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There are two certainties in war: death and suffering. Flag-raisings might be another. Flags declare victory, as Red Army troops did (below) in raising the Hammer and Sickle over the Reichstag in Berlin on May 2, 1945. The flag, originally symbolizing the alliance of workers... -
The Second World War is never far from the heart and mind of 97-year-old veteran Bill Anderson, whose 5th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, landed in Normandy on D-Day +6 and fought its way through Europe and into Germany. Appointed a troop commander after the... -
— Illustrations by Greg Stevenson — Years ago, I was lucky to begin writing about Canadian veterans who had served in Normandy while many were still active and willing to talk about their experiences. Before each interview, I reviewed each veteran’s unit war diary and... -
Holland’s appreciation of Canada abounds as the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands approaches The Netherlands was a neutral country when the Second World War broke out on Sept. 1, 1939, with Germany’s invasion of Poland. However, Germany invaded the Netherlands on May... -
At sundown on Nov. 11, communities across Canada marked the Armistice centenary with 100 tolls They came from small towns and big cities, villages and farms, east and west, north and south—619,636 volunteers and conscripts, two-thirds of whom served overseas during the First World... -
On the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, white wreaths evoked Ottawa’s first Armistice Day They began to gather at 7 a.m., the first of a crowd that swelled to 35,000 at the Remembrance Day service in the nation’s capital....
Survivors in turmoil
Six years of war in continental Europe was drawing to a close but for many, if not most, victory was bittersweet—and defeat was devastating. Up to 40 million people in Europe were dead, the vast majority of them non-combatants, and as many as 11 million refugees wandered the wasted landscape. Entire cities were in ruin,...
