Major Battles Part 1

The Pacific, Dieppe

Battle of
Hong Kong

Britain wanted to
reinforce its colony, Hong
Kong fear of a
Japanese attack

Canada loaned 2
battalions: 1,975
personal). They were
under trained

Canada believed there

would be plenty of time
to get its troops in Hong
Kong battle ready.

Canadians arriving in Hong Kong

November 1941

Dec 7, 1941
Mass Japanese offensive

Japanese attacked U.S.A.

Pearl Harbor, Malaya,
the Philippines, Guam,
Wake Island and Hong
Kong

USA joins the war

Canadians see combat

for the first time in WW2

Hong Kong

December 8-25, 1941

A quick and decisive
victory for the
Japanese. The
Canadian rookies were
no match for the battle
ready and hardened
Japanese
Canadians surrendered
on Christmas day,
1941 Black
Christmas

Battle of Hong Kong aftermath

3 years, 8 months of
Japanese Imperial rule in
Hong Kong
Japanese army terrorized
local populations (murder,
rape, looting)
1,689 Canadians became
POWs. It's thought that
1,405 survived the camps
in Hong Kong and Japan.
They would be liberated in
August 1945 when the
Japanese surrender

Dieppe Summer 1942

Dieppe

The War to Date: 1942

Hitler and Mussolini controlled Europe
Japan attacked US and Britain
(Canada) in the Pacific

Dieppe Raid - August 1942

Dieppe was a coastal French

city that was being held by the
Germans.
Significance:
1. A Canadian operation
2. Our first attempted landing on
W. Europe since Dunkirk
3. 900 Cdn. soldiers were killed,
2000 taken prisoner
4. Learned many lessons that
would be put to use on D-Day

Dieppe continued
Why did the Allies choose to raid Dieppe?
1. Public opinion-- the Commonwealth was
enraged at the falling of Hong Kong
2. Soviet Unionproviding relief for Russia
3. Soldiersrestless from no activity
4. Tested German coastal defenses and might
help to plan a full-scale invasion.

The Invasion

Dieppe Invasion

1942, Aug. 9, 5,000 Canadians landed at Dieppe to

take the town
Allied ships got off course and were spotted by
Germans while crossing the English Channel.
The Canadians failed to surprise the Germans and
many soldiers died.
raid was late, Germans were ready, many killed
before the beach
town was fortified with artillery, barbed wire, land
mines & tanks

Why Dieppe
Failed

Intelligencedidnt
realize how strong the
German defenses were
Geographythe Allies
attacked a fortified
beach without
bombing it first
Bad planning---the
Allies left too late and
the Germans spotted
them

Lessons learned
Much stronger military forces needed to
break through the lines.
higher number of forces must be held in
reserve for second attack
Aerial and naval bombardment needed
before attack
These lessons were used in the planning of
the D-Day invasion