UK could have lasted alone against Germany without Canadian support
I don’t agree because the united states was also supplying UK with “war goods” (e.g. Lend Lease)
We also gave UK 50 destroyers for some naval bases. IN 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement had seen fifty obsolete destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy in exchange for base rights in the Caribbean.
FDR also had a few tricks up his sleave to basically fight the axis by supplying our allies with war making materials.During the year of 1940 we sent Large quantities of goods to Britain . US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved US$1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to Britain on October 30, 1941. Britain did not need to repay the main debt, only the amount for supplies in Britain when Lend Lease was terminated in 1945.when Washington suddenly and unexpectedly terminated Lend Lease on September 2, 1945. These were sold for about 10 cents on the dollar with payment to be stretched out for 50 years at 2% interest. Now that what i call a good deal.
British Commonwealth received some $31 billion by the wars end. That includes Canada as well FYI.
Canada contribution:
Battle of Britian:
Some 80 Canadians flew in the Battle of Britain. Of these, 26 were in the RCAF’s No. 1 Squadron, which arrived soon after Dunkirk; 16 flew as a team in the RAF’s 242 “Canadian” Squadron; the rest among a dozen other RAF squadrons. Leading to some confusion, the dispersed Canadian airmen one who flew with the Poles in 303 Squadron and another in the South African 74 Squadron. Another 200 Canadian airmen fought in RAF Bomber and Coastal commands.
Eventually Canada had to reach an accomodation with America, because they were still suffering the effects of the Depression. To preserve their national security and guard against the threat of a world that may see the demise of England in Europe they signed the Ogdensburg Agreement which amoung other things defered control of the defense of North America (including Canada) to America much to the chigrin of supporters of the king and citizens who view Canada in some light other than where they belong. When FDR sent lend lease to England they also helped Canada get back on her feet with what they called the hyde Park Declaration.
Under the terms of the Hyde Park Declaration, the United States would increase defence purchases in Canada, while material exported to Canada for use in supplies for Britain would be charged to Britain’s lend-lease account. This solved Canada’s immediate financial concerns but placed it even further within the American sphere of influence. As King told Parliament, it was “nothing less than a common plan for the economic defence of the western hemisphere.” Like the Ogdensburg Agreement, it has drawn fire from critics for just that reason; like the Ogdensburg Agreement, there was no other choice.
With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States finally entered the war. Canada suffered a loss of status. It was no longer one of Britain’s most important allies but a junior partner in a great power coalition. From now on, the war was to be run largely by Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, which entered the fighting in June 1941. Canada had long abandoned its plans to fight a war of “limited liability,” and was making its maximum contribution to the war effort. Even so, the great powers were determined to keep the decision making to themselves, and viewed Canada as one of a number of minor allies that could not be given preferential treatment in case others demanded it.
Canada was outraged to have no say in areas where it was making a large contribution. This was particularly frustrating in connection with the combined boards created by the United States and Great Britain in 1942 to allocate food and war material. Canada was a major producer of food for the Allies, but was shut out of the Combined Food Board.
Hume Wrong of the Department of External Affairs provided an eloquent argument for a greater Canadian role, based on the functional principle. Each country should have a voice in areas where it was a major power; not everyone had an equal right to a voice in every area. It was a neat way of distinguishing Canada from such minor allies as Brazil or Mexico, but it was still a hard sell.
Canadian tenacity eventually resulted in seats on some of the boards that were of interest to Ottawa after long and tedious negotiations, but Canada neither sought nor received significant influence in the military conduct of the war. Even when Roosevelt and Churchill met twice in Quebec City to discuss Allied grand strategy, King was content to play a small role. He took part in limited bilateral discussions with the British and American leaders, and though he appeared in all of the photographs he did not attend the actual planning sessions.
The war progressed and engulfed more nations and resulted in the view that Axis Hegemony was a possibility.Further German victories in Europe combined with Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941 ended Canada’s attempt to limit its military role in a conflict that had now become a war of survival. Following the German successes of 1940, the government sent the Second Division overseas and began mobilizing two other divisions. At the request of the British government, Canadian troops were hurriedly sent to defend Hong Kong against Japanese attack in the fall of 1941. Ill-equipped and poorly trained, the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada were all killed or captured when the Japanese overran the colony in December 1941. The Canadians in England, on the other hand, endured a long period of inactivity. Both the government and the military were anxious to have them see action, which helps explain Canadian participation in the ill-fated Dieppe raid of 1942. During this raid, more Canadians were killed or made prisoner for no military gain.
It was only in 1943 that Canadian forces participated in a major campaign, the Allied landings in Sicily. This was an important occasion for the government, because the Canadian public was becoming increasingly restive about Canada’s lack of involvement. The government therefore was duly disturbed by the original description of the landing force as Anglo-American. After urging from Mackenzie King, Roosevelt agreed that the Canadians should be credited for their participation in the assault.
Now with this being said you can now see how and why we feel the way you do when you say things like “without Canada WW2 is a lost cause”
and im still laughing… :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: