Way towards Victory 历史关于二战的论文

Way towards Victory:Canada’s Contribution to the War on Land in World War TwoEric YangCHC2D0-DMr. KerrJohn Fraser Secondary School: MississaugaOntario, CanadaDecember 17, 2010“The massed, angered forces of common humanity are on the march. They are going forward. On the Russian front, in the vast Pacific area, and into Europe-converging upon their ultimate objectives: Berlin and Tokyo.” A quote by Mr. Roosevelt in his regular F ireside Chat to all the people who were Allies against fascism, “I thing the first crack in Axis has come. The criminal, corrupt Fascist regime in Italy is going to pieces.” Several days before May 15, 1945 which is the date that the Speech was made, Canadian troops had fought against Fascism for years in Sicily, Ortona, Rome and many mountain areas in Italy. They finally defeated German and Italian regiments in the Italy Campaign. After huge sacrifices in Dieppe, Hong Kong and in the Atlantic Ocean, Canada eventually got its first victory in the Second World War. World War Two was known as a “total war” which affected all the continents and billions of people who either stood up against Fascism or misled by their Fascist leaders to threaten the rest of the world. As a part of the Allies, Canada played an important role in this anti-Fascism War. It built up the navy, air forces, trained soldiers for the Allies and manufactured all kinds of supplies. Forty thousand Canadians gave their young lives not only for a lighter future, but for the rest of Canadians and the other human beings who united against their common enemy. There are those historians that would argue that Canada has been highly successful in the battle on land of World War Two, such as the battle of Britain, Liberation of Netherland, and the D-Day Invasion which were battles that were remarkable to Canada’s contribution. There is no doubt that Canada was successful in those battles, however, if you look at the Dieppe Raid, statistics from the Italy Campaign, you will realize that Canada suffered much more than they expected. Canada was not very successful in Italy and, even lost the battle in Dieppe. Combining all the results from the Dieppe Raid, the Italy Campaign and the Normandy, Canada’s contr ibution was only partly successful to the war on land in World War Two.Firstly, on August 19, 1942, the Allies send about 6000 men to land in a coastal town Dieppe in North Western France. Though Canadians had made up most of the assault troops, the Dieppe Raid was the worst battle that Canada had ever participated. First, the time for a surprising attack was gone, there is no way for Canadians to access the town. Before Canadians had a chance to reach that bridge, the Germans were in position, blocking their progression with a wall of machine gun and anti-tank artillery fire. As soon as they reach the shore, the men found themselves pinned against the Atlantic Wall and unable to advance, otherwise than in full view of enemy (Canadian Encyclopaedia). A soldier who was involved in the Raid said, “We fanned out and flopped down just short of a huge wire obstacle. Bullets flew everywhere. Enemy mortar bombs stared to crash down (War and Peacekeeping). Compared to the well prepared German, Canadians had stayed in uncomfortable boats for hours before they could have a glance of the beach. Soon after the bullets web was formed, nobody could go through the dead zone to reach any of German forts. All Canadians were exposed in German view which means they had little chance to survive among the wires and mines. Secondly, the invasion was poorly prepared, landing time was put off and many of the heavy weapon supports were delayed. Ross Munio, who was a Canadian office, described the situation they had, “…… There was a furious attack by German U-boats while the Canadians moved in on Dieppe’s beaches,landing by dawn’s half-light (Veterans Affair Canada). Winston Churchill afraid of alienating the French with the death of French civilians, decided not to bomb the French. Then the Royal Navy decided that it could not risk sending battleships or even heavy cruisers off Dieppe since they would be prey to the Luftwaffe (The Canadian Encyclopedia).Another example is the tanks of the 14th Armoured Regiment scheduled to arrive at the same time were late and, as a result, two infantry regiments had to attack without artillery support (War and Peacekeeping). Lack of heavy weapon supportwas like a disaster for the Allies, they had to attack German who had had suffered nothing because no bombarding was taken place on that day. It was hard to imagine the difficulty that they were forced to deal with when Germans were pouring bullets to their position. People had warned commanders that the beach was comprised of hard rocks. The rocks were so hard that they were totally unsuitable for tanks. The final hope of heavy weapon support was gone. Delay of the landing made them lose the advantage of foggy sea levels and dark. Furthermore, noise from sea also warned Germans that Allies will show up next morning, no more surprising attack could take place. Finally, outcome of the Dieppe Raid was horrible; casualty rate was dreadful high in this campaign. Officer Russ Munio also told Canadian press that he spent the grimmest 20 minutes of his life with on unit when a rain of German machine gun fire wounded half the man in their boat and only a mirage saved them from annihilation (Canada at War). Statistics shows that among 4963 Canadians, who participated in the raid, 882 were killed, 587 were wounded, and 1873 were taken prisoner and only 2210 returned to England (Fielding 180). Pictures of Canadian dead litter the Dieppe beach among ruined and abandoned tanks also reproduced the image of the nightmare for Canadians (Canada at War). It was hard to make people believe that all the casualties were suffered in a single day, only half of men returned to their base after the mission. The Canadian Division was almost wiped off in that day. Canadian soldiers were used as a tool to test German defence along the Atlantic Ocean and to appease Americans and Stalin, which was totally not fair to people who suffered in the Dieppe Raid. Therefore, Canada’s contribution to the Dieppe was not successful at all. The battle became the bloodiest battle ever in Canadian history.Secondly, in the summer of 1943, Allies launched the Italy Campaign to break the weakest part of Axis power. Canada played a major role in the Italy Campaign, its contributionwere partly successful in this campaign. First, many of the Canadian made weapons which were used in the Italy Campaign to provide extra help to infantry divisions. For example, a picture took from battlefield shows an unidentified gunner of the Saskatoon Light Infantry harassing fire with a Vickers machine gun (Canada an War). From another picture, the image shows that Canadian Sherman tank is positional at a street corner ready to blast German firing from house (Canada at War). Tanks from the Canadian Fifth Armoured Division strike through, to attack the waiting German(CBC Archives). Unlike the failing attack in Dieppe, Canadian troops were well prepared for the invasion, all the heavy weapons which were supposed to neutralize German gun were moved in position on time and produced significant results. Weapons were improved during war time, so new and powerful weaponry could provide lots of assistance to Canadian soldiers. New armaments were tested to determine their strength in real battles. Those valuable statistics were used to manage the Normandy Invasion. Next, Canada had also contributed to Italy campaign by showing its courage in harsh fighting conditions. Matthew Helton, who was a soldier participated Italy campaign said to a journalist after the battle of Ortona“It was’t hell, it was the courtyard of hell. It was a maelstrom of noise and hot, splitting steel…”later on, he described what he saw in the battle,“Soaking wet, in a morass of mud, against an enemy fighting harder than he has fought before, the Canadians attack, attack and attack…the hillsides and farmlands and orchards are a ghastly blew of fire.”(CBC Archives). A further obstacle was Italian winter which was wet and cold (Fielding 191). After the fall of Sicily, they continued to face not only enemy troops, but also the physical barriers of a rugged, almost trackless country; mortars, guns and other supplies had to be transported by mule trains (Canada at War). Hardships were not imaginable for people who were not involved in the Italy Campaign. Canada’s enemies were not only German strongholds but also terrible weather and nightmarishlandscape which decreased their speed, which made them suffered more than German troops and diminished their hope of an eventual victory. The only reason that can explain why they did not give up is because they have Canadian spirit stimulated them to take up their gun and fire in the hardest time. Though there were difficulties in battle, Canadians always tried their best to reach the objectives. Their courage supported them defeat all enemies and won the war in the end. Finally, casualty rate of Canada in Italy Campaign remain high. In Villanova, Canadian War Cemetery, 206 of the 212 graves belong to Canadians. This cemetery has been described as a memorial to fallen of the 5th division as 85 members of two battalions of this division were cremated here (Veterans Affair Canada). Another data was gather after the battle of Ortona pointed out that since crossing the Moro River, the First Canadian Division had lost 2339 soldiers, sixteen thousand more had to be evacuated, because of sickness or battle fatigue (Canada at War). By now the Canadian army in Italy had reached its peak theatre strength of nearly 76000. Total casualties in the Corps had climbed to 9934 in all ranks, of which 2119 were fatalities (Veterans Affair Canada). The main reasons for high casualty rate were commanders’ mistakes, detrimental terrain and Italian rainy weather. Heavy weapons were not useful when soldiers were advancing between mountains. Supplies could not be delivered on time because vehicles would get stuck on the mountains. Soldiers had to face continuous German machine gun bullets and concrete forts by themselves. A mistake made by Allies let hundreds of thousands of German soldiers escaped from Sicily to mainland Italy, so they can build up more fortifications and prepare for Canada’s assault. Mud in Italy caused Canadians to be inj ured or killed with ease by the Germans. Therefore, it cost Canada too much to gain the victory in Italy. No matter how hard Canadians worked in the Campaign, Canada’s contribution to the Italy Campaign was only partly successful.Finally, Canada was the most successful Allied country through the Normandy Invasion, it led Allies to win the battle on June 6, 1944. First, on the D-Day campaign, none of the Allies troops can compare with Canada’s efficiency. For example, they were the only Allies troops to reach their D-Day objectives (Fielding 192). Canadians had pushed to within five kilometres of the city of Caen, farther than any other Allied troops (Newman 237). John Keegan who was A British historian said to the press, “At the end of the day, it’s forward stood deeper into France than any of other division.”(Canada at War). In the battle, Canadians showed their strength by taking the first place among all the divisions. As the only country that reached all the objectives, Canada proved that it is very reliable to the Allies. Secondly, new weapons were developed from the lessons learned in Dieppe was put into action, they led Canada to win the battle in Normandy Invasion. Before dawn on D-Day, 230 heavy bombers from RCAF NO.6 Group pounded German shore with 860 tons of bombs, and in the daylight hours, RCAF fighter squadrons flew to cover for the invasion beaches. Fifty Canadian destroyers and, frigates assisted in covering the invasion providing anti-submarine escort and bombard shore targets (Canada at War). Moreover, new version of the Sherman tank, called “Funnies” were built, they could wade through water, bulldoze obstacles, explode mines and throw bursts of flames (Newman 236). A journalist took a picture of infantrymen from LRC riding on an M-10 A1 tank destroy vehicle off the 3rd anti-tank Regiment (Canada at War).Those new weaponry made a revolutionary change of the Allies attacking procedure. Shells had already neutralized German batteries making invasion became much easier for infantries. Soldiers were not expose under German machine-guns anymore. By using new powerful weapons, casualty rates have dropped significantly, so Canadian soldiers could maintain their power while they were trying to capture Juno beach and keep attacking to reach all their objectives. Finally, courage was another unignorable factor which led Canadiansto defeat German defences within the Normandy Invasion. Many Canadian soldiers in the Normandy campaign were young and new to battle, but their courage and skill meant they often helped lead the Allies to advance against a determined enemy. Most of the elaborate fire-support plan failed, leaving the infantry combat engineers, and armoured troops to overcome the enemy by direct fire. It took incredible courage just to keep going (Canadian Encyclopedia). A Canadian battalion were assigned to clear the position so that all approaches were covered by machine guns and by snipers who could move underground as well as from house to house (Canadian Encyclopaedia). The evidence tells us that Canada won the battle, not by their fortune, but by Canadian courage and the unbeatable spirit. Canadian troops dared to choose those objectives and reach all of them with less heavy weapon support in the day. Soldiers who joined the battle were not threatened by German strongholds, instead of escaping, Canadians had attack bravely until all the enemies was eliminated. There is no doubt that their courage led them to advance deeper than any other Allies troops while they had to face even stronger enemy than the others. Another result of their courage was the lowest casualty rate than all the other battles that Canada had participated in the Second World War, which was lower than 25%, casualty rate was about an estimated 70% before the battle. Therefore, Canada not only won the battle, but also got highly successful contribution to Allies in the Normandy Invasion.According to the result of all the battles that Canada has participated in World War Two, Canada’s contribution was only partly successful to th e battle on land in World War Two. Dieppe Raid was the worst battle ever in Canada history. The battle was poorly prepared, Germans were warned in the morning, and thousands of Canadian lives were lost in a single day. In 1944, Italy Campaign was launched to eliminate Fascism in Italy. New weapons were tested, Canadians showed their courage, but casualties had repeatedly increased. Soon after that,Operation Overlord started to go back on European land, the battle was also known as the Normandy Invasion, Ca nada’s contribution was very successful in the Invasion. Canadian troops reached all the objectives, powerful weaponry were used and Canadian spirit was shown again in the battlefield. Canadian soldiers always believed that the shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. Gate of Berlin was opened in the Normandy invasion, pain suffered by Canada and the Allies would eventually be repaid as Germany’s failure. Netherland was liberated and Berlin surrendered on the 5th of May 1945. The greatest war ended, people proved the invincible strength of justice. 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