Canadian involvement in the Second World War.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I recently studied Canadian history in college and I found Canada's involvement in wars alongside Britain to be a very interesting topic. Does anybody know of any good books or other resources dealing with its involvement in the Second World War or the involvement of Newfoundland?

matchu

If you are interested in this topic, one place that is really worth a visit is the Juno Beach Centre, Normandy, France. Canada had big involvement in the liberation of Europe (especially the landings, the battle for Caen and the Falaise Gap) and this museum is the only Canadian one in Normandy.

nevsky

matchu wrote: »

If you are interested in this topic, one place that is really worth a visit is the Juno Beach Centre, Normandy, France. Canada had big involvement in the liberation of Europe (especially the landings, the battle for Caen and the Falaise Gap) and this museum is the only Canadian one in Normandy.

I was talking to some Canadian people today at Courseles-sur-Mer. They had family who were part of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers who landed on D-Day. They said that there was no love lost between the Germans and the Canadians and they fought with no quarter given on either side. I don't know if its true as I'm a novice but they said there main problem was Montgomery and some of the middle ranking officers, but the troops on the ground were magnificent.

matchu

For sure there was no love lost between the two. I don't think a lot of people realise just how hard the Canadians had it on D-Day and the following weeks and months.
Unfortunately for the Canadians, they came directly up against the 12th SS and the fanatical Hitler Youth. At least 130 Canadians prisoners were executed by the SS. Every Canadian Soldier was aware of this, and, as you might imagine, there was no quarter asked or given in subsequent battles.
After a difficult landing and tough battles to secure their beachead and move inland, the Canadians were subsequently heavily committed in the battle for Caen. Originally a D-Day objective, it was not until a few weeks later that a totally ruined Caen was captured. The battle for Caen and other related operations were often referred to 'Montgomery's Meatgrinder' and once again, the Canadians were heavily committed.
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One interesting aside: If you do visit the Juno Museum, check out the 25-pounder artillery piece on display outside the main entrance. If you look closely you will see a small plaque saying that the piece was decomissioned by Ordnance Base Workshops, Ireland, and on the other side another small plaque saying the artillery piece was donated by the Irish Defence Forces Corps of Artillery to the Canadian Army.

Fratton Fred

Obviously WWI related, but Vimy is well worth a visit and the young Canadian tour guides there are very knowledgeable.