1. Canada Declares War
Canada and Early WWII

2. August 23, 1939 – Germany and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact
March, 1939 – Hitler invades Czechoslovakia (wasn’t happy with just the Sudetenland)
August 23, 1939 – Germany and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact
August 31, 1939 – Germany invades Poland
Britain & France Declare War: September 3rd, 1939
Canada Declares War: September 10th, 1939

3. The "Phony War" (Sept. 1939-May 1940)
Allied troops were not prepared for war
Troops that were deployed were very inexperienced
Spent months training, sometimes with wooden bullets

4. Germany & The USSR Begin Taking Europe…
Jointly take Poland by the end of September
November 1939 – USSR invades Finland
USSR take Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
- Germany take Denmark in a day, Norway in a month
-Canadians and Britons went to help, but it was too late
- The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are taken by Germany
Interactive Map of Nazi Aggression

5. Maginot Line – France
France had built concrete defences between themselves and Germany
They were preparing for a war like WWI
Germany goes around this defence by cutting through Belgium
Allied defences are pushed back to Dunkirk

6. The "Miracle" at Dunkirk
Hitler paused to plan tactics in dealing with the Allies in Dunkirk
In that time, the British assemble about 800 civilian boats + volunteers naval vessels
4 of the naval vessels are Royal Canadian Naval Destroyers
The smaller boats picked up the Dunkirk soldiers and took them to the larger ships
200 of the civilian ships are sunk
Churchill calls the successful evacuation a "miracle"

7. France Surrenders: June 25th, 1940

8. Battle of Britain: Begins July 10, 1940
Germany wants to destroy the British air presence
Germany has better planed, well-trained pilots and land crew
German air force is called the Luftwaffe
British have better radar to help the Royal Air Force (RAF) find and destroy Luftwaffe planes
100+ Canadian pilots, 200+ bombing raid pilots + ground crew

9. The Blitz
Germany accidentally bombs London – the RAF bomb Berlin, Hitler is angry and begins carpet bombing London for 57 nights causing deaths
The RAF get time to regroup and by 1941 the Battle of Britain is won in their favour

10. Do you think Canada has made a "significant" contribution to the war effort from what we have learned so far? What else is important to consider that you perhaps don't know yet?