page_title: Military history of Canada during World War II
section_title: Mobilization and deployment
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Canada during World War II / Preparations / Mobilization and deployment
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent (H83) (originally HMS Cygnet).
context_page_description: The military history of Canada during World War II begins with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. While the Canadian Armed Forces were eventually active in nearly every theatre of war, most combat was centred in Italy, Northwestern Europe, and the North Atlantic. In all, some 1.1 million Canadians served in the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force, and in forces across the Commonwealth, with approximately 42,000 killed and another 55,000 wounded.
  During the war, Canada was subject to direct attack in the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and in the shelling of a lighthouse at Estevan Point in British Columbia.
  The financial cost was $21.8 billion between 1939 and 1950. By the end of the war Canada had the world's fourth largest air force, and fifth largest navy. The Canadian Merchant Navy completed over 25,000 voyages across the Atlantic, 130,000 Allied pilots were trained in Canada in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. On D-Day, 6 June 1944 the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed on "Juno" beach in Normandy, in conjunction with allied forces.
context_section_description: At the outbreak of war, Canada's commitment to the war in Europe was limited by the government to one division, and one division in reserve for home defence. Nevertheless, the eventual size of the Canadian armed forces greatly exceeded those envisioned in the pre-war period's so-called mobilization "schemes".  Over the course of the war, the army enlisted 730,000; the air force 260,000; and the navy 115,000 personnel. In addition, thousands of Canadians served in the Royal Air Force. Approximately half of Canada's army and three-quarters of its air-force personnel never left the country, compared to the overseas deployment of approximately three-quarters of the forces of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. By war's end, however, 1.1 million men and women had served in uniform for Canada. The navy grew from only a few ships in 1939 to over 400 ships, including three aircraft carriers and two cruisers. This maritime effort helped keep the shipping lanes open across the Atlantic throughout the war.
  In part, this reflected Mackenzie King's policy of "limited liability" and the labour requirements of Canada's industrial war effort. But it also reflected the objective circumstances of the war. With France defeated and occupied, there was no Second World War equivalent of the Great War's Western Front until the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. While Canada sent 348 troops, the manpower requirements of the North Africa and Mediterranean theatres were comparatively small and readily met by British and other British Empire/Commonwealth forces.
  While the response to war was initially intended to be limited, resources were mobilized quickly. Convoy HX 1 departed Halifax just six days after the nation declared war, escorted by HMCS St. Laurent and HMCS Saguenay.  The 1st Canadian Infantry Division arrived in Britain on 1 January 1940. By  13 June 1940, the 1st Battalion of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment was deployed to France in an attempt to secure the southern flank of the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium.  By the time the battalion arrived, the British and allies were cut off at Dunkirk, Paris had fallen, and after penetrating 200 km inland, the battalion returned to Brest and then to Britain.
  Apart from the Dieppe Raid in August 1942, the frustrated Canadian Army fought no significant engagement in the European theatre of operations until the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943. With the Sicily Campaign, the Canadians had the opportunity to enter combat and later were among the first to enter Rome.
  Canada was the only country of the Americas to be actively involved in the war prior to the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
  Canadian support for the war was mobilized through a propaganda campaign, including If Day, a staged 'Nazi' invasion of Winnipeg which generated more than $3 million in war bonds.
caption: HMCS St. Laurent departed with Convoy HX 1 just six days after the Canadian Declaration of War.
exif: {}