Exhibitions and Galleries
Gallery 3 Forged in Fire
The Second World War, 1931-1945
Canada's fight against dictatorships overseas transformed the country
and its place in the world.
The third gallery explores Canada's fight against dictatorships overseas
during the Second World War. The gallery introduces the visitor to the
oppressive and aggressive dictatorships of the 1930s, and the mounting
pressure for a strong response from the rest of the world.
Joining its British and French allies, Canada declares war against
Germany, and the visitor begins the journey into the Second World War.
From the training of Allied flight personnel, to the transport of supplies
to Britain by the Merchant Navy, to the Battle of the Atlantic and the
defeat of the German U-boat threat, Canada contributed one of the largest
fighting forces in the world, on land, at sea and in the air, as well as
significant industrial and logistical support.
Photo: Bill Kent, CWM
While thousands of Canadians enlisted to go overseas, those at home -
including women, children, and veterans of the First World War -
contributed to the "total war" effort. Visitors enter a factory setting,
where the mood is one of industrious activity. There they discover Canada's
vast industrial production and contribution of natural resources while
trying on uniforms and listening to the personal stories of men and women
from the labour force. A city streetscape introduces visitors to the
effects of the war on the daily lives of Canadians: from making
contributions to the Victory Loan and War Loan campaigns, to enduring the
rationing of consumer goods and products, to recycling household products
and waste into armaments, munitions, and other essential war supplies.
Canada's tragic first action overseas at Dieppe signals the beginning of
the exploration of Canadian contributions to major military actions and
campaigns. Visitors walk through a bombed out house in Ortona, and travel
with Canadian soldiers in a reconstructed, audio-visual experience aboard a
D-Day landing craft. Canada's participation in the Allies' strategic
bombing of Germany, the invasion of Sicily, D-Day and the Normandy
campaign, the liberation of the channel ports, and movements into the
Scheldt and the Rhineland ultimately lead visitors to the liberation of the
Netherlands and Victory. The story is told through a number of personal
stories and key artifacts ranging from a Spitfire airplane and a Sherman
tank, to handmade prisoner of war tools and a captured Nazi flag.
Joyful VE day celebrations are juxtaposed with the realities of
Hiroshima, the Holocaust, and the human cost of the war around the world.
The story ends at home, with the impact of the Second World War on the
lives of Canadians, and the transformation of the country into a leading
economic and political power.
