The Great Crusade

 Preparing for D-Day was a months-long endeavour of training, planning, and careful reconnaissance. It would become the greatest seaborne invasion ever mounted, and the turning of the tide of the Second World War. The Normandy campaign is the next stage in this gallery.

It was an all-in endeavour, with air assets covering the invasion and dropping paratroopers, naval assets bringing in the fleet and supporting the operation, and soldiers landing on five beaches in Normandy, France.

Americans were assigned to Utah and Omaha Beaches. The British were to take Gold and Sword Beaches. The Canadians would fight their way ashore at Juno Beach. June 6th, 1944 was one of the most pivotal days in history.

Two paintings are among the first things one sees along the path. Invasion Pattern Normandy is by Eric Aldwinckle, depicting that day as seen from above, with a Canadian Mustang fighter plane in action.

D-Day- The Assault is by Orville Fisher, who has the unique distinction of being the only commissioned war artist to land on the beach that day. As Canadian soldiers around him fought their way along the beach, Fisher took out his sketch pad and pencils and drew what he was seeing, later transferring his work to the canvas.

Photos and quotes speak volumes of that first day.

Close by is a door leading out onto a terrace. Below is Lebreton Gallery, where a large collection of vehicles and equipment from around the world is found. This being a few days before Remembrance Day, staff were busy setting things up for that occasion.

A look at firepower of the Normandy campaign.

It would be a bloody battle, for both sides.

The Italian Campaign

 Suspended above the path here is one of the planes that won the air war- the Spitfire.

This display case includes a Mosquito at bottom, and the German Messerschmitt bf 109, another superb plane.

I've always liked this portrait. Sergeant M.E. Boreham, The British Empire Medal depicts Myrtle Boreham, who served with the RCAF from 1941-45.

Canadians would take part in the Allied drive into Sicily and Italy. It would prove to be a tough campaign to win.

Here we have Entry Into Assoro, Sicily, by William Ogilvie.

Some of the weaponry available to the Germans and Italians posted in this theatre of the war.

While the Italians would give up, the Germans would dig in on the mainland. It fell to Allied forces to keep driving them back. For Canadian soldiers, one of the hardest fights was at the town of Ortona- a street to street, house to house, room to room battle.

You can walk through a recreation, with a Canadian soldier on one side.

And a German on the far side.

Here we have Canadian Armour Passing Through Ortona, by Charles Comfort.

Slowly but steadily, the Allied push against the Germans kept going in Italy.

Canadian and American soldiers served in a special operations unit that history remembers as the Devil's Brigade, fighting in Italy and France and establishing a record that became legendary.

This is a captured Sturmgeschutz III, a German assault gun on a half track, taken during the Italian campaign.

A Fight To Save The World

 The German navy, particularly in its use of U-Boats, brought the war particularly close to home, with battles, sinkings, and landings off the entire coast, and even into the St. Lawrence.

This painting is The Boarding Of The U-744 by Thomas Charles Wood, depicting Canadian sailors boarding a disabled German sub.

Much of Canada's war efforts were put into the fight to liberate Europe and the Battle of the Atlantic. But there were assets committed to the Pacific theatre. Canadian soldiers stationed at Hong Kong fought a fierce battle against the Japanese, launched on the same day as Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese were pulling a number of simultaneous attacks. Many were taken prisoner, and war was declared. The Japanese sent balloon bombs across the Pacific. Each red dot on the map shows where they landed.

Above hangs one of them.

Propaganda posters of both languages are found here, and would have been common on the home front.

This utility vehicle always catches my eye during visits.

The effect of the war on children is examined in these displays.

Women joined branches of the military as well.

More of the war at home, including products of the time.

Canadian soldiers stationed in Britain bided their time, training and waiting.

They would see action in an attempted landing at the French port of Dieppe- an invasion that failed, but taught the Allies some vital lessons that would come into play on D-Day and beyond.

From One War To The Next

 This haunting painting is titled The Conquerors, by Eric Kennington. It portrays Canadian soldiers, both living and ghosts, on the march. The dead are distinguished by their pale faces and dark rimmed eyes.

The Great War for Canadian forces came to an end at the Belgian town of Mons, which they liberated in the hours before the armistice.

But the cost of the war was tremendous for the country.

Memorials would be erected in the years to follow, in memory of those who never returned.

But the failure of the peace talks would set the stage for the next war, even more terrible, and the rise of dictators. The next gallery is on the Second World War, and the first thing one sees is this vehicle- once owned by Hitler.

When war broke out, Canada was in it from the start.

Canadians would be part of the war in Europe from the beginning, with the navy engaged in the Battle of the Atlantic, and pilots and soldiers headed for Britain as part of the war effort.

Canada would also be a training ground for pilots of the Allied forces.

This is a flight simulator of the era, said to be harder to operate than actual planes.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest campaign of the war, from the first days of the war to the end of the war in Europe. Canadian naval vessels would do escorts for the merchant navy bringing supplies to Europe. A simulation video is part of the exhibit at this area, showing Canadians dealing with a German U-Boat.

U-Boats were the terror of the seas- which Churchill himself acknowledged.