Canada in World War II Trivia Quiz

Answer: 10 September 1939

From the time of Confederation (1867) Canada had control over her own domestic politics and policies, but not over foreign affairs. This changed with the Statute of Westminster in 1931, and Canada became fully independent. Thus, in the fall of 1939 Canada was not automatically at war because Britain had declared war (unlike when war broke out in 1914).

There was, however, very little doubt that Canada would follow. Waiting a week was merely symbolic of Canada's new power to declare war for herself.

Answer: All of these

Canada was the site of the largest section of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The wide open spaces and an abundance of fuel made Canada an ideal location for training pilots and other air force personnel. Robert Leckie, a Canadian who was an RAF commander was in charge of the training program.

In addition to training, many Canadians served as pilots as well, both in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force. About one in six Bomber Command pilots during the Second World War was Canadian. Before the blitz on Britain, Bomber Command flew mostly reconnaissance missions and caused almost no damage to Germany prior to the Battle of Britain. After the fall of France in 1940, when German attention shifted to Britain, the first job of Bomber Command to was to bomb the assembled invasion fleets. After London was bombed and the blitz began, Bomber Command were also in charge of bombing German cities and strategic targets.

The Royal Canadian Navy, albeit quite small at the beginning of the war, was the third largest Navy in the world in 1945 (behind the United States and the United Kingdom). During the Battle of the Atlantic, as German ships and U-Boats attempted to cutoff overseas supplies to Britain, Canadian war ships escorted supply ships from Halifax to Britain. Canadian ships were also vital in evacuating Commonwealth troops from France in the spring of 1940. A few RCN ships, and many Canadians serving in the Royal Navy, also played important roles in the Pacific War, especially from 1944 onwards.

Answer: Hong Kong

In the fall of 1941, tensions in the Pacific were growing. The British knew that Hong Kong could not be held in the event of war with Japan, and sent troops to the island in an attempt to deter Japanese aggression. These troops included two Canadian battalions, the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers; they sailed from Vancouver in October 1941.

The Japanese attack came on the morning of 8 December. The Japanese air force first destroyed the few RAF aircraft at the Kai Tak airport, and then the ground forces moved in.

The Japanese demands to surrender Hong Kong on 13 December and 17 December were refused, but the defending troops knew the fall of Hong Kong was imminent. Despite the military superiority of the Japanese, the Allied defenders kept their hold on Hong Kong until 25 December 1941.

They surrendered on Christmas Day due to heavy losses suffered in the final defenses and a completely exhausted supply of food and ammunition.

Answer: MS St. Louis

Jews in Germany faced extremely difficult circumstances in the 1930s. Nazi persecution of the Jews was rapidly intensifying, yet because of the hard times in other countries, it was difficult to find refuge anywhere else. In May 1939, 907 German Jews were given permission to emigrate to Cuba. They travelled to Havana on the MS St. Louis, but the Cuban government would allow only 28 passengers to disembark. The St. Louis sailed along the coast of Florida, but President Roosevelt refused them entry.

The Canadian government has been recognized by historians as especially harsh in their policies regarding Jewish refugees in the 1930s and during the war. Frederick Charles Blair was the head of immigration in the Mackenzie King administration. When the St. Louis asked permission to dock in Canada and allow the Jews on board to take refuge there, Blair turned them away, saying that Canada had already done enough for the Jews. For more information on Canada and Jewish immigration during this time period, see Irving Abella and Harold Troper's 1983 book "None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948".

The St. Louis was forced to head back to Europe. Most of the Jews aboard finally found asylum in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Britain. Tragically, over two-thirds of these refugees ended up under Nazi rule again when Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and France in 1940.

Answer: automotive

Before the War, Canada was one of the world's leading producers of automobiles. In 1938, it was fourth in the world in terms of output of passenger vehicles, with a large percentage of its productive capacity dormant due to the Depression. Canada was a leading producer of combat vehicles, second only to the United States. The Canadian-made tank, the Ram, was used for training and armoured passenger convoys.

Another important home industry was the metal mining industry. Canada contributed a significant percentage of the Allied aluminum supply and nearly all of the nickel supply during the war.

Answer: Dieppe

In 1942, the Allied forces needed to try to open up a second front in the West to relieve the Soviet Union, currently fighting most of the German army in the East. The long-term goal was to establish a hold on the continent, recapture France and drive German troops back into the centre of the continent. Dieppe was supposed to have been one of many raids on German occupied areas along the Channel, but was the only one to actually take place in 1942.

The Royal Regiment of Canada landed at Dieppe early in the morning of 19 August, behind schedule. Without the cover of darkness, and perhaps with prior knowledge, the German troops were ready for them, and bombarded the approaching Canadians with shell fire and machine guns from the cliffs above the beach.

After just a few hours of futile resistance, the raid ended. It was an utter disaster, with huge losses and nothing gained. However, many people maintain that the Dieppe raid was crucial in teaching lessons that were put to good use two years later at Normandy, on D-Day.

Answer: Yes

German U-boats found their way into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Cabot Strait, as well as into the Strait of Belle Isle in the then-British colony of Newfoundland. Twenty-three Canadian and Allied ships were sunk in Canadian waters from 1942 to 1944. The presence of submarines in Canadian waters was a serious threat to the Allied war effort, because a significant percentage of supplies were being shipped overseas from Montreal to Liverpool. From the Strait of Belle Isle, the U-boats could also target the convoys travelling to and from Halifax.

In addition, in June 1942 there were Japanese submarine attacks on the West Coast. The main target was Fort Stevens and the state of Oregon, but Estavan Point Lighthouse on Vancouver Island was targeted as well.

Answer: False

At the start of the war, Prime Minister Mackenzie King had said that Canada would not use conscription, which had been a hotly contested issue in 1917. By 1944, however, the war was dragging on and more men were needed. A plebiscite was held, and every province except for Quebec voted in favour of introducing conscription.

This intensified tensions between English-speaking and French-speaking Canada.

Answer: Ortona

The Battle of Ortona took place over Christmas of 1943 (20-28 December). The capture of the town was not easy, but the Canadians exhausted the German troops in the city in eight days. Ortona was strategically significant because it was one of a only a few deep-water ports in Italy. Ortona was nicknamed "Little Stalingrad" because of the heavy losses suffered there - the Soviet Union suffered over 1 million casualties during six months of fighting. About 25% of all Canadian casualties during the 2-year long Italian campaign were suffered at Ortona in just over a week.

Answer: Netherlands

The Canadian army was largely responsible for driving Germans out of the Netherlands, as part of the larger scale Allied offensive, Operation Market Garden. The push had begun in September 1944, and Colonel-General Johannes Blaskowitz surrendered the Netherlands to Canadian Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes on 5 May 1945. The advancing Canadians were greeted enthusiastically in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague.

Canada and the Netherlands had a special relationship resulting from the war. In addition to the liberation, Canada also housed members of the Dutch royal family during the war. Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa, in a room at the Civic Hospital that was temporarily declared to be international territory, so that the princess would not be foreign-born. The Netherlands gave Canada over 100,000 tulip bulbs as a thank you gift, and the annual Tulip Festival has taken place in Ottawa ever since.