Commemorating 2005
- The Year of the Veteran -
Wednesday, May 4. 2005
German Army Ceases Fire in Holland 60 Years Ago Today
On this day, May 4, 1945, fighting stops in the Canadian sector near Wilhelmshaven, Aurich, and Emden; German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agree to surrender to Canadian commanders at Wageningen.
German officer discusses surrender arrangements on radio phone link set up by Canadian troops.
On May 5, 1945, Lieutenant-General Foulkes of the First Canadian Corps takes the German surrender, ending nearly eight months of bitter and difficult fighting.
Surrender of German forces in the Netherlands, at 1st Canadian Corps Headquarters, Wageningen. (Left to right): Gen. Reichilt 2nd, Gen. Charles Foulkes 4th, H. R.H. Prince Bernhardt 6th
This long, hard campaign started in mid-September of 1944 when the First Canadian Army were ordered to help clear the heavily fortified Scheldt estuary and open the port of Antwerp. Led by General H.D.G. Crerar and lieutenant-General G.G. Simonds, the Canadians finally completed their task on November 8th. The campaign to free up Antwerp cost the Allies 703 officers and 12,170 other ranks killed, wounded or lost in action, presumed dead. Over half of these casualties were Canadians. But the capture of Antwerp and its port was vital for the Allies as they drove on into Holland.
Most Canadians who died in the Battle of the Scheldt campaign are burried in Bergen op Zoom Canadian War Cemetery.
Crossing the Ijssel River en route to Arnhem.
On Nov. 9, 1944, the 2nd Canadian Corps occupied the Nijmegen salient bridgehead in Holland and turned it into a winter base. Then on Feb. 8, 1945, following a huge barrage, Allied units began their winter assault - the Rhineland Offensive called Operation Veritable.
Canadian casualties in this operation totalled 5,304. Most of the dead are buried in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, and the Groesbeek Memorial commemorates by name those missing in the last days of fighting in The Netherlands and Germany. 
Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada troops in slit trenches, 8 Apr. 1945, Holten, Netherlands.
On March 20, 1945, Field-Marshal Montgomery sent the First Canadian Army west and north into Holland to liberate the Dutch people. The 1st Canadian Corps, which had been in Italy since 1943, now rejoined their comrades and the entire Canadian Army overseas (except the 1st Parachute Battalion) was now under General Crerar's direct command. The 1st Canadian Corps was given the task of reducing the enemy in western Holland north of the Maas River and the 2nd Corps the cleaning up northeastern Holland. Canadian casualties in this phase of the liberation numbered 5,515. Most of those who died are buried in Holten Canadian War Cemetery.
Canadians escort German prisoners out of Holland.
Map of the Liberation of the Netherlands
Welcome Again Veterans features this map of the Liberation of the Netherlands. Click to expand.
Welcome Again Veterans - A Dutch Page
Welcome Again Veterans has information on Project Maple Leaf, where Dutch schoolchildren place flowers on every grave, in solemn respect for those who gave their lives, for their freedom. The schoolchildren of Holten place, next to the ceremony on May 4th, burn candles on the graves on Christmas eve.
Canada & de bevrijding van Nederland
The Canadian Embassy in Holland has a page outliing the Canada & The Liberation of the Netherlands celebrations this week.
Tuesday, May 3. 2005
60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Holland Celebrations Start Today
On May 5, 1945, after a bitter winter of fighting and suffering, the German Army signed the capitulation treaty in the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen. The following major events are planned to commemorate the Liberation.
SILENT WALK AND REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY
May 3, 2005 - Silent walk and Remembrance Ceremony at Canadian War Cemetery in Groesbeek, where 2,338 Canadian soldiers are buried. Groesbeek is situated just south of the city of Nijmegen.
THROUGHOUT HOLLAND
May 4, 2005 - Commemorative services will be held throughout the country.
11.00 a.m. - Remembrance Ceremony at the Canadian War Cemetery, in Holten, where 1.400 soldiers are buried. Canadian War Cemetery is located between Holten and Nijverdal.
8:00 p.m. - National Memorial Service in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, followed by a ceremony at the National Monument on Dam Square at 8:00 p.m. HM Queen Beatrix and other dignitaries will attend.
NATIONAL START OF THE CELEBRATIONS
Noord-Brabant - May 5, 2005 -Since 1996 the national celebrations of Holland's liberation have commenced in a different province every year, in the early morning of May 5. The province hosts the event and organizes the program in conjunction with the city in which the starting gun sounds. Noord-Brabant has been given the honor to start off the 2005 anniversary celebrations.
MARCH-PAST IN WAGENINGEN
Wageningen - May 5, 2005 -Crown-Prince Willem-Alexander will take the salute in Wageningen at a march-past of veterans, former resistance fighters and troops during the commemoration.
LIBERATION FESTIVALS
May 5, 2005 - Each of the twelve provinces will organize a Liberation Festival; free open-air music festivals for young and old.
BATTLEFIELD TOUR
Groesbeek - May 7, 2005 -Operation Market Garden and Operation Veritable in Groesbeek
MEMORIAL SERVICE
Nijverdal - May 7, 2005 -Memorial service Canadian veterans in Nijverdal
VETERANS’ PARADE IN APELDOORN
Apeldoorn - May 8, 2005 -International veterans’ parade in Apeldoorn, attended by war veterans from America, Canada, England and Poland. Princess Margriet will be present at this service.
COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE
Margraten - May 29, 2005 -Commemorative service in Margraten on May 29, 2005, with thousands of American and Canadian veterans and surviving relatives.
Liberation of Holland and VE Day Television
Civilians greet Canadian troops of the Fort Garry Horse and the Régiment de Maisonneuve, 9 Apr. 1945, Rijssen, Netherlands
Dutch civilians celebrate the liberation of Utrecht by the Canadian Army, 7 May 1945.
In Flanders Fields Written 90 Years Ago Today
On this day, May 3, 1915, in Ypres, Belgium, Lt.-Col. John McCrae 1872-1918 composed his poem 'In Flanders Fields' in 20 minutes, while overlooking the grave of a fellow officer at Ypres; first published in Dec. 1915 in Punch magazine, his elegy is the most famous English poem written during World War I. McCrae was an MD from Guelph Ontario.
Monday, May 2. 2005
CBC Archives Presents "Countdown to Victory"
CBC Archives Presents Countdown to Victory, a series of a dozen radio reports from CBC Radio war correspondents Matthew Halton and Peter Stursberg, and from Charles Lynch reporting for Reuters.
On May 5, the network is launching Victory in Europe, containing historic CBC archival clips featuring reaction at war's end in Europe and in Canada. The page includes reporting on the official German surrender in Holland, the Halifax riot and Mackenzie King at the creation of United Nations in San Francisco.
New War Museum Opening Ceremonies May 7-8
• The public can visit Permanent and Special Exhibitions during an Open House, 9am-9pm on Saturday May 7.
• The Opening Ceremony is from 3-4 pm Sunday May 8. "Limited reserved seating is extended to Canadian veterans (plus one guest). Veterans are asked to confirm their attendance for the National Commemorative and Opening Ceremonies, as well as for a Veterans Affairs lunch, so that we may ensure sufficient seating. To register for May 8 events, please call toll-free 1 866 652-9484."
Visitor services include a full-service library and archives, a boutique, a riverside café, dedicated spaces for rest and reflection, a 236 seat theatre, four ateliers, 310 indoor parking spaces, guided tours and a dedicated group entrance. The Museum presents a film and lecture series, hosts commemorative events and special exhibitions and offers educational programmes.
Sunday, May 1. 2005
Battle of the Atlantic Stamp from Canada Post
Today is Battle of the Atlantic Sunday, the first Sunday in May. The Battle of the Atlantic was the struggle to protect Allied merchant ships in the North Atlantic from marauding German submarines, or U-Boats. By war's end, 22 Royal Canadian Navy ships had been lost, and almost 4,500 Canadians had died, including some 2,000 sailors, 750 airmen and 1,650 seamen from the merchant fleet.
Winston Churchill wrote that the only thing that "ever really frightened" him during the Second World War was the threat from the U-boats to cut Britain's supply lines to Halifax and other North American ports.
Canada Post is honouring the Canadians who helped to keep these important shipping lanes open, with a stamp that portrays a torpedoed ship, a Canadian corvette escort vessel and survivors in a raft bobbing in the rough water common in the North Atlantic.
Canadian forces played an important role in protecting these merchant ships. The RCAF flew anti-submarine missions and gave air cover to the vessels while RCN warships escorted the convoys across the ocean. Canada shared these duties at first with Britain, and later in the war with the United States. The Canadian navy was required to carry out much of the escort work in the northwest Atlantic.
Stamp Design by Derek Sarty using files of the Maritime Command Museum in Halifax.
New Canadian War Museum to Open May 8
After almost three years of construction, the New Canadian War museum will open its doors on May 8, the 60th anniversary of VE-Day that marked the end of the World War II.
The 18-acre CWM, at 1 Vimy Place, Ottawa, will house one of the biggest military collections in the world comprising more than 500,000 artifacts including vehicles, artillery, uniforms, medals, memoirs, works of art and an extensive military archive. A parade of veterans will march from the Canadian War Memorial to the museum.
Says CWM spokeswoman Christina Selin, "The Canadian War Museum's mandate is about educating visitors about the impact of war and conflict on Canada's historical development and preserving the story of Canada's military history."
The new museum was designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects of Toronto and Griffiths Rankin Cook of Ottawa. The theme of the architectural design is "regeneration." In the words of the lead architect, Raymond Moriyama: "Nature may be ravished by human acts of war, but inevitably it hybridizes, regenerates and prevails. This museum is a tribute to our military past and a salute to the freedom and democracy that has resulted from the sacrifices of the men and women who have served this country."
Exhibition design is by staff members of the CWM and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in collaboration with the architectural team and the exhibition design team of Haley Sharpe Associates of Leicester, England and Origin Studios of Ottawa.
Friends of the Canadian War Museum is a charitable organization formed to support the Canadian War Museum and its activities by sponsoring Museum projects, conducting research on subjects related to Canadian military history, fund raising, and providing volunteer services.
The FCWM also is hosting an essay writing competition to promote awareness of the evolution of the Canadian Military.
Thursday, April 28. 2005
Canada Remembers - The Liberation of the Netherlands
Veterans Affairs Canada site on the Liberation of the Netherlands, including a full history.
"The Netherlands was occupied by the Nazis in May 1940. Liberators began to arrive more than four years later, following the D-Day landings. Canadian units appeared in October, in the Allies' efforts to open the Belgian port of Antwerp by clearing Dutch and Belgian territory on either side of its estuary. In February, the Canadians were part of an Allied effort to push German forces back past the Rhine River. Once the banks of the Rhine were in Allied control, the First Canadian Army was sent to clear the rest of the Netherlands. On May 5th, all German forces in the Netherlands surrendered. More than 7,600 Canadians gave their lives for the Liberation of the Netherlands.
When Holland was overrun by the Nazis, Queen Wilhelmina sought refuge in England and, from there, headed her country's government-in-exile. But even Great Britain was a precarious haven, and in 1942, the Crown Princess Juliana was persuaded to leave for Canada where she made her wartime home. Here, on January 19, 1943, in a room in Ottawa's Civic Hospital specially decreed to be Dutch territory, her third daughter Margriet was born. The tiny princess captured the hearts of Canadians who claimed her as their own."
Wednesday, April 27. 2005
Americans Sack York, Capital of Upper Canada
On this day in history, April 27, 1813, at dawn, an invasion force of 14 ships under the command of Commodore Isaac Chauncey of the US Navy rounds Gibraltar Point and heads for a stretch of beach west of the blockhouse of York, capital of Upper Canada. Each ship is towing a string of flat-bottomed sailing barges, full of 1 700 heavily armed US soldiers and marines led by Brigadier Zebulon Pike [who gave his name to Pike's Peak]. Their intention is to blow up the magazine, destroy the shipyard and open up a new campaign in Upper Canada by occupying the capital.
American commander-in-chief, Major General Henry Dearborn originally wanted to take Kingston, but Chauncey warned him that the town was heavily defended, Fort Henry was full of British regulars, and the harbour boasted several large warships.
York is a sleepy British colonial town, with a lending library, several churches, a courthouse, the Governor’s residence and the House of Assembly. Major-General Roger Sheaffe, successor to Isaac Brock, commands a half built fort, with magazine, blockhouse and barracks on the east bank of Garrison Creek, plus a few artillery batteries along the shore. His 700-man garrison includes two companies of the 8th (King’s) Regiment of Foot, a company-sized detachment of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, one company of the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencible Regiment, the flank companies of the 3rd York Militia Regiment, some Royal Artillery gunners, and 50 to 100 Mississauga and Chippewa warriors.
Sheaffe quickly orders the grenadier company of the 8th Regiment to engage the Americans, but the Glengarry Fencibles get lost in the woods on the way to the landing beach west of old Fort Toronto. The badly out-numbered grenadiers and Newfoundlanders are forced back, leaving almost 100 dead and wounded. Suddenly a gunner in the Western Battery drops his match into a travelling magazine, blowing himself and the whole battery to bits.
A disgusted Sheaffe decides to retreat to Kingston with the 8th Regiment, leaving the Militia to surrender to the Americans. He first orders the ships burned and the Grand Magazine blown up when the Americans reach it. The explosion is huge, shaking the earth and raining debris down on both armies. It kills, among others, Brigadier Zebulon Pike, crushed by falling masonry.
Surrender is left to Rev. John Strachan of St. James’s Church and three Militia officers, Lieutenant-Colonel William Chewett, Major William Allan and Captain John Beverley Robinson. They secure liberal terms from the Americans, but to Strachan's everlasting fury, the Yankees proceed to torch the lending library, the courthouse and the House of Assembly. Chauncey is worried about an attack from Kingston, so the Americans depart May 8 after burning and looting all unguarded houses and shops in the town.
Britain will retaliate a year later by raiding Washington, and setting fire to the White House and all the new government buildings.
Monday, April 25. 2005
Wings Over Alberta: Flyboys on the Homefront
Alberta's Heritage Community Foundation presents Wings Over Alberta: Flyboys on the Homefront.
"On December 17, 1939, two months after joining World War II, Canada signed on to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Far from Europe and destructive German attacks, yet closer to Britain than Australia or New Zealand, Canada was the ideal training ground for Commonwealth air force recruits.
Dozens of training schools opened across Canada, including 18 in Alberta. In small prairie cities and towns such as Vulcan, Claresholm and Medicine Hat, budding young airmen from around the world arrived to train for the battle that raged in the skies over Europe.
Wings Over Alberta explores a unique period in the formation of the province and the role that it played in Canada’s contribution to World War II. Canada’s Air War provides a background to the Royal Canadian Armed Forces efforts overseas and at home, as well as the development of the BCATP itself. The Homefront examines the ins and outs of the Plan in Alberta and the relationship between the training centres and the communities that they functioned within. The Stories section contains just that: stories, first hand recollections of those who trained in Alberta."
Dominion Institute Veterans Speakers Bureau
The Dominion Institute's Memory Project has a program where schools and youth groups such as the Scouts and Guides can request a veteran to speak to their group. To request a veteran from the Speakers' Bureau, please fill out this online form.
Veterans, peacekeepers and active Legion members who are interested in sharing their story and speaking to students can join the Memory Project Speakers' Bureau. "As part of the Speakers' Bureau, you will have the opportunity to attend a training workshop, be provided with a classroom presentation kit geared to your service, and have Dominion Institute staff available year round to facilitate classroom visits in your home town."
Editors:
David A. Borys
Alastair Sweeny
We welcome your contributions, including full length articles, images and AV files. We reserve the right to edit articles, or ask for rewriting or references.
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