Skip to content
Accessibility
World War II Military Operations (39)
-
Break-through1944 11 minAllied troops land on the Normandy coast and drive eastward to the gates of Germany. Opening scenes are of the D-Day landings and establishment of Canadian forces on the beachhead. Pictures of bitter street fighting and of pin-point bombing tell the story of Caen's capture and the advance towards Falaise. Made from footage filmed by units of the Canadian Army Overseas. -
Endings and BeginningsTerence Macartney-Filgate 1995 49 minEndings and Beginnings focuses on the final phase of WWII in Europe in 1945 and the aftermath. Veterans recount their memories of the conflict at the Rhine and the celebrations on VE Day, followed by their contribution to the victory in the Far East. These recollections are complemented by outstanding footage filmed by army cameramen. The film also focuses on what transpired after the war, when the soldiers had to reintegrate back into society.
-
Turning the TideTerence Macartney-Filgate 1995 53 minTurning the Tide documents the years between the outbreak of WWII in September 1939 and June 1944. A compilation of modern day interviews interspersed with photographs and footage from the war, this documentary covers landmark events such as the Battle of Britain, the raid on Dieppe, the landing in Sicily and the battle for Ortona. It focuses on both the Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought in the war and the women who became part of the war effort, either by enlisting or by going to work in the factories and shipyards.
-
Canadian Army Newsreel Issue No. 61942 9 minThis newsreel includes the following sequences: 1. Lady Patricia Ramsay Inspects PPCLI 2. Pigeon Post 3. Bringing in the Sheaves 4. Canadians Meet Norwegians in Soccer Play-Downs 5. British Mayors Visit Canadian Troops 6. Little Girls and Big Guns 7. Turn on the Heat 8. Massed Bands Open "Wings for Victory" Week
-
Canadian Army Newsreel Issue No. 71943 9 minThis newsreel includes the following sequences: 1. Black Watch Easter Service 2. Medical Inspection 3. Army Soccer Finals 4. Baseball Season Opens 5. The King's Farm 6. Tunnellers Receive Gibraltar Keys 7. Khaki Close-ups 8. Man of Vimy
-
Canada Remembers - Part One - Turning the Tide (Educational Version)Terence Macartney-Filgate 1995 55 minMen and machines begin the move down to the Channel coast of England. Naval vessels gather, air raids are mounted on German positions and routes of supply. The long-awaited D-Day invasion is about to begin. The camera pans the faces of Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen who travelled across the ocean to play their part in the fight. Meanwhile, the wives and children they left behind have found their own way to become part of the war effort--by joining up themselves, or by going to work in the factories and shipyards.
Turning the Tide takes us from the outbreak of war in September 1939 to June 1944, when the allied armies landed in Normandy to fight the Germans in history's largest seaborne invasion. Among the landmark events of the years between, covered by combat cameramen, are the Battle of Britain, the tragic raid on Dieppe, the landing in Sicily, and the battle for Ortona. Interspersed with archival footage are the vivid memories of men and women who recall life during the war years. Part one of the series. -
Canada Remembers - Part Three - Endings and Beginnings - Educational VersionTerence Macartney-Filgate 1995 51 minParatroopers dropping down to fight beyond the Rhine ushered in the final phase of the war in Europe, a war that was in its sixth year. In Endings and Beginnings, veterans recount their memories of that conflict, in combination with outstanding footage filmed by army cameramen at the front. VE-Day--victory in Europe--on May 8, 1945, saw exuberant celebrations in Canadian cities, but there was still the war in the Far East to be won.
The film documents Canada's contributions toward that goal, which was finally achieved four months later. In the aftermath of the war, a confident Canadian industry converted to peacetime purposes. But, on the personal level, peace could be intimidating. A former sailor recalls, "The big objective was to get the uniform off and get a job. I had to learn a whole new set of rules and a whole new way of living--very quickly." Interspersed with archival footage are the vivid memories of men and women who recall life during the war years. Part three of the series. -
Canada at War, Part 12: V Was for Victory1962 27 minApril-August 1945. Hitler had said: 'Whoever lights the torch of war in Europe can wish for nothing but chaos.' By 1945, Germany is beaten. V-Day celebrations verge on the hysterical, but occupying armies uncover the staggering atrocities of Belsen, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald. Franklin D. Roosevelt dies. The world's first atomic bomb is dropped on Japan.
-
Canada at War, Part 6: Turn of the Tide1962 27 minOctober 1942 - July 1943. The inherent strength of the Allies begins to be felt. Canadian munitions factories operate at peak capacity. U.S. Marines land on Guadalcanal and the Solomons. Montgomery's 8th Army strikes Rommel at Alamein; the R.C.A.F. joins in air strikes against Germany.
-
The LiberatorsTerence Macartney-Filgate 1995 54 minThe Liberators focuses on WWII during the period between June and December 1944. While following the action from the D-Day landings on the shores of Normandy up into Belgium and Holland, the film also highlights the contributions of the women who remained on the homefront. As the fourth largest producer of armaments among the Allied countries, Canada spent much of the war evolving into a formidable industrial nation.
-
Canada at War, Part 11: Crisis on the Hill1962 27 minSeptember 1944 - March 1945. On the eve of victory Canada faces an internal crisis: an acute shortage of men for overseas service precipitates the conscription issue, threatens national unity and the King government. In Europe, Canadian divisions fight their way to the top of the Italian boot, then regroup for the final onslaught on Germany. They fight in the battles of the Reichswald and Hochwald forests, and finally cross the Siegfried Line.
-
Canada at War, Part 2: Blitzkrieg1962 27 minApril - November 1940. With devastating speed Germany takes Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. Italy declares war. The British withdraw from Dunkirk. Mackenzie King feels the Canadian pulse on conscription. England is strafed by the Luftwaffe, and Britons accept Churchill's challenge of 'blood, sweat and tears.'
-
Canada at War, Part 4: Days of Infamy1962 27 minDecember 1941 - June 1942. The war is now global and pressures on Canada mount. Without warning Japan strikes at Pearl Harbor. Canadians adjust to food rationing, salvage drives. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan is inaugurated in Canada. In Ottawa, Winston Churchill makes his 'some chicken, some neck' speech.
-
Canada at War, Part 10: Cinderella on the Left1962 27 minJune - December 1944. V-1 rockets, and later V-2s, rain death and destruction on Britain; their launching sites are mopped up by Canadians advancing on Pas de Calais. The Third Division spearheads the attack on the Scheldt estuary. Germans make a last-ditch stand in the Battle of the Bulge. In the English Channel, Canadian sailors man swift motor torpedo boats against German E-boats.
-
Canada at War, Part 13: The Clouded Dawn1962 27 minAugust 1945 - 1946. Japan surrenders. World War II is over, but the scars are deep. Canadian prisoners are released from Japanese war camps. In Canada, as elsewhere, the monumental task of rehabilitation begins. In Ottawa the Gouzenko case shocks the nation. The trials at Nürenberg begin. The United Nations is formed. Canada, now a much stronger, independent nation, enters the Cold War.
-
Canada at War, Part 3: Year of Siege1962 27 minSeptember 1940 - October 1941. The Battle of the Atlantic begins. German U-boats take their toll of Canadian convoys. The purge of Jews begins. German armies march into Russia. Mackenzie King is booed at Aldershot. Men of the Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles leave for a fateful mission in Hong Kong.
-
Canada at War, Part 8: New Directions1962 27 minDecember 1943 - June 1944. Canada, war-seasoned, girds for the final assault. In London, Commonwealth prime ministers meet and Mackenzie King holds out for Canadian independence in foreign policy. In the Arctic, Canadian ships sail the Murmansk run with supplies for beleaguered Russia. The Italian campaign intensifies. In the south of England the Allies poise for attack.
-
Canada Remembers - Part Two - The Liberators (Educational Version)Terence Macartney-Filgate 1995 55 minJune to December, 1944. After years of dedication and sacrifice, an Allied victory seems tantalizingly close. The Liberators accompanies Canadian soldiers from their D-Day landings on the shores of Normandy, up along the coast of northern France and into Belgium and Holland. The film also visits the homefront in Canada, where the war effort was transforming the country into a formidable industrial nation--the fourth largest producer of armaments among the Allied countries. In achieving this, women played a leading role, with almost one million in the work force by 1944.
The Second World War changed the way Canadian women saw themselves and, indeed, the way the country as a whole saw itself--a young nation that had now become much more mature and self-confident. Interspersed with archival footage are the vivid memories of men and women who recall life during the war years. Part two of the series. -
Canada at War, Part 1: Dusk1962 27 min1936 - March 1940. In Europe war clouds gather as Germany re-arms and Hitler propounds his 'master race' doctrine. Chamberlain's appeasement fails. Germany overruns Czechoslovakia. Britain declares war; Canada makes an independent decision to join. The first Canadian troopship sails from Halifax.
-
Canada at War, Part 5: Ebbtide1962 27 minJuly - September 1942. A time of defeat and disaster. Hitler is at the apex of his power. A Canadian division probes at Dieppe and is repulsed with heavy casualties. Canadian factories take over production of the fabled Lancaster night bomber; Canadian bush pilots ferry the big planes across the Atlantic. German U-boats penetrate the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
-
Canada at War, Part 7: Road to Ortona1962 27 minJuly 1943 - January l944. The objective at last--Fortress Europe. The Canadian 1st Division, flanked by the British and Americans, pushes into Italy. Italians surrender but the Germans resist. Ortona, a 15th-century town, riddled with bullets and grenades, is taken by Canadians in fierce and costly street fighting.
-
Canada at War, Part 9: The Norman Summer1962 27 minJune - September 1944. D-Day, June 6, 1944. In early morning hours, infantry carriers, including one hundred and ten ships of the Royal Canadian Navy, cross a seething, pitching sea to the coast of France while Allied air forces pound enemy positions from the air. Cherbourg, Caen, Carpiquet, Falaise, Paris are liberated. Canadians return, this time victorious, to the beaches of Dieppe.
-
Death by Moonlight: Bomber CommandBrian McKenna 1991 1 h 44 minThis feature-length documentary focuses on the Canadian pilots who served in the air force bomber command in Britain during World War II. From the outset, it was clear to Britain that air combat would be the key factor in the battle against Hitler's Germany. Told they would be targeting factories and military targets, the airmen were actually ordered to drop their payloads on civilians in an attempt to annihilate the enemy. Using interviews, re-enactments, old footage and photographs, Brian McKenna's film depicts the war from the perspective of the pilots.
-
Fighting NorwaySydney Newman 1943 10 minDuring World War II Norwegian patriots struck at Germany from the rear, linking Canada, the United States and Britain with Soviet Russia. Norwegian resources around the world were mobilized, and at Canadian training stations Norwegian airmen forged a lasting friendship between the two countries. Includes footage from the British film All for Norway.
-
In Desperate Battle: Normandy 1944Brian McKenna 1992 1 h 43 minThis documentary looks at the events of June 6, 1944, when a combined force of American, British and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. The Allied invasion of occupied France was a turning point in the war against Hitler's Germany. From a tactical view, Canada's role was limited; strategically, it was pivotal. Part of the 3-part series The Valour and the Horror.
-
Letter from Overseas1943 15 minIn this short film, a letter from a soldier stationed in Britain during World War II is sent home to his parents in Canada. The content of the letter is illustrated with scenes of military life - training, assault courses and recreation along with combat scenes from the Dieppe and Bruneval raids.
-
Letter from AldershotJohn Taylor 1940 9 minPart of the Canada Carries On series, this short film portrays the First Division of the Canadian Active Service Force in Aldershot, England. Using an intimate letter home as a narrative device, this film reveals how the troops were received, what their living conditions were like, how they would get along with their English allies and how they spent their leisure time.
-
Lost Over Burma: Search for ClosureGarth Pritchard 1997 46 minThis documentary follows a mission into the Burmese jungle to recover the remains of a RCAF crew of six young Canadians lost during World War II. Their lives and wartime experiences are recalled through the memories of colleagues and families, who attend the emotion-laden funeral near Rangoon, where the men have finally been laid to rest with full military honours.
-
Mutual Aid1944 5 minAn animated short about the work of Canada's Mutual Aid Board and the necessity for this cooperation between the Allied countries.
-
Ordeal by IceTom Daly 1945 10 minThis short documentary is part of the Canada Carries On series. The secret winter maneuvers of the British Army's Lovat Scouts took place in the Canadian Rockies during the winters of 1944 and 1945. In combined operations with the Canadian Army, these elite mountain commandos tested themselves and their equipment in temperatures of -50oF.
-
Return to DresdenMartin Duckworth 1986 27 minIn 1945, Great Britain and the United States organized a bombing raid that devastated the ancient city of Dresden. This short documentary returns exactly 40 years after its destruction and celebrates its renaissance with the re-opening of one of the most beautiful opera houses in Europe. One guest at this gala was the Canadian navigator of one of the bomber planes, returning to Dresden on a mission of peace that brought him face-to-face with the people who were once his enemies.
-
Ships and MenLeslie McFarlane 1944 18 minA wartime tribute to the men who built Canada's merchant ships during World War II and those who sailed in them. Alternating scenes in Canadian shipyards and at a merchant seamen's school show a ship taking shape as young men are trained to join its crew. When Hull 39 is launched, we follow it out to sea and hear the crew talking over their work and experiences in action.
-
Savage Christmas: Hong Kong 1941Brian McKenna 1991 1 h 44 minIn the autumn of 1941, nearly 2,000 inexperienced Canadian soldiers were sent to Hong Kong at the request of the British government as a symbolic show of strength that would deter a Japanese attack on the colony. Canada's soldiers found themselves in the midst of a desperate battle they could not hope to win. On Christmas Day, 1941, the British colony of Hong Kong officially surrendered to Japan. The surviving defenders became prisoners of war. Over the next three and a half years, many of them would come to envy the dead.
-
Train BustersSydney Newman 1944 13 minThis short film depicts the strength and resources of the Royal Canadian Air Force, with its 32 overseas squadrons. It includes footage that explains the Allied air strategy of hitting the German army's nerve centres and features Canadian airplanes destroying a German munitions train.
-
Unwanted SoldiersJari Osborne 1999 48 minThis documentary tells the personal story of filmmaker Jari Osborne's father, a Chinese-Canadian veteran. She describes her father's involvement in World War II and uncovers a legacy of discrimination and racism against British Columbia's Chinese-Canadian community. Sworn to secrecy for decades, Osborne's father and his war buddies now vividly recall their top-secret missions behind enemy lines in Southeast Asia. Theirs is a tale of young men proudly fighting for a country that had mistreated them. This film does more than reveal an important period in Canadian history. It pays moving tribute to a father's quiet heroism.
-
Wasp Wings1945 40 minThis documentary is a record of the role played by Spitfires in defeating the Axis during World War II. The film, which shows these planes in action during the Battle of Britain, in Italy, and on D-Day, also depicts the work of aeronautical engineers and ground crews who kept the Spitfires in the air.
-
Women Are WarriorsJane Marsh 1942 14 minThis short film from WWII focuses on the increasingly important roles women occupy on the various war fronts. In England, their more active jobs include ferrying planes from factory to airfield and operating anti-aircraft guns. In Russia, they are fighting on the front lines as well as acting as parachute nurses, army doctors and technicians. In Canada women have joined active service auxiliaries, and thousands labour day and night in factories turning out the tools of war. From the Canada Carries On series.
-
The War Is Over1945 4 minThis commemoration of V-J Day--the World War II victory of the Allied forces in Japan--shows various scenes of celebration, and suggests that the energies which Canada deployed in the war effort in mining, agriculture and industrial development will now be the keys to a brighter, peaceful future.
-
Zero Hour1944 22 minThis short Second World War documentary from the World in Action series tells the story of the great Allied invasion of Northwest Europe in 1944. The film reviews the preparation, strategy and over-all campaign planning that went into this gigantic task.
