1 FEBRUARY 1944

Infantrymen of The Loyal Edmonton Regiment using a walkie-talkie radio during an advance, Ortona, Italy, 21 December 1943. Private W.L. Waske operates the radio, which is carried by Lance-Corporal W.D. Smith.

For the first time since the First World War, a Canadian Corps operates in the front line, in Italy.

2 FEBRUARY 1943

The German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad.

3 FEBRUARY 1916

The Parliament Buildings in Ottawa are destroyed by fire.

4 FEBRUARY 1915

Lieut. William Frederick Nelson Sharpe is the first Canadian military aviator killed in the First World War.

5 FEBRUARY 1856

The Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth’s highest award for military bravery, is instituted.

6 FEBRUARY 1952

King George VI dies. His daughter Elizabeth becomes queen.

7 FEBRUARY 1964

The RCAF Golden Hawks aerobatic flying team is disbanded.

8 FEBRUARY 1943

HMCS Regina sinks the Italian sub Avorio north of Algeria.

9 FEBRUARY 1945

The Allies lose 10 aircraft while attacking a German destroyer and escorts holed up in a Norwegian fiord.

10 FEBRUARY 1870

The constitution is approved for Louis Riel’s provisional government, in what is soon to become Manitoba.

11 FEBRUARY 1944

A Canadian Wellington aircraft uses depth charges to sink a U-boat southwest of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.

12 FEBRUARY 1917

PA-163932 LAC_Digital Archives

Prime Minister Robert Borden leaves Ottawa for London, where the Imperial War Cabinet meets to discuss terms for peace and peacetime challenges.

13 FEBRUARY 1969

The Front de libération du Québec bombs the Montreal Stock Exchange, injuring 27.

14 FEBRUARY 1945

Spilled fuel starts a conflagration in the port at Ostend, Belgium, burning 12 vessels and killing 61 Canadian and British sailors.

15 FEBRUARY 1901

The Queen’s South Africa Medal is presented to 418 stalwarts of Lord Strathcona’s Horse regiment.

16 FEBRUARY 1945

HMCS Saint John uses depth charges to sink U-309 in the North Sea near Moray Firth.

17 FEBRUARY 1939

The RCAF takes possession of its first Hawker Siddeley Hurricane fighters.

18 FEBRUARY 1980

An election returns Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals to power and Joe Clark’s Conservatives to opposition.

19 FEBRUARY 1942

Winnipeg unconditionally surrenders during a simulated Nazi invasion that brings the reality of war “over there” home on If Day.

20 FEBRUARY 1989

A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling removes barriers to women in military occupations, except in submarines.

21 FEBRUARY 1951

Second Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in combat area.
7 Mar. 1951 Korea

The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry advances through snow and rain north of the village of Sangsok in Korea.

22 FEBRUARY 1919

Tens of thousands of mourners pay respects at the funeral of Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s seventh—but first francophone—prime minister.

23 FEBRUARY 1900

[Illustration by Sharif Tarabay]

24 FEBRUARY 1925

Two RCAF aircraft collide at Camp Borden.

25 FEBRUARY 1942

The Royal Mail Ship Queen Elizabeth is refitted as a troopship capable of carrying 15,000.

26 FEBRUARY 1943

Beer is packaged during the Second World War. PHOTO: LABATT BREWING COMPANY COLLECTION, WESTERN ARCHIVES, WESTERN UNIVERSITY

Prime Minister Mackenzie King decides to nationalize the brewing industry—but a year later changes his mind rather than lose votes.

27-28 FEBRUARY 1915

The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry carries out the first trench raid of the war, near Ypres, Belgium.

29 FEBRUARY 1916

U-boat commanders are ordered to sail for the British coast and treat all armed ships (including merchant, but not passenger ships) as war vessels.