History Browser

Listing of films from the National Film Board. Archival footage includes training films and news magazines from the Second World War.

Stories of the contributions of the industrial centre of Hamilton to the war effort, both through military might and industry, make up a large part of the Spectator clippings in this collection.

In 1939, Prime Minister Mackenzie King had a dream which he believed was a sign of "the power of the airplane in determining ultimate victory" for the war effort. That dream became a reality in the form of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).

In this 1943 radio speech, Mary Churchill describes her favourable impressions of a recent visit to a CWAC training centre.

Listing of films from the National Film Board. Snowmobiles, trucks and track vehicles are the major modes of transport used by Canadian land forces. On this site are found films on the background of these means of transportation and instructions on their operation.

It is difficult to reconstruct soldiers' day to day lives, because they would vary depending on where the soldier was stationed and also the time of year. Nevertheless, it can be said that days started early, would often be spent on guard duty, and less frequently doing drill.

A list of books and academic papers about the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of the Second World War.

Listing of films from the National Film Board. The role that the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces play in the world is explored through this group of short films. Various peacekeeping missions are looked at as well as some training and recruitment videos.

A young Canadian officer, Ralph Wilson Becket, joined the First Special Service Force, a combined Canadian-American mountain warfare force, and saw service at Kiska and the invasion of southern France.

One of the problems that confronted the Department of National Defence at the outbreak of war in 1939 was the provision of officers for the rapidly-expanding armed forces of Canada. Mobilization instructions from 1937 detailed the available sources from which such officers might be drawn, but said nothing about the methods of their selection.