08/13/1941
The Canadian Women’s Army Corps is established.
08/13/1942
General Bernard Montgomery takes over Eighth Army in Egypt.
08/14/1945
VJ-Day. Victory over Japan Day is celebrated.
08/14-16/1944
The Canadian drive on Falaise is resumed under the guise of Operation Tractable, consisting of two armoured columns. The numerous vehicles become disorganized in the heavy dust, and are held up at the Laison River. However, individual Canadian battalions, such as the Lake Superior Regiment, perform exceptionally well. Falaise is reached on Aug. 16.
08/15/1944
RCN destroyer Iroquois, RN cruiser Mauritius and destroyer Ursa attack a German convoy in the Bay of Biscay and sink minesweeper M-385.
08/16-21/1944
Allied forces struggle to close the Falaise Pocket around remnants of 21 German Army divisions attempting to escape Normandy.
08/17/1943
In Quebec City, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King hosts a conference between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
08/18/1893
Royal Marines arrive in Esquimalt, B.C., to take over the garrison from C Battery, Regiment of Canadian Artillery, which was thenceforth stationed at Quebec. The development, made at Canada’s expense, is part of sweeping reforms being carried out by General I.J.C. Herbert to improve efficiency in the Canadian military.
08/18-19/1944
Arriving from the north, 4th Canadian Armoured Division occupies the village of Trun in Normandy while Americans and French forces move up from the south toward Chambois. The Canadians work to prevent the Germans from escaping out of the Falaise pocket to the east while Polish forces work to prevent the enemy from breaking into the pocket to rescue those trying to get out. Polish forces also speed to Chambois where they meet up with the Americans. The gap in the Falaise pocket is closed and the enemy is either defeated or on the run.
08/19/1942
The largest single-day fighter battle of the war takes place over the French port of Dieppe. Elements of 2nd Canadian Division in conjunction with British commandos and a small number of American rangers, launch a 5,000-man raid, code-named Operation Jubilee, against Dieppe. Within a few hours of fighting on three beaches, Canadian forces suffer close to 3,300 casualties, approximately 800 of whom are killed in action and 2,000 captured. The air battle rages all day. A total of 730 Allied aircraft, including aircraft from nine Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons, fly 2,955 sorties. The RCAF loses 13 aircraft and 10 pilots.
