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Canadian Navy prepares for Far East combat

Broadcast Date: July 22, 1945

With the end of the Second World War in Europe, the focus shifts to the other side of the globe. Japan has not yet surrendered, and the war is far from over for the Allies — mostly Americans — fighting in the Pacific. In Canada, about 13,500 sailors on 60 ships of the Royal Canadian Navy have signed up for Pacific combat. In this Canadian Army Newsreel, sailors test anti-submarine depth charges in preparation for taking on Tokyo.

Canadian Navy prepares for Far East combat

• Once the war in Europe was over, participation in Pacific combat was voluntary for Canadian servicemen. Airmen who signed up were granted 30 days' leave before they had to report for training and transport to the Pacific. They would also receive a pay bonus.
• Canadians who didn't wish to fight in the Pacific went home from Europe in the order in which they enlisted; a policy called "first in, first out."

• Nearly 2,000 Canadian soldiers were sent to the British colony of Hong Kong in late 1941 as reinforcements for British troops there. But when Japanese forces invaded, the Canadians — poorly trained and unprepared — were overwhelmed, with 290 killed and 493 injured. The rest were taken prisoner, enduring horrific conditions and near-starvation until they were liberated by the Americans in 1945.

• Just one Canadian ship, HMCS Uganda, was actively involved in the Pacific war. In March 1945 it joined the British Pacific Fleet and, later, the U.S. Third Fleet. Uganda took part in attacks on the Japanese islands of Sakishima Gunto, and airfields on Taiwan.
• In May 1945, by request of the Canadian government, Uganda's crew voted on participation in the Pacific war. Believing they had signed up for "hostilities only," meaning those directed at Canada, the crew declined.

• Uganda had to stay with the British fleet until July 27, 1945, when another British ship arrived to take its place.
• Once Uganda was withdrawn from action, it travelled to Pearl Harbor for refuelling and then on to its home base at Esquimalt, B.C. It arrived there on Aug. 10, 1945.
• In other parts of the Pacific, two transport squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force flew supplies to India and Burma.

• In total, Canada stationed 30,000 troops in British Columbia during the war to guard against a potential west coast attack by Japan.
• The government also perceived a threat from Japanese Canadians living in B.C. In 1942 it evicted about 22,000 citizens from their homes and businesses and resettled them in internment camps. See the CBC Archives topic Relocation to Redress: The Internment of the Japanese Canadians.

• This clip is a segment from a Canadian Army Newsreel. These 10-minute films, consisting of several different items, were shot by army film units in the Mediterranean and Western Europe and produced in a studio in London, England. The newsreels depicted Canadian servicemen at work and at play as they trained and fought in the Second World War. The films were distributed within the army and shown in movie houses across Canada.

Canadian Navy prepares for Far East combat

Medium: Television

Program: Canadian Army Newsreel

Broadcast Date: July 22, 1945

Duration: 1:51

Last updated:
Aug. 27, 2008