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European Tensions |
War |
Mobilization | Poland -
France | Battle of
Britain | Dieppe |
North Atlantic |
Training the Empire |
The
Pacific |
Quebec Conference | Hong Kong
| Home Front |
Sicily |
Italy | Conscription
| Normandy |
France |
Netherlands |
Germany
The war had been raging in Europe and across the
Atlantic since September 1939 and although there had
been raising tensions in the Pacific, most allied
governments were not expecting an outbreak of
hostilities in the Far East.
On September 27, 1940 Japan, Italy and
Germany signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin which
committed the three powers to come to each others aid if
they were attacked by another power. The Pact was
substantially aimed against the U.S. with the intention
that it would not be able to aggressively act against
Japan in a military manner without going to war against
Italy and Germany also.
Stalin was worried that if Japan was to
launch a surprise attack that it would be against the
Soviet Union with the Japanese army driving
deep into resource rich Siberia. Stalin was holding
strong, experienced military units in the Eastern Soviet
Union to counter this suspected Japanese threat instead
of using them to shore up his crumbling lines against
the German Blitzkrieg which had started in June of 1941.
There was in fact an internal struggle going on among
Japanese military factions and within the Japanese
government over continuing efforts at reaching a
peaceful accommodation with the Americans or going to
war and if war, where and against who should they
strike. The Japanese needed oil, rubber, coal, steel and
many other items and their choice lie between a northern
strike into the already besieged Soviet Union with the
army, or south into the resource rich Dutch East Indies,
the Philippines, and the Malaysian Peninsula by the
Navy. The southern strike would mean war with the
several minor nations, the British Empire and the United
States. The British Empire was on it's knees and had
drained Asia of troops, supplies and weapons while the
Americans were still on a peacetime footing but had the
Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbour. The Soviets had
left strong units to discourage a Japanese attack and the
Japanese had had their noses badly bloodied in 1939
against the Soviets during a brief outbreak of
hostilities. The decision was made to
go south and launch surprise attacks against the U.S. at
Pearl Harbour and in the Philippines while the British
would initially be attacked at Hong Kong and then
through Malaysia to Singapore. Canadian troops had
recently been sent to Hong Kong to reinforce it's
garrison but their heavy equipment was to come later.
The attack was planned and launched on December 7th,
1941.
Canada's involvement
in the Pacific theatre was a defensive posture with the
U.S. taking on the majority of the load. Coastal
defences were built, observation post established and of
course the Alcan highway was built which connected
Alaska to the lower states. There were Canadian pilots
who were stationed in Southeast Asia and Canadian
sailors who were assigned to British ships but with
Canada substantially committed to the European theatre
and the Battle of the Atlantic, it fell to Britain, the
U.S., China, Australia, New Zealand, India and an
assortment of other nations. After victory in Europe
there was a huge re-allocation of military forces that
began with Canadian sailors, and airmen being
transferred to the Pacific Theatre, but most of these
forces were in transition when the war ended in August
of 1945. |
