A review of “Canada at War” (World War Two series)

“We do hereby Declare and Proclaim that a State of War with the German Reich exists and has existed in Our Dominion of Canada as and from the tenth day of September, 1939. Of all which Our Loving Subjects and all others whom these Presents may concern are hereby required to take notice and govern themselves accordingly.”

– Canada’s Declaration of War against Nazi Germany (10 September 1939)

More than one in 300 Canadians died in World War II. This is more than the percentage of the United States population that died therein. Yet most Americans don’t really know much about the Canadian contributions during World War II. I am an American myself, and so I didn’t really learn much about this subject in school. As a kid, I had heard that they were involved in the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944, because the 1962 movie “The Longest Day” (which I had seen) mentions their role at Juno Beach. But the Canadian military did much more in this war than just storming Juno Beach at Normandy. Their involvement in the European theater of the war began in September 1939, within a couple of weeks of the Nazi invasion of Poland. By contrast, the United States did not enter the war until December 1941, at the time that Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. Luckily for the British and Canadians, Nazi Germany would also declare war on the United States within a few days of Pearl Harbor, thus involving the United States in the European theater of World War II (and not just the Pacific theater, as it otherwise might have been).

Canadian troops at Juno Beach on D-Day, 1944

Comparison with other documentaries about World War II, or about Canadian history generally

Although I hadn’t heard much about Canadian contributions to the war in my childhood, my young adult years were somewhat different. I had been introduced to the subject somewhat, when I watched a 32-hour television history of Canada by the CBC (which I review here). This series, which is just called “Canada: A People’s History,” had tried to give a brief overview of the subject in one of its episodes – namely, the two-hour episode focused on the World War II period. But “Canada at War” is some six hours long, and thus was able to go into far more depth than “Canada: A People’s History” would later do. Like “The Longest Day,” “Canada at War” was actually released in 1962, which was only 17 years after the war itself had ended. It is a sort of transition between the primitive documentary style of “Victory at Sea” in 1952, and the more advanced style of “The Great War” in 1964. “Canada at War” doesn’t show the full horrors of this conflict (like “The World at War” would later do in 1973),  but nor do they try to sugar-coat how hard things were for those who were involved in these campaigns. The newsreels aired during the war itself are rightly known for their primitive use of music that tried to sound “heroic” and “inspiring,” but which has not aged well for modern audiences. Fortunately, the musical score of “Canada at War” is much better, and does not come across as “melodramatic” in the way that the period newsreels often do.

Canada had the power to decide war and peace for itself, and entered the war in 1939

One thing that the documentary covers is how the war began for Canada. At the time of the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, Canada had already gained the power to decide war and peace for itself. This is because, like other British Empire nations, she had been granted more autonomy by the British “Statute of Westminster” earlier in that decade, which had been passed in 1931. Nonetheless, when Britain declared war on Germany, most of Canada was fully on board with entering the war on their side. But to make clear that they did not have to enter the war on Britain’s timetable (or at all), Canada waited a few days before it declared war on Germany for itself. I quoted the text of Canada’s declaration of war earlier in this post, so I will not quote it again here. But suffice it to say that the timing of the declaration was crucial in many ways, because it was only a few days after the war had begun in Europe, and after Britain had entered the war on Poland’s side.

Canadian dead at Dieppe – France, 1942

Extent of Canadian involvement in the Pacific War, and Japanese Canadian internment

Canada was not involved much in the Pacific theater of World War II. Thus, the bulk of the documentary focuses on Canada’s war with Nazi Germany – and, to a lesser extent, Fascist Italy. Even after Pearl Harbor, they gave full priority to the conflict in Europe, and left the Pacific War to nations that had a greater interest in it – such as Australia and the United States, the latter of which had many interests in the Pacific (such as Guam and the Philippines). When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, they also attacked many British possessions in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The next day, the Japanese published a declaration of war in Japanese newspapers, which was as follows: “We hereby declare War on the United States of America and the British Empire. The men and officers of Our Army and Navy shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war.” (Source: Japanese Declaration of War against the United States and the British Empire) Canada, of course, was a part of the British Empire. Thus, the Japanese were declaring war on the United States and Canada within practically the same breath of that sentence. A British troopship called the HMT Awatea carried some Canadian troops to Hong Kong. But they were forced to surrender, when Hong Kong was overrun by the Japanese. Like the other Allied prisoners in Japanese hands, they were badly mistreated by their Japanese captors, and many of them did not survive the ordeal of imprisonment. Nonetheless, the documentary rightfully mentions the shameful episode of Japanese Canadian internment (similar to Japanese American internment), and makes clear that it disapproves of this racist treatment of Japanese Canadians. This disapproval is remarkable in a series made in 1962, when opposition to racism was not quite as widespread as it is now.

A road crew of interned Japanese Canadians building the Yellowhead Highway

Canadian soldiers arriving in Hong Kong, several weeks prior to the Japanese invasion of the city

Most of this documentary focuses on their war against Nazi Germany (and Fascist Italy)

But most of this documentary is about Canada’s war against Nazi Germany (as mentioned earlier). In covering Canada’s involvement in this theater, they talk about the massive contributions of their Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Royal Canadian Navy distinguished itself in the Battle of the Atlantic, where it helped to deliver supplies from North America to the mother country in the British Isles. This not only included the actual shipping of the supplies themselves, but also the protecting of the convoys from the near-ceaseless raids of German U-boats. These raids were not as serious in the later part of the war as they were in the beginning, but they were still a constant menace to Allied shipping, and sank many tons of needed supplies that were intended for Britain (and other Allies). For the British, the Atlantic was the front where they could least afford to lose to the Germans, and they owe much of their continuance to the support of the Canadian and American navies. The Royal Canadian Air Force helped to defend British airspace from German bombing during the Battle of Britain, and joined the British in delivering some night bombing of their own to cities controlled by Germany. As far as the Canadian Army goes, their Army was stationed in Britain during the earliest part of the war, to defend against a possible German invasion. But because they had nothing to do at this time, they decided to rehearse for the later invasion of Western Europe by launching a raid on a French city called “Dieppe” in 1942. This also meant that the Canadian Army missed the North African campaign of World War II, but they more than made up for it in the Italian campaign, and the later invasion of Western Europe – both of which they fought bravely in, alongside their British and American allies (and many others).

Canadian frigate HMCS Inch Arran

Air and groundcrew of a No. 428 Squadron RCAF Lancaster bomber 1944

Conclusion: This is the definitive television history of Canada during World War II

The British miniseries “The World at War” mentions the contributions of the Canadians, but does not really cover them in much depth there as “Canada at War” does. “The World at War” is primarily focused on the bigger powers (including Britain itself), and may be the definitive television coverage of the British side (and some other things). Ken Burns’ “The War” is good at covering the American side of the war, despite the weaknesses that I note in my review of this latter series. But “Canada at War” is good at covering the Canadian side, and tells a story that is not as well-known to my fellow Americans. Those of us who have watched these other series may be familiar with some of the battles covered therein, even if there are a few battles that are not really covered elsewhere. But even in these familiar battles, there is much to learn about the Canadian perspective of these battles, and how they saw the war more generally. They were much more involved in this war than many Americans realize, and sacrificed many of their finest young men to stop the Nazi advance. Thus, the story of their contributions will always remain relevant, and are worth the attention of fellow Americans. This may still be the definitive television coverage of the Canadian side, and has aged much better than many other documentaries of its time.

Footnote to this blog post:

The United States and Canada use the same DVD format (a format called “Region 1”). Thus, these Canadian DVD’s should be playable on standard American DVD players. People outside the United States and Canada may need a special DVD player to play this content, so they should not buy it unless they have this equipment. I would be remiss as a reviewer, if I did not mention this for my readers.

DVD at Amazon

Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate marketer, and can sometimes make money when you buy the product using the link(s) above.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

A review of “Canada: A People’s History” (CBC / Société de Radio-Canada)

A review of “The War That Made America” (the Seven Years’ War)

A review of “Rebels & Redcoats: How Britain Lost America”

A review of “The War of 1812” (a major war for Canada)

Colonial Canada: From the Seven Years’ War to the War of 1812

A review of “The Boer War” (a conflict that involved Canada)

A review of “The Great War” (1964 BBC miniseries that also involved the CBC)

A review of “ANZAC: Australians at War in WWII”

A review of Ken Burns' “The War” (American experience of World War II)

A review of “The World at War” (British miniseries about World War II)

A review of “Korea: The Forgotten War” (a later conflict that involved Canada)