Canada in World War II - Part 3: Shipping Lanes and Sea Battles

Great sea battles are the unsung, underrepresented part of World War II. You think tanks, mass infantry charges, even to a lesser extent the aircrafts with the zeppelins and bombers but ships sometimes fall out of the consciousness. In my mind the reason for this is twofold; it doesn't come across in images well (massive open spaces with ships firing from who knows how far away doesn't have the same impact as a tank rolling beside infantry) and the second is it's the most abstract and hard to imagine. The battlefield, in this case the oceans, are massive to the point of being difficult to fathom (pun!). Plus, it's hard for it to feel as consequential when the loss of life on the seas isn't as massive as that on the land. The death toll isn't near the tragic destruction in the land battles; it's a battle for supplies. The ships themselves are incredibly expensive, and the most important part of their duties is to protect the supply run across the oceans to fuel the war machine in Europe. On ships, loss of life isn't of any great relevance; it's all about cargo. 

A u-boat, being all sneaky and evil.

Now, even if it wasn't something that lends itself to film as much as the rest of war, the ocean battles were of massive importance in World War II. The one thing that really bothered Churchill was the U-boat menace (named for the German name Unterseeboot, or, quite obviously, translated to "under-sea boat" or submarine). Naturally, Canada had a large role here as we were tasked with protecting much of the shipping over to Europe, but we had one major problem of note; our navy kind of sucked. We almost didn't have a military navy at all after World War I, considering dismantling what we had, but it got linked with the British Royal Navy and was saved. Our job would be similar to what we would do in World War I; escorting ships across the ocean to get to Europe in massive convoys. However, without many ships to do so, we soon had a large number of ships that ended up waiting in port in Halifax, unable to get out of there. They needed boats, they needed a lot of them, and they needed them fast. They quickly came up with a solution - with mixed results.

A colorized (obviously) picture of a WWII Corvette,
the HMCS Regina. It was a flower class Corvette. Who
named that? The Germans had names like the Kriegsmarine,
the Luftwaffe, and other intimidating crap. We get flowers.
Darn it, Canada. Missed opportunity. I'm far too upset
about this.

They came up with a new boat that was meant to carry an anti-submarine focus; the $500,000 (which is incredibly cheap, considering) Corvette. The British wanted a heck of a lot of them. In the lattter half of summer in 1940, 64 Corvettes and 24 minesweepers were under construction in Canada.

They weren't great. Called "the cheap and nasties" by Churchill, the boats would turn rusty due to lack of proper shipbuilding techniques and earned plenty of jeers from the British (if there's one thing the British can do, it's sneer and/or jeer). Nevertheless, you had to like the boats because of the distinctly Canadian feel (looking past the rust, of course). Their crew often wore hockey sweaters. Their names would be Canadian cities. Their guns would often have distinctly Canadian insignias. My personal favourite, from a boat named after Moose Jaw (which is of course the most Canadian of city names in our whole great country)had a fire-breathing moose chasing after a fleeing Hitler. The crew themselves seemed to be interesting enough as well, seeing as they would not only have to live with cockroaches but grew fond of them due to the fact they'd eat bed bugs. They'd even make it fun by racing them! How cool is that? Also dreadful. Mostly dreadful.

In a lot of ways this was the Canadian navy's "young man's first car"; loveable in their Canadiana as they may have been, they kinda, well... sucked. The ship didn't have many guns considering the job it needed to do, the convoys it was escorting were far too large, and due to the British going through the rather stupid move of not sharing a lot of their tech with us, were behind the times in terms of the critical sonar technology used when hunting submarines. Adding on to the fact that our sailors were inexperienced, mostly merchant types (or some who had essentially no sea experience at all) they were in for a rough run. Two collisions occurred early in the war due to the zig-zag pattern the convoys followed to avoid u-boats resulting in deaths and destroyed ships sent a negative impression of the far-too-green Canadian navy to the rest of Europe.

'cause we got a great big convoy, rockin' through the night!
Yeah we got a great big convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?
Coooooonvoooooooy!

When they were out on the water, the job was exceedingly difficult. Their main task was to prevent u-boats from destroying the important cargo ships, but the u-boats were fast, sneaky, and when put into trouble would simply dive. If they were damaged by depth charges from the Canadians, they would limp back to Germany, get repaired, and hustle back. Eventually aircraft became a help, but there was a dead zone in between the oceans where the planes couldn't reach, and the u-boats took their hunting there. That dead zone, or "air gap" as they called it, was exceedingly dangerous territory. 

As ineffective as the Corvettes were, the Canadians still commanded 35% of the fleet - the problem was the also accounted for 80% of the losses. The U.K. eventually sent many of them to the easier route of protection from Gibraltar to the U.K. as the Canadian navy just wasn't cutting it by 1942 - but considering the circumstances of a lack of ships numerically, a lack of quality in those ships, short training, and a desperate need of equipment the British failed to provide, it would be hard to expect anything but a failure. Nevertheless, from 1940-1945 7,357 ships carrying 41,480,161 tons of cargo made it across the ocean, and many of those made it across because of the fourteen u-boats that Canadians sunk from 1941-1943. It could have been a lot more. Fortunately, by 1943 u-boats became less effective due to long-range bombers, offensive hunting groups and escort aircraft carriers. 

The only thing missing from this line of battleships is a
name like Death Machine across the top to make
it a death metal album cover.

All this was happening with a threat on the home-front, as well. A couple of u-boats found there way into the St. Lawrence river and sunk a number of mostly merchant ships. The fear of more attacks, while the St. Lawrence was bombarded by friendly aircraft and destroyers, resulted in a temporary shut-down of the river. Caught between a rock and a hard place, the Canadian forces had to allocate enough ships to defend while still pressing hard with protecting the shipping lanes with already incredibly beleaguered crews. For King, there was no easy answer on how to handle it.

The Canadians helped greatly in this critical part of the war, in spite of the British whining every step of the way. It was a little like asking someone to help you move, asking you to bring a couch down by yourself, and then complaining when you drop it a few times.

Well, darn it, Britain, you got your couch.

Canada in World War II - Part 2: Air Planes and Air Raids

With France as the main bastion of allied support falling so quickly, the rest of the good guys were a little wary about going to mainland Europe with an infantry force. That meant the majority of the fighting would be done through ships (of which Britain was very strong) and planes (of which both were strong, but options were limited). It was the Germans who struck first with a new variety of warfare that was not only shocking and appalling, but soon to become commonplace; the widespread bombing of cities and civilian populations.

In May of 1940 the Germans bombed the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The purpose and effect of the bombing was unclear; the intent was to destroy industry buildings and to clear out stuff like munition factories and other such war supporting places, but the fact of the matter is it was just too darn high and far too scary (we'll get to why in a bit) to be accurate. The result was the annihilation of the buildings of regular city-folk, enraging the allied forces. However, hitting city buildings was a far stretch from a useful military target, but the effects were more psychological; bombing the homeland was a morale killer (or at least designed to be) to just about everyone. The civilians were to fear being anywhere but a bomb shelter, and the soldiers feared for their loved ones back home, no longer the only ones being put in harm's way.

A German plane over London. A beautiful, scenic view for rampant destruction.

Shortly after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Nazis set their sights on the British mainland. Named the Battle of Britain, the the Germans had more and better planes as they moved to bomb British cities from July 10th to Halloween. Here, the Canadians were called in to support. They would often go on the offensive with bombing raids, intending to take out shipyards and airfields, but the bombers were easy targets as they were slower and less mobile than the fighter jets that would pounce on them. While escorts went with them, it limited what the faster and more effective support planes could do.

The Canadians were also inexperienced, and the very first trip the Canadians went on ended in both shame and tragedy. In a shocking navigational error, they got turned around and successfully (I guess you could say successfully?) shot down a British plane. Another plane in their employ crash landed on the same trip. Ashamed, the head of the squadron went to the camp of the British and personally apologized, a risky move considering they had just murdered one of their own. Nevertheless, the British accepted the apology and they carried on. Fortunately, the second combat operation was more successful - although you couldn't say they set a high bar. Leading what would be a successful series of raids and bombing missions was Douglas Bader, a man who lost his legs in training before the war but nevertheless came to fight anyway, ending his career with 22 confirmed kills. But not everything was attack.

Similar to ground-based warfare, the advantage in air battles goes to the defender. Here, they would harass the German planes with anti-aircraft shells and defensive planes. Using a radar system, they would be able to deploy their fighters relatively late, meaning less fuel and better rested pilots than the other side. Using the advantage, they dealt the first major defeat to the German Luftwaffe, which lost plenty more planes than the allied side. Much of the thanks went to the Canadians, who in spite of a shockingly terrible beginning came into their own. The result was a stop to the German daytime raids in exchange for nighttime bombing which was less accurate but more safe. The end result was to break the civilian population. Between 1940 and 1941, they would kill 43,000 civilians. Eventually they would stop due to the need of additional aircraft on the eastern front.

I'd personally be looking for the "Coward's
Retreat Defensive" team if I were alive
at the time.

The response of Britain (and therefore Canada) was to start bombing missions of their own on German cities. Able to hold the moral high ground utilizing the "yeah, well he did it first" defense (the same one used for chemical weapons in World War I), they returned fire with a vengeance. One of the most significant bombing raids was on May 31st of 1942 on the German city of Cologne. 1047 bombers (78 of which were from the Royal Canadian Air Force) would drop 500 tons of heavy explosives and 1,000 tons of incendiary bombs on the city in a span of only 90 horrifying minutes. 13,000 homes were destroyed along with 36 factories, but due to the preparations of those at home in the anticipation of the air raids, only 469 were killed.

In spite of the damage to production, factory output actually increased in 1942, due to the occupation of much of the east. It was far from destroying morale either, which meant it was hard to gauge how much damage was actually done. Nevertheless, bombing continued. In 1943 they would bomb berlin with over 400 bombers, only nine of which were shot down. Hundreds more would follow on the days of November 22nd, 23rd, and 26th. Eventually defensive fortifications would get better, and by December only 1/10 would survive their required 30 trips. The Berlin raids killed 9,000 and left 812,000 homeless. However, the bomber command was crippled; 3,300 airmen were killed, and 1047 planes were lost.

--------------------

City bombing was a hellish event. It was said that in Hamburg, due to superheated winds in the air above creating... I don't know, pressure systems or something?... the peak temperature would be 700 degrees above the ground. This would mean that the winds would (because of science) blow upwards, pulling people off their feet. People were seen burned alive, or jumping in lakes only to find that they would then be boiled.

Nevertheless, Canadians supported the bombing raids. 80% of the population was in favour of them, in spite of the heavy toll it would take on the bombers themselves. In the beginning, the RCAF would fly until they were shot down. This policy was eventually changed, where the men would have a break after a tour of thirty operations. However, only 17% would make it through the first tour, and only 2.5% would make it through the second. It certainly didn't help that the Canadians also got the short end of the stick (which you'll find is a common theme, where the British call for our aid and then refuse to provide us with the tools to do so). Our planes were inferior, we were given a lack of navigational equipment, and our airbases were put on the northernmost areas (meaning longer trips).

In spite of some of the inferiorities, we were an exceptionally important part of the allied air campaign. Churchill referred to us as the "aerodrome of democracy" (always one for the spectacular phrases, that guy) as Canada was the British commonwealth's main training base for pilots. Over half the graduates were Canadian, and while they didn't necessarily fly only with Canadians and would be worked into British units, we supplied more than our fair share.

"It's a bird!"
"It's a plane!"
"Upon closer inspection, it's certainly the latter." 

It's a wonder we could muster up anyone that would want to do it at all. What these men would have to go through before even getting to the field of battle sounded bad enough as is. What helped was a draw in that we already had a proud flight history through heroes like Billy Bishop, and no one wanted to join the Canadian navy due to a lack of history there, and no one wanted to join the infantry because that was the only thing somehow worse than the navy and airforce. To get to fly in the war, would-be pilots would train for 25 weeks (upped to 50 by 1944) where they would be packed into halls with tons of beds, a line of toilet stalls and a long wash trough. (No human should ever have to have anything to do with a trough.) And of course, even the training was dangerous; 3,000 people would die on Canadian soil in training alone. Still, they were well trained; the cost investment in this program was astronomical, at $2,000,000 in equivalent modern day funds to train a single pilot. 

Once they were out there in the real battlefield, it was really cold, really cramped, and really boring before it would get really scary. With flak threatening to take you down, planes coming out of nowhere to destroy you, and fiery wreckage of people you know falling around you, flying was a nerve shattering experience. Because of this the crews were thick as thieves, often refusing to go if even one man couldn't attend. Even then, and with their many superstitions (certain plane numbers being "unlucky", and bringing along charms that would work perfectly well until they didn't) many would come back and find that a number of the beds at the camp were empty. Canada had a brave and effective history in the air in World War II, but it came with an incredible cost.

Canada in World War II - Part 1: Declaration

The first world war ushered in a tremendous number of changes for Canada. There was the obvious loss of a generation of young men, the schism of French and English Canada caused by conscription threatened to tear the country apart (mind you, that seems to have been happening since Confederation), women were working their way into the workforce, and we had become closer friends not with the weakened, aging lion of Britain overseas but the up-and-coming superpower behemoth to our southern border. Amidst all of this, the country was still reeling from the trials of caring for veterans and a post-war world. Of course, this all paled in comparison to the trails of Germany.

The German Blitzkrieg or "lightning war" style, based on
high mobility. It's like a really scary monster truck rally.

War reparations were demanded that put the country in an economic state that would be darn near impossible to recover from. One U.S. dollar was worth 25 billion Reichsmarks, a level of inflation that shattered the country. 1/3rd of the German population was out of work, and in their desperation to find a scapegoat, began to blame the Jews and the communists. Those that still believed in German strength and empire set out to restore the country, many in government positions circumventing the rules set out on demilitarization in the Treaty of Versailles (the treaty signed at the end of the war, stating "we win, you lose, gimme all your stuff" except said in the 1919 vernacular) until they began outright ignoring it.

Eventually Germany began to remilitarize the Rhineland, the area along the Rhine river that was a central piece of the World War I European puzzle. France and Britain, still nursing their wounds and icing their black eyes, had little intent to go back to the broken and battered hellscape that they had just won to fight for it all over again. The result was just kind of... letting it happen. That handcuffed attitude of wanting Germany to refrain from becoming a power again but not having the desire to go to war to achieve that goal was tested again when Germany and Russia set their sights on parts of Czechoslovakia, which they divided up between themselves. Meanwhile, the Germans were testing military equipment left right and centre in the Spanish civil war. Once Hitler signed a nonaggression pact with Stalin the path to Poland was free and clear. Make no mistake; war is coming. With all its glory... and all its horror.

Oops, that was a quote from Starcraft. Those slip through every now and again.

This was bad news for Canada, and for more reasons than just the obvious. With the Great Depression striking Canada and a cultural division causing havoc, William Lyon Mackenzie King, then Prime Minister, was left with no option where he came out well. Go too light on military spending and he would risk losing the confidence of the British Canadians. Too heavy on the other end and he risked upsetting the French Canadians. Erring on the side of caution with a greater concern about risks to the homefront, King opted for the lighter side of the spending. Our military at that point was weak. Promising no conscription, 58,000 still decided to sign up, but were poorly prepared with a lack of appropriate clothing and weapons for the soldiers. This time, the Canadians would sign up without much of the "ra ra war is fun" attitude of the first round, but with a somber "git 'er done" air about them.

Ah, the City of Light in the 1940s. Love, romance, Nazis... it had it all.
Here, Hitler takes a romantic stroll under by the Eiffel Tower.

They would have to fix things fast if they wanted to contribute. Meanwhile, in Europe, Hitler utilizes his new Blitzkrieg style of rapid tank presses and levels Poland in a heartbeat. The French, anticipating an attack, reinforce their 700km long Maginot line, what was meant to be an undefeatable fortification. For some time a "Phoney War" begins, with only small skirmishes and no true assaults. During that time, Canada begins to recoup, but it only lasted so long. During this break the Germans searched the Maginot line for weak spots, and when they struck, they struck with bewildering speed. France, the very same country that held on so desperately and bravely for years in World War I, was shattered in a matter of a few weeks.

British soldiers retreating at Dunkirk. Hats off
to them; even in a hasty retreat with the Nazi
war machine on their heels, they still form
an orderly line while wading out to the ships.

By May, the allies would retreat back to Dunkirk, along the French coastline near Belgium. Cornered and low on weaponry, the allies were planning on bidding a hasty retreat but did not yet have to ships to carry them off. All Hitler had to do was to take his standing army and order them to capture the soldiers, all 350,000 of them - an event that could very well have turned the tide of the entire war. However, he decided to give them a respite as his troops were ravaged by casualties and tired from marching. That decision provided enough time to call in every vessel that could get from France to Britain - really, any vessel - to carry troops back. The plan worked, and the would-be massacre at Dunkirk was mostly avoided.

A rattled and weary Britain then decided to once more call upon their Canadians - closer to allies than colonials, but still leaning on the side of the latter - to send them everything they had. King was hesitant. If he provided too many forces, he was worried about a German attack on Canadian soil which he may not be able to properly defend. He decided to send whatever he could spare, as little as that was.

It was June 8th that the Canadians landed in France, but to little importance. Word of an approaching panzer assault sent them flying around the continent or back to Britain (an event that happened so often they were often mocked as "McNaughton's Travelling Circus") and by the time France finally officially capitulated on June the 22nd, they didn't see much action. With Britain on the ropes and France already fallen, Canada began to commit much more strongly to the war. At that point, few would object. The war had begun in earnest, and the largest war the world has ever seen began in full.