In the summer of 1941, a brigade made up of Western Canadian regiments landed at Hong Kong to help shore up British defences against a possible Japanese attack. The Japanese, who had been raging through China, were not yet at war with the western powers.
On December 7th, 1941, the same day the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked US forces at Pearl Harbour, the Imperial Japanese Army attacked Hong Kong in a bold surprise move. The British and Canadian defenders were caught off guard, and the 2 week battle that raged for the island city became one of Canada's worst military tragedies.
The Canadians held on stubbornly, but they were outnumbered and underequipped, and a series of Japanese suicide charges on Christmas day finally broke the lines, and the British and Canadians were forced to surrender.
Over 1,700 Canadians lost their lives in the battle, 500 of them after being captured and executed by the Japanese.
Of the 2,000 prisoners that were taken for slave labour in Japan, only 120 survived to see the US fleet anchor at Tokyo harbour in 1945. The Canadian prisoners of Hong Kong were tortured, abused, and forced to work 14 hour days with no food or water or clothing in the winter.
8 months after the tragedy at Hong Kong, another disaster befell Canada, this time at a small French tourist resort called Dieppe.
As the allies began planning for the eventual invasion of Hitler's "Fortress Europe", a plan was made to test how an amphibious landing on a beach could be conducted using modern technology and tactics. The Canadian army was chosen to conduct a large raid onto Dieppe, and the Canadian government was promised that it would be short and easy.
The raid turned out to be a disaster. A full division of German Panzer (tank & armored infantry) troops were waiting for the Canadians. As well, the beach was surrounded on all sides by large cliffs, and the ground itself was made of shingles, not sand, which made it difficult for tanks to get a grip on. The Canadians were slaughtered by machine gun, mortar, artillery, and tank fire in a 7 hour battle that claimed 3,000 Canadian lives. A further 3,000 were taken prisoner by the Germans.
After the battle, US General Eisenhower was able to make some very important assessments about landing on a defended beach, lessons which would help make the D-Day landings a success.
