Key canadian battles
The Battle of dieppe
- Date: August 19, 1942
- Place: Dieppe, France
- Also known as: Operation Jubilee
The Dieppe Raid was one of the most important Canadian battles in WWII. Although many lives were lost, it taught the Allies lessons that were needed for the successful D-Day in 1944, which reduced the number of casualties that day to an absolute minimum. Canadians made up the majority of those taking part in the raid, the rest being British and American.
Since Britain and France wanted to test the strength of German defenses, they sent Canadian troops to see how good German's defenses were. The Allies learned several valuable lessons, including:
- they needed to attack the Germans via air first
- it should be done in waves and not all at once
- should be done in secret at night, Germans should not know they're coming
There was many aircraft losses on that day -the RAF lost 106, which was the highest single-day total in the entire war, and the RCAF lost 13. There was 916 fatal Canadian casualties in the Dieppe Raid, along with 1,946 prisoners of war. Of the 4,963 Canadians that were sent, only 2,210 returned home, which raises the question of whether the Dieppe Raid was worth the number of lives lost or not.
the battle of ortona
- Date: December 20-28, 1943
- Place: Ortona, Italy
- Also known as: "Italian Stalingrad" or "Little Stalingrad"
The Battle of Ortona was an extremely bloody battle between Germany and the 1st Canadian Division, under military commander Chris Vokes during Christmas week of 1943. Every day of the Battle Germany and Canada fought in what was later called "mouse-holing" - house to house fighting, in which Canadians would blow holes to clear their enemies out. Constant threats included weapons like land mines.
On December 28, the experienced German forces, which were depleted, withdrew from the town of Ortona. After the withdraw, Canadian advances halted for winter.
In a little over a week of fighting, around 1,400 Canadians lost their lives, with 964 wounded as well, the most fatal casualties being from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment (which made the initial attack on the town of Ortona). The Battle of Ortona saw 25% of Canadian deaths while fighting in the Italian campaign.
juno beach
- Date: June 6, 1944
- Place: Juno Beach, France
- Also known as: Operation Overlord
The successful D-Day attack on five beaches of German-occupied Normandy, France (the Canadian one being Juno Beach) led to the liberation of France, and to the end of war in Europe in about a year.
14,000 Canadian troops from the 3rd Infantry Division stormed the randomly code named Juno Beach (about 10 km wide) on June 6, 1944, amid the gunfire and beach mines of Hitler's "Atlantic Wall". Impressively, they fought hand-to-hand through several villages, and continued inland. They also took the villages of Bernieres, Courselles, and St. Aubin. John Keegan, British historian, says of Canada, "At the end of the day, its forward elements stood deeper into France than those of any other division. The opposition the Canadians faced was stronger than that of any other beach save Omaha. That was an accomplishment in which the whole nation could take considerable pride."
To ensure this victory, 350 Canadians had lost their lives, 574 wounded, and 47 taken prisoner, bringing the total casualty number of Juno Beach to 971. Although the losses were heavy, they lost a lot less than they thought they would, and eventually took control of Juno Beach and surrounding villages from the defending Germans. Canadians played an important role in the Victory in Europe day, later taking part in battles such as Battle of the Scheldt, and liberating northeastern Netherlands.
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