On September 10, 1939, Canada declared war on Germany for the Hitler's invasion of Poland. This declaration happened one week after the UK and France declared war, a show of Canada's independence from England.
As in the last war, millions of young men volunteered, but it was clear that this was different type of war. German tanks and strike aircraft made trench warfare obsolete, so troop training had to be longer and more specialized. As well, Canadian industry in Ontario and Quebec had to be geared up to wartime production. All of this took time.
The first contributions of the war then fell on the Maritime provinces, mainly Nova Scotia. By 1940 all of Europe, including France, had been conquered by Hitler, and England was under seige by the German air force. The duty to supply England with food and weapons fell on Canada.
The first convoy left Halifax in 1939, bound for Portsmouth, and immediately came under German submarine attack. This would continue for the next 6 years, with the Canadian Navy taking the brunt of the Battle of the Atlantic. German U-boats (submarines) even snuck into Halifax and Montreal harbours and caused devestation among the assembling ships.
The peak of the battle came in 1943, when Canada lost 417 merchant ships that year, but by then Canadian industry was pumping out ships, guns, and aircraft, and with the US and British navies, the tide turned. By 1945, there were only 15 Canadian ships sunk in the Atlantic.
The Royal Canadian Navy sunk over 200 German U-Boats during the war, with a loss of nearly 7,000 sailors, both military and civilian merchantmen.
