With grave concern Canada watched the momentous events of the 1930s unfold in Europe. Though intensely preoccupied at home with the lingering effects of the Depression, Canadians grew increasingly uneasy as persistent German encroachment into demilitarized zones and neighbouring territories made a mockery of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles designed to limit German military activity. At first most Canadians could not believe that the world would be swept into another global conflict. But, as the decade came to a close, this hope was seen to be an illusion quick to fade.

Neither politicians nor the press seemed to realize that Germany’s rearmament threatened the peace of the entire con-tinent. Yet in the late summer of 1938 parts of Czechoslovakia were seized and incorporated into the Reich, and Hitler’s rhetoric and territorial ambition continued unabated. Great Britain and France, both totally unprepared for war, did nothing.

Fearful that Germany’s enormous air superiority could bring Britain to her knees, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the infamous Munich Agreement, which left Hitler the successful aggressor but which, in Chamberlain’s words, meant “Peace in our time.” This policy of appeasement was seen by many as an abandonment of British national honour. Whether Chamberlain viewed it as one way of buying time while Britain rearmed has never been made clear. Nonetheless, it did just that.

In September of 1939, upon Hitler’s unprovoked invasion of Poland and the subsequent British and French declaration of war, these two nations were much better prepared to engage the Third Reich. The previous “year of grace” — whether obtained by weak capitulation or clever political manoeuvre — had, in fact, allowed Great Britain to build up substantially her own military capacity and to introduce conscription to raise the needed manpower.

Canada, more politically autonomous than in 1914, was not automatically committed to the new war simply because of the British declaration. Prime Minister Mackenzie King summoned Parliament to make this important and fateful decision that, to all intents and purposes, was a foregone conclusion.

One week later Canada’s High Commissioner in London was dispatched to Windsor Castle to obtain the King’s signature on Canada’s declaration of war against the German Reich. The vast majority of Canadians were now satisfied: even that one week delay had enraged millions of citizens who were loyal to the British Empire and the principles for which it stood.

A year earlier, when war with Germany had seemed increasingly certain, the Ontario Provincial Command of the Canadian Legion, at a Toronto rally, passed a resolution stating that:

...should it be found impossible to avoid war consistent with the honour of the British Empire, then this council confidently expects the Canadian Government to take, instantly, measures to ensure that Canada contributes to the defence of our British heritage to the full extent of our strength, and in a manner worthy of our country and our people.

According to Toronto’s The Globe and Mail, this resolution was “cheered to the echo.”

Canada must stand or fall by the British Empire. If, in the opinion of King George and his ministers, we’ve got to fight, let us fight as one man and put all our resources behind Great Britain.

Such was the sense of allegiance in the country during those dark days of tension and fear. Within twenty-four hours German troops had crossed the Polish border and the mighty German Luftwaffe began to reduce Warsaw to rubble. On September 2, Ontario crowds cheered as CNE workmen tore down and removed the sign “GERMANY” over that country’s exhibit in the International Building.

Though neither Great Britain nor Canada was yet officially at war, a blanket order was placed with the Barrie, Ontario, Welfare Department for carpenters, artisans and labourers to rush work on military buildings at nearby Camp Borden. The instructions read: “...as many men as you can supply, to work as many hours as they like.” Pay would start at 35 cents per hour for unskilled labour; within three or four days the Canadian government offered other young men $1.30 an hour for a 24-hour day.

On Sunday, September 3, 1939, both Britain and France declared war against Germany. Within the week Canada mobilized, for overseas service, two infantry divisions comprising twenty infantry and machine-gun battalions as their main components. Seven of these battalions were from Ontario. The war effort had begun in earnest, and Ontario was well in the forefront.

At six o’clock that evening, Ontario time, His Majesty King George VI made a broadcast to the Empire, ending his radio message with the words, “With God’s help we shall prevail. May He bless and keep us all.” One Ontario newspaper editorialized:

The war that was fought to end war has failed in its purpose. Millions of men, we now know, died or suffered in vain.

The Toronto Daily Star tersely told its readers: “Britain is at war. Canada is at war.” This was not true in a constitutional sense, but in their hearts and minds, Canadians shared this conviction.

As might be expected, there were a good many predictions expressed in the wake of these traumatic events in Europe, most of which, as the war progressed, proved to be nonsense. Some believed that London and Paris would be immediately wiped out by aerial assault and that millions would be killed within hours of the declaration of war: the true power of the air forces of that era had not been correctly assessed. Nor had Adolf Hitler been understood. His main concern, in 1939, was the seizure of Poland. War in the west would, he believed, come later. Indeed it might not come at all if he could persuade the Allies to agree to compromise. During the first few months of what was termed the “Phony War,” Hitler expressed the hope that Germany and the British Empire could divide world power. Even after his panzer divisions and dive bombers had driven the British forces off the continent in June 1940, he was reluctant to engage the British in an all out conflict.

Following the failure of his Eagle Day aerial assault over the skies of Britain and his inability to defeat the plucky Royal Air Force — coupled with the island’s indomitable spirit as personified by Winston Churchill — Hitler vowed destruction of the British Empire. Only then were London and its millions to be wiped out and the British Isles invaded.

In spite of the visible strength of the German military machine, however, there were those who thought that Germany’s war effort would soon peter out. One of these was the noted Canadian educator and author, Willson Woodside. Returning home from a European trip in the first days of the war, he gave an interview in which he stated: “After close study... Germany cannot continue the war longer than one year.” History has obviously proven that his study had not been “close” enough. And neither was the conclusion of another pundit who predicted that the war would last at least ten years!

The day after Great Britain declared war, Canada and the world awoke to the shocking news that the passenger liner Athenia, with 1,400 on board, had been sunk by a German submarine. Many were drowned, scores being from Ontario. Late newspaper editions reported that this one incident brought, that very day, a “rush to the colours.”

Ontario’s response to the new crisis was as courageous as in 1914, but a larger population meant that more volunteers were available for service. By the end of September 1939, of some 62,000 Canadians who had enlisted in the various branches of the service, 22,000 were from Ontario. By the middle of 1943 Ontario’s enlistment figure stood at approximately 350,000. By the time Canada’s active army was fully committed to battle in the European theatre under Lt.-Gen. Harry Crerar, of Hamilton, there were 59 Canadian infantry, machine-gun and armoured units in action against the enemy; of these, 26 — approximately 45 percent of Canada’s front-line fighting force — had come from Ontario. Thousands of other Ontario men and women were stationed in army camps in Canada and Britain; thousands more were in air-force units or on ships of the Royal Canadian Navy.

May 1940 saw the massive German armies attack the west, overrunning Holland and Belgium, shattering the French defences and pushing the small British Expeditionary Force into a pocket around the Belgian port of Dunkirk. When the over-matched British force was in imminent danger of outright slaughter, a daring rescue mission was conceived. Military and civilian ships, fishing vessels and private yachts of every imaginable description sailed across the choppy Channel, bringing the British soldiers home from certain death.

Two weeks later, three Ontario infantry battalions and an artillery unit crossed the Channel in an attempt to help another British expedition stem the German onslaught on Paris. But it was too late, and within hours they were withdrawn to England.