WWII Flashcards
(37 cards)
What is mouse-holing?
Mouse-holing is when soldiers would blow up the houses by putting explosives through holes in the house
What happened in Blitzkrieg?
Known as the “lightning” battle it was a huge air force attack and attack on communications
What happened in Dieppe?
Dieppe was a disastrous test raid for future the future invasion of France. Germany was on high alert and saw it coming. ~5000 Canadians that attacked less than half of that returned. Learned that surprise is everything
What was Hong Kong to Canada?
Hong Kong was the first battle that Canadians fought in. Canada was placed there because it was not thought that it would be attacked. John Osborn jumped onto a bomb to save everyone in the trenches
What is Plebiscite?
A direct vote on an issue of major national importance. The vote for or against conscription overseas
D-Day
The attack was a surprise the Nazi’s because they had been fed wrong information about when and where it was going to be. The allies attacked at low tide and at sunrise. They had massive support from the air and naval. They divided up the beaches so each country had a specific place to attack.
Canada’s readiness for WWII
Canada was not ready for the war. Canada was still in a great depression and the governments focus was on getting Canada out of it. Canada did not want to fight in a war that would not affect them
Appeasement
Appeasement is trying to avoid war by allowing a country to do something, for example, Mackenzie King was for appeasement and signed a treaty with Hitler not thinking he was a threat
Italian Campaign
From July 10th to August 17th the allies fought and took Sicily from the German Army. Code named “Operation Husky” It took pressure off the Russian allies and to pull German troops out of North-Western Europe freeing the area for Operation “Overlord” Canada fought in mountainous terrain
John Osborn
John Osborn served in Hong Kong where he jumped onto a grande to save his troop. He was awarded the VC for Valour.
Camp X
Camp X was located near Oshawa Ontario. From 1941 to 1946 it was a training camp responsible for training Special Operations Executive of the British Security Coordination. It trained them in techniques of secret warfare and Hydra, which is a network of communicated messages between Canada, US, and Britain
Women in WWII
~ 225 000 women worked in munitions factories. In 1941 for the first time in Canadian history women could enlist in the army as naval and air force, they could not apply for combat during WWII but they could do anything else.43 00 women served overseas in the Royal Canadian Air Force
Stalingrad
Stalingrad was the biggest battle between Germany and the Soviet Union on July 17, 1942, and it lasted until February 2, 1943. By Autumn of 1943, there were 2.5 million German soldiers that faced 5.5 million Soviet soldiers
Nazi-Soviet Pact
On August 23rd, 1939, Stalin and Hitler signed a “Non-Aggression Pact” in which they vowed not to interfere with each other’s business. On June 22nd, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. After getting rid of some of the best officers in his military, Stalin and the Soviets were not prepared for war.
Holocaust
The Holocaust was where all Jewish, LGBT+, gypsies, and crippled people were put in work or death camps. They would experiment on them, work them to death, put them in gas chambers, starve them, beat them, make them walk until they died. They were put there because they were not Hitlers idea of the perfect human.
Hiroshima-nuclear weapons
The US dropped a atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen to have the atomic bombed dropped on them because of their military and industrial significance and concentrated population. These are the only attacks with nuclear weapons in history
War Measures Act
The War Measures Act allows the government to control almost every aspect of Canadians lives, allows the General in the military to control what factories produce
Canadian and US relations
Canada and the States are very close, they are our primary trading partner, they have many companies operated in Canada, they protect us with their military, they influence us socially, and are a major factor to our economy, they also influence our political views.
Nazism
Nazism is a set of political beliefs associated with the Nazi Party of Germany. It started in the 1920’s. Party gained power in 1933, starting the Third Reich. They lasted in Germany until 1945, at the end of World War II.
Impact WWII had on Canada
WWII brought Canada out of the great depression and made the economy boom, it progressed women’s rights immensely, Canada became more industrialized, Canada became closer to the US, Canada had social security
Juno Beach
Juno was the beach that Canada fought for on D-Day. 14,000 Canadians parachuted into the invasion area. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors in support of the landing while the Royal Canadian Air Force had helped the invasion by bombing targets inland. There were 1074 Canadian casualties including 359 killed
Conscription
Mackenzie King had promised at the beginning of the war that no one would be forced to fight overseas, instead he passed the National Resources Mobilization Act in attempt to make both sides happy by just making all adult males register for national service but it did not require them to fight overseas. They then had a plebiscite where most provinces were 80% for conscription and Quebec was 72% against conscription.
Dunkirk
Thousands of British troops went across the English Channel to defend France. A group of Canadian soldiers stayed in Britain to defend it from the expected German invasion. Germans took France despite Britain’s effort. France fell in six weeks.
Winston Churchill
He was a gifted orator and a strong rallying force for the British and allied cause in WWII.
