World War II Improved Canada's Identity

One of the major historical events that strengthened Canada’s identity was World War II. About one out of ten Canadians served in the war and many sacrificed their lives for the freedom and the will to defeat the force of aggression (The Axis powers), in hopes of having a better world. Represented by the hard-fought battles of the determined citizens and heroic soldiers, Canada was able to make one of the most significant contributions towards the war. Utilizing each of the military branches effectively, Canadians were able to display their strength further than most of the countries. Especially in the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic and D-day, Canada showed their impressive and tactical demonstration of their ability. Not only

did these battles portray the solid power of Canada, it also depicted the characteristics of the resolved mind of Canadians.
The Battle of Britain was one of the major events in World War II that determined the fate and the course of history of the world.

Since Britain was one of the major Allied powers, if it was defeated, it would have brought devastating effects toward the Allies. In helping Britain withstand the German assaults, Canada played a pivotal role of the airborne counter-attack and supplying the man-powers including the equipments. In July 1940, Hitler started to prepare for Operation Sealion which involves the seaborne invasion of Britain. However he sent the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) first because he felt that it was essential to weaken Britain’s Royal Air Force to achieve air superiority. Since Britain lost its principal ally, France, Britain had to depend on the Dominions and itself. Noticing Britain might fall under German force, Canada provided one of the largest contingents of pilots (112) to aid Britain. On top of that, Britain had only weak troops to endure the hardships of German assault, so the 1st Canadian Division provided variety of equipments and later became part of the 7th British Army Corps. By creating a new formation of the army, Britain was able to intensely prepare for the counter-attack against the German force. Also, many Canadians pilots with the experiences became flight

instructors in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan which trained 167,000 air personnels, including more than 50,000 pilots in Canada, which became a major help throughout the war. As the war went on, Winston Churchill appointed Lord Beaverbrook, a Canadian newspaper tycoon, as a Minister of Air Production to progress the aircraft production/repair faster and despite the protests from the industries, it greatly helped in increasing production of Spitfires/Hurricanes, and establishing a highly efficient repair organization that sent repaired fighters back to their bases. One of the well known squadron from Canada that participated in the battle is No. 1 Fighter Squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), which included regular force and auxiliary unit pilots and from August 17, 1940 to mid-October, the squadron destroyed 31 enemy aircraft and possibly 43 more. After Germans failed their invasion tactic, the Germans used night bombing to weaken Britain's will and the British people suffered huge casualties with major cities were being bombarded with explosives. Again with the support of Canadians, the attacks became less frequent and eventually, Great Britain survived the blitz and in the end, 23 from 112 Canadians lost their lives. Like these examples, Canada gave significant amount of strength and resources to prevent its closest ally, Britain, from collapsing by Germany’s power and was ultimately able to play a significant role of contributing and guiding Britain to overcome the invasion of Germany.