three air divisions would land ahead of the main attack to postpone enemy movements. Two American air divisions would land behind the western assault and the British airborne on the east end. Operation Overlord represented a earlier unknown level of teamwork between allied nations, all struggling for the common goal of defeating Nazis Germany.

Over one million Canadians served in the forces during World War II including 50,000 women. The army was the largest service with 700,000 enlistments. The Royal Canadian Air Force had 222,501 enlistments and the Royal Canadian Navy 99,407. By June 1944, 30,000 of these Canadians were poised in Britain for Operation Overlord.

Battle of Ortona - Yonis Ali

The battles for Orsogna were among the most difficult of the Italian campaign. The New Zealand Div., made up of two infantry and one armoured brigade, was too weak in riflemen to overcome the German defences. A stalemate developed. The New Zealand official historian suggested that "the Germans were willing to sell ground, but only at a price the New Zealanders were not willing to pay." After losing 1,200 men, including more than one-third of the division’s infantry, there was little choice but to stop. It was now up to the Canadians.

The 1st Canadian Div. was well rested and up to strength. The new divisional commander–Chris Vokes, who had replaced Guy Simonds in November–was no stranger. Vokes was a loud, profane, energetic brigade commander who had received much credit for the outstanding performance of 2nd Cdn. Infantry Brigade in Sicily. Vokes critics, and there are many, point out that the brigade turned in a consistently superior performance no matter who was at headquarters. In 1942 Montgomery had singled out the brigade for praise, adding that the "Seaforths (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada) have the best officers, PPCLI (Princess Patricia’s Cdn. Light Infantry) have the best non-commissioned officers, Edmontons (Loyal Edmonton Regiment) have the best men.

 

Battle of the Atlantic - Yonis Ali

Although the Battle of Britain had been lost, Germany continued to pressure Great Britain. While the aerial bombardments persisted, the German navy intensified its campaign of submarine warfare against the Allied naval convoys, which endeavoured to supply a besieged Britain.

Under Admiral Karl Dönitz, Commander-in-Chief of submarines, the German navy employed the wolf pack strategy of attack. German wolf packs of submarines were to be stationed at right angles to known Allied ship lanes in the North Atlantic. The first submarine captain to spot the target was to radio headquarters and then mirror the ships until the remaining submarine could zero in. Once together, the wolf pack executed a surface attack under cover of darkness. Daring U-boat commanders even surfaced in the middle of the convoy before launching their devastating assault, bringing both fore and aft torpedo tubes to bear on the unlucky merchant ships.

Germany initiated its wolf pack assaults in August and September of 1940. The odds in these opening stages of the Battle of the Atlantic were firmly in favour of the German submarines. After the fall of France in June 1940, German U-boats were able to range from French ports farther west into the mid-Atlantic, beyond the reach of Royal Navy (RN) escorts. There, they ravaged Allied shipping. Over the winter of 1940-1941, German submarines sank roughly 250,000 tonnes of British shipping per month.

The Liberation of Holland - Yonis Ali

Canadian soldiers had an important role in liberating the Netherlands. Canadians, who landed on D-Day, fought battles right through France, Belgium, Scheldt, and in Germany before being allowed to dispatch back to the Netherlands with the Canadians who had fought at Italy. Canadian directions were to repel the German troops occupying the northeast back to the sea and to drive German troops in the west back into Germany. The advances were halted on April 12, because of worries for the safety of the people living in the western Netherlands, who, having been starved for months, ran a risk of having their country drowned if the Germans panicked and opened the dykes 

The significance of the battle was on April 28, the Canadians made a truce, which allowed relief supplies to enter the western Netherlands and finish the "Hunger Winter". No part of Western Europe was freed at a more vital moment than the Netherlands and the Dutch people cheered and shouted Canadian troops as one town right after another was freed.

Operation Jubilee

The raid of the French port of Dieppe, code-named Operation Jubilee, witnessed a huge Canadian involvements as the attack was lead by the Canadian 2nd Division. The division consisted of 4,693 men from eight different regiments:

• the Calgary Regiment
• the Essex Scottish Regiment
• Les Fussiliers Mont-Royal
• the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada
• the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry
• the Royal Regiment of Canada
• the Toronto Scottish Regiment
• the South Saskatchewan Regiment.

Britain sent 1,000 commandos forth with the Canadian division, along with a handful of American troopers. On August 19th 1942, the raid set forth with specific goals:

• to seize and hold a major Channel port
• to test new amphibious equipment
• to gather intelligence from German prisoners - possibly enigma-coded German radio traffic
• to learn how the Germans respond to enemy attack

The Invasion

On the night o the 18th, almost 240 ships left British ports in four amphibious forces. The plan was to land on the beaches of Dieppe under the cover of night, and surprise German defenses with an intimidating invasion fleet.

Unfortunately, the ships carry No.3 Commando ran into a convoy of German ships, alerting the German coastal defenses along the whole shoreline. This left the assault with little to no chance of success, as they no longer had the element of surprise.

At dawn, the well entrenched Germans were ready. The landing crafts were only 10 meters away when they began bombarding every landing craft in sight with waves of machine gun and mortar fire.  Canadian men fell in waves as the landing crafts lowered their ramps. Less than 20 commandos got within 180m of the battery, while others were slaughtered by artillery fire. This failure to clear the shoreline of German troops had doomed the main frontal attack. After two and a half brutal hours, all allied troops were evacuated from the beaches of Dieppe.

Lesson Learned


After reconciling their humiliating defeat and slaughter of Canadian troops in Dieppe, the allied forces were able to extract crucial information that would eventually win them the whole war and free Europe from the Nazi aggression

• It was imperative to improve communications at all levels: on the battlefield, between the HQ's of    each unit, between air, naval and ground forces
• It was crucial to use prior air bombings to destroy enemy defences as much as possible
• It was important to support assault troops with artillery fire from ships and landing crafts
• It was obvious that they needed to improve techniques and equipment in removing obstacles for  troops and tanks

Battle of Hong Kong

After annihilating the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, the Japanese empirical army moved on the British colony of Hong Kong. On December 8th 1941, the invasion began.

The Japanese army came swift and solid, well supported from the air and reinforced from the mainland. The Winnipeg Grenadiers - among the first Canadian ground troops to see action in the Second World War - were dispatched to a series of defenses in the New Territories on the Chinese mainland. However, after being bombarded by heavy artillery and air attacks, the British were forced to evacuate its forces from the New Territories to their garrisons on the island of Hong Kong.

On the night of 18th, the Japanese army stormed its northern beaches with four separate amphibious forces. Even though they came ashore in the face of machine gun fire, they quickly took control of the three-kilometer-shoreline. From the beach they moved through the valleys to high ground, severing the British East and West Brigades into two. The Royal Rifles - another Canadian contingent - were the first to engage the enemy in efforts of pushing them back.  But the large, efficient night-fighting Japanese army soon overwhelmed Canadian and British soldiers and the crown colony of Hong Kong was surrendered.

The battle of Hong Kong ended with immense Canadian casualties as the death and suffering didn't end with surrender. Hundreds of soldiers were killed in action, and hundreds more were captured, and taken to POW camps, left to die in the worst conditions. On December 24th the Japanese overran a makeshift hospital, beating and killing the nurses and the injured men in their beds. While the final death toll was 554, only 290 died in action, while the other 264 died horrible deaths at the hands of the Japanese.