Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 3, 2005, Winnipeg, Manitoba 60th anniversary of Winnipeg free press sunday april 3, 2005 b3 be Day nobody wanted to be the last Man to die canadians fought hard with end in sight to bloody War by John Ward i n a wet cold european Spring 60 years ago the bloodiest most brutal War in history was clearly coming to an end. After 5 1/2 years Adolf hitlers nazi Germany which he had pro claimed to be the thousand year Reich a dozen years before was crumbling in a steel Vise squeezing from two sides. In the West the american British Canadian and French armies were pushing across the Rhine Germany a historic River Barrier. To the East the russians were massing two million men thousands of tanks and tens of thousands of artillery pieces on the Oder River just 65 Kilometres from Berlin. The allies East and West saw the handwriting on the Wall As did their opponents. But they also knew there would be More blood shed before peace. The 1st Canadian army was in South Ern Holland preparing to Cross the Rhine As part of the British led 21st army group. The canadians knew the War was winding Down but they also knew there would still be hard fighting left against a determined enemy defending his Homeland. Nobody wanted to be the last Man to die one Veteran recalled. But we had to keep Between feb. 8, 1945 ? the Start of the assault on the Rhineland the chunk of German territory Between Holland and the Rhine and the end of the fight ing on May 7 ? 5,500 canadians would be killed or wounded. The thousands of Young canadians on the Rhine Banks had become used to death. Behind them a Trail of Graves stretched Back through Holland Bel Gium and Northern France to the beaches of Normandy where they had landed on a Day june 6, 1944. The men of the 1st Canadian corps who had rejoined their countrymen in Northwest Europe after months of fighting in Italy had their own line of Graves that reached from Sicily North to the to River Valley almost at the top of the italian Boot. They were a Small part of the great est bloodletting in history. British his Torian Martin Gilbert says that on average 20,000 people ? military and civilian ? were killed every Day Dur ing the second world War. The canadians had Learned their Trade As soldiers the hard Way ? on the Job. In the process they and their air Force and Navy comrades had become professional warriors carry ing their Load alongside the americans and britons. Canadian warships patrolled the North Atlantic protecting dozens of plodding convoys from a boats. Speedy motor launches carrying the Maple Leaf skirmishes in coastal Waters of the North sea and the Mediterranean. Canadian pilots flew supplies in Burma strafed targets ahead of the armies across Europe and nightly steered heavy four engine bombers to Hammer German cities ports rail lines canals and other targets. It was a dramatic surge for a coun try of 11 million which had fewer than 10,000 servicemen when the War began in 1939. Canada declared War on Germany on sept. 10 that year a week after the British declaration. Prime minister Mackenzie King was determined that Canada would make its own decision on War and not simply be dragged in on British coattails As it had in the first world War. Once the decision to go to War was made the question became with what Canada was ill prepared. Defence Bud gets had withered in the 1930s As the great depression Lay heavy across the country. But the potential was there. Within four years the army of about 5,000 had grown to a Field Force of 250,000. The Navy which began with seven destroyers and about 1,900 sailors swelled to 350 warships and enlisted More than 100,000 men and women. The air Force which had 20 Hurricane fighters and about 1,000 personnel bloomed into a Force which included 14 squadrons of heavy bombers and dozens of squadrons of fighters ground attack planes patrol aircraft and transports. By wars end about 1.1 million Cana Dian men and women had enlisted. When the War began King and his government leery of the terrible casualties among the infantry of the first world War hoped that concentrating on air Power might keep losses Down. The British Commonwealth air training plan was one result of that focus. Thousands of air Crew ? canadians britons australians new sealanders and others ? earned their wings at dozens of airstrips strewn across the Prairies Ontario and que Bec. It was called the aerodrome of democracy. Factories began producing planes such As the famous wooden Mosquito fighter bomber the sleek spitfire and the Brawny Lancaster bomber. They and their Canadian Crews would become a mainstay of the Allied air Campaign. There would be an army As Well. The first Canadian division went to Britain in december 1939. More would follow As Canadian plants began churning out tanks artillery pieces trucks ambulances and All the other paraphernalia of War boots and jackets rifles and bayonets canned meat and dehydrated eggs. Shipyards on both coasts and along the great lakes began to build ships both merchantmen and War vessels. Most of the warships were corvettes an anti submarine vessel produced from the design of a whale Catcher. They were Small 62.5 metres Long Dis placing 950 tonnes. They were slow because few factories could make High Speed Turbine engines and those were reserved for destroyers. F from the Start there were blunders. In 1940, hocs Fraser a destroyer was sunk in a collision with a British warship. For almost three years the Navy struggled along crippled by poor training second rate ? often Canad an built ? equipment and overwork. As ship after ship was launched War ships at sea were stripped of their Best officers and men to Man the new ves Sels. Constant escort duty left no time for the training that was vital to build teamwork aboard ships and within groups of escort vessels. Or a time Britain asked that Canadian ships be pulled off the vital North Atlantic run until they could be better trained. There were problems in the air As Well. In 1943, As Canada formed its own air group within Britain a bomber command losses soared among the canadians Likely again because of Lack of training. There were political errors too. King was persuaded in 1941 to Send two Canadian infantry battalions the Royal rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg grenadiers to bolster the Garri son of Hong Kong and face Down the japanese. In december 1941, the japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. They also went after Hong Kong and other British and dutch colonies in the Region picking them off like Ripe fruit. Hong Kong surrendered on Christ Mas Day of the 1,975 canadians about 300 were killed in the fighting. The rest went into Captivity where unspeakable privation and torment killed another 257. In 1942, with Canadian troops in Britain champing at the bit to see action Canadian authorities agreed to assign the 2nd Canadian division to take part in a major raid on the French coast at a Little Holiday port called Dieppe. The idea was to test invasion techniques and see if a port could be taken in a seaborne assault. Almost 5,000 canadians sailed for France on aug. 18, 1942 and stormed Dieppe the next morning. It was a Dis Aster. The attackers ran into a coastal con Voy in the pre Dawn losing the element of Surprise. Some of the tanks bogged Down on the pebbled Beach. The attackers faced Cliffs lined with Ger mans firing Down at them. I Only 2,200 canadians got Back. More than 900 were killed and about 2,000 were left As prisoners of War. N 1943, Canadian troops along with britons and americans attacked Sicily in a Campaign aimed at Dri ving hitlers italian ally out of the War. The invaders went on to land in Italy proper in september and Italy surren dered soon after but the germans moved troops in and the italian Campaign dragged on for almost two More years. In 1944, with a Day Canadian troops moved into Northwest Europe and began the slow drive that would end the War the following Spring. Along the Way they Learned their Trade As soldiers and some very hard truths. They Learned that the germans were Well trained Well led and very stub born fighters. They also found that for the most part the germans had them out gunned. Allied weapons left much to be desired. The american designed Sherman tank the mainstay of the american British and Canadian armoured forces was a Dud in comparison to German machines. It was thin skinned under gunned and prone to bursting into flames when hit. The cynical Crews sometimes called them Ron sons after a popular Brand of cigarette lighter. The germans also had a better machine gun ? the ripping Canvas rasp of the German mg-34 still haunts some canadians. They had better anti tank guns ? the Flat whip crack of the fearsome German 88-mm gun is mentioned in almost every Memoir. The British Piat a Rube Goldberg Spring loaded contraption that fired an anti tank grenade was easily out ranged by the More powerful German Panzer Faust ancestor of today a rocket propelled grenade launchers. What the canadians did have was air cover. The germans were largely swept from the skies in 1944-45 and Allied fighter bombers made it danger Ous for the germans to move on open roads except at night or in bad weather. They also had Superb artillery. The British 25-Pounder gun also used by Canada was a rugged hard hitting weapon that could fire until the barrel was glowing. The artillery Organiza Tion was also excellent allowing dozens even hundreds of guns to be focused on a single target to smash counter attacks or punch a Hole in an enemy line. By april 1945, Canadian troops were a Veteran Battle hardened lot determined to see the War to a conclusion that was just visible on the horizon. The 1st Cana Dian army was also on the verge of its greatest Triumph the liberation of hol land. ? Canadian press key events in the second world War 1939 sept. 1 ? Germany invades Poland. Sept. 3 ? Britain declares War on Germany. Sept. 10 ? Canada and France declare War on Germany. 1940 june 10 ? Italy joins Germany attacks France Canada declares War on Italy. June 25 ? France surrenders. June september ? Battle of Britain air War. 1941 june 22 ? Germany invades soviet Union. Nov. 16 ? two Canadian battalions 1,975 soldiers arrive in Hong Kong 557 would later be killed or die As pos after Hong Kong Falls to Japan. Dec. 7 ? Japan attacks the . Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor bringing both coun tries into the War. Dec. 8 ? Japan attacks Hong Kong. Dec. 25 ? Hong Kong surrenders. 1942 june 4 ? americans sink four japanese aircraft carriers at Battle of Midway halt japanese offensive. Aug. 7 ? americans land on Guadalcanal beginning three year Island hopping Offen Sive against Japan. Aug. 19 ? about 5,000 canadians attack French port of Dieppe More than 3,000 killed wounded or taken prisoner by germans. 1943 feb. 2 ? last germans surrender at Stalingrad. May 13 ? last remnants of German italian armies in North Africa surrender. Sept. 24 ? . Gen. Dwight d. Eisenhower appointed to Lead Allied inva Sion of Europe from the West. 1944 june 4 ? Allied armies enter Rome. June 6 ? a Day allies land in Normandy France. July 20 ? German dissidents attempt to assassinate Hitler with a bomb. Aug. 24 ? Paris liberated from germans. Sept. 1 ? canadians capture coastal town of Dieppe France. Nov. 30 ? canadians Cross German Bor Der. 1945 feb. 4 ? Allied leaders Winston Churchill Franklin Roosevelt and Josef Stalin meet at Yalta discuss postwar plans. Feb. 8 ? canadians spearhead assault on Rhineland. Feb. 13-14 ? British and Canadian planes bomb Dresden Germany tens of thou Sands killed in firestorm. March 23 ? 1st Canadian army crosses Rhine begins to liberate much of the Netherlands. April 12 ? Roosevelt Dies Harry s Truman sworn in As . President. April 28 ? italian partisans execute italian Leader Benito Mussolini. April 30 ? Hitler commits suicide. May 7 ? German army Navy in Europe surrender. May 8 ? Victory in Europe be Day officially marked. Aug. 6 ? atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima Japan. Aug. 9 ? atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki Japan. Aug. 15 ? Japan surrenders though for Mal ceremonies Don to take place until sept. 2 and sept. 9 with China. ? Canadian press ;