Canadian War Museum
October 29, 2010
a view of the parliament on our wal over to the museum.
the museum (the back side?)
the entrance.
the "logo"
it's a lot bigger than it looks like from the outside.
a boutique.
the mess hall (a.k.a. cafeteria)
art wall and theatre, etc..
we check the map before heading in.
war has been going on for a long time.
cannonballs
the plains of abraham
quebec city was the only place where the french could lose and the british could win the seven years' war in north america. in 1759, a british army sails for quebec. when they arrive, the battle for canada will begin.
battle for canada
150 years of french-british conflict in north america ended in the seven years' war and the british conquest of canada.
the american revolution and the war of 1812
americans invade; canada survives. for americans, their invasions of canada during the american revolution and war of 1812 were minor campaigns. yet for canadians, they were desperate struggles for survival.
the war of 1812
the united states declared war on britain in response to british interference with american ships at sea and british contacts with first peoples who were resisting american expansion. americans attacked canada to strike at the british empire and to conquer new land for settlement. between 1812 and 1814, the british army, first peoples warriors, and canadian milita repelled american invasions and saved canada from annexation.
first peoples and british forces clashed as canadian settlement spread along the pacific coast.
to south africa
the south african expedition marked a turning point in canadian military history. instead of focusing on home defence, canada was now sending soldiers abroad.
the call of empire
canadian loyalty to the british empire generated support of its wars. fighting erupted between great britain and two small republics in south africa in 1899. the two republics, settled by boers descendants of the region's first dutch immigrants, were not expected to survive for long against the world's greatest power. pro-empire canadians nevertheless urged their government to help. the war, they argued, pitted british freedom, justice, and civilization against boar backwardness.
who knew that gorilla were such a threat!
a very seriously looking soldier...
...and a not so serious one.
entering the first world war.
how can you be intimidated by a soldier wearing this outfit?
if you are 5 feet tall... you can join!
i took a military intelligence test.... and failed!
this cannon shoot giant bullets, not cannon balls
a couple of the painting in this section.
gas masks always look creepy to me.
do your bit!
in the trenches
the trench system became more elaborate as the war progressed. by day, soldiers prepared or improved their defences and tried to sleep; by night, they attacked in trench raids, or defended against them. artillery, snipers, disease, and accidents threatened life relentlessly.
we entered the trenches.
this soldier's covering our back side!
the trench exhibit was very well done.
the same soldier... on the left is a photo using flash,
and on the right no flash (to give you a better idea of the feel of the exhibit)
some of the weapons used in the trenches.
not sure if allowing people to have "fun" with the weapons is a good learning tool?
trench art
moving past the trenches... air planes
cannon to shoot palnes.
dressed to kill.
medals.
soldiers rotated out of the front lines to give them a rest from the stress of combat.
chlidren and war
even young children were expected to "do their bit" for the war effort. children knitted socks, helped around the house or farm, and pooled their pennies for vicotry. teachers taught young boys and girls to be patriotic and to urge older siblings to enlist. children knew that tens of thousands of fathers, uncles, brothers, and neighbours were overseas.
the halifax emplosion
the battle of passchendaele, fought in a bog of mud and unburied corpses,
stretched human endurance to the breaking point.
although this looks like a photo, this an exhbit for the battle of passchendaele
saving lives: canadian nursing sisters
canadian nurses were trained medical professionals, but nothing could have prpared them for the horror of battlefield wounds.
native head dress.
now onto the second world war.
hitler's car - a symbol of evil
after coming to power in 1933, adolf hitler and his national socialist (nazi) party imposed a ruthless dictatorial system on germany. this black armoured mercedes benz limousine, which hitler used as a parade car, helped to propagate this regime's image of strength, power, and modernity. captured by american troops in 1945 and brought to canada a few years later, this car recalls on of history's most brutal and murderous dictatorships.
the germans conquer western europe
beginning on 10 may 1940, german attacks led by tanks and bomber aircraft smashed through the allied armies in western europe.
the teddy bear suit
most training aircrafts had no heating systems and some even had open cockpits. aircrews wore "teddy bear suits", so named after their fuzzy brown exterior.
water battles
a bomb!
going through a building, never know what/who is around the next wall.
canada at d-day
on june 6, 1944, canada participated as a full partner with the united states and the united kingdom in the greatest amphibious invasion in history, code-named operation overlord but generally known as d-day. some 14,000 canadians were among the nearly 150,000 allied troops who landed or parachuted along the invasion area.
the normandy campaign became a brutal battle of attrition. the allies tried to push inland. the germans, holding the high ground, tried to throw them back into the sea. both sides suffered terrible casualties. progress was frustratingly slow. battles often ended in stalemates.
some paintings in the area
naval preparations for the invasion of europe began late in 1943, with allied warships clearing the english channel of enemy vessels.
forceful III... I guess the first two weren't forceful enough?
it took five weeks and 6300 casualties for the canadian army to clear the germans from the scheldt estuary.
another uniform... for fighting in a different environment.
this makes me wonder who gets to decide what a victory is?
the holocaust
the holocaust was the nazi persecution and murder of europe's jews. mass killing began in the summer of 1941 but became systematic in 1942, when the nazis began to deport jews from across europe to extermination camps. by war's end, an estimated six million jews had been murdered. other groups were nazi targets too, including poles, roma "gypsies", the disabled, homosexuals, and political and religous resisters.
some got a homecoming, some got commemorated.
entering another section.
a place to write/draw your thoughts on war.
lots of magazine covers about the war.
chopper!
nice camo job.
watch out for the backlash!
gotta keep warm.
that's quite a gun!
politics as product
more so than perhaps any other prime minister in canadian history, the charismatic pierre trudeau inspired humorous commercial products and political parody. notice the board game "a game of chance where you have no chance" and the bottle of "pierre eh!" that contains "almost nothing that's good for you" the bear's face resembles Trudeau's
a un display
a nice little café
more art.
ferret scout car
this two-person armourned car is painted white to identify it as a UN vehicle.
eject!
going nuclear!
pig suit
defence researchers often used animals to investigate the effects of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons on humans. This suit was custom-made for a pig, an animal whose skin, hair follicles, sweat glands, and fat composition are similar to those of people.
thousands of canadian children experienced the cold war from schoolyards and playgrounds in foreign countries,
especially france and germany.
a tv with war commercials
in the navy!
the kids are trying to decode transmissions.
a chin-up bar... time to get the soldiers in shape!
never found the sign that explained why they had a kitchen exhibit.
an architecture of hope
canadian war museum architect raymond moriyama designed regeneration hall as an architectural representation of the power of hope, even amid the instability of war. soaring to a height of 24.5 meters, the hall's angled walls, and indeed the entire museum, align with Parliament Hill.
the vimy memorial sculptures
canadian walter allward created these plaster sculptures as part of his design for the vimy memorail in france. there are twenty figures altogether, seventeen of which are in the collection of the canadian war museum. the statues symbolizes the values defended and the sacrifices made by canadian soldiers in the first world war.
the lebreton gallery
the artifacts in this gallery document the canadian military experience from the eighteeth century to the present. they are more than just silent pieces of metal. each artifact tells a story. sometimes, the stroy is about the artifact's makers or users. sometimes, it is about technology or history. always, it is about the way in which human ingenuity has been applied to the science of war, creating weapons and other devices, to attack, to protect, to kill.
grizzly tank (canada 1943-1944)
the grizzle tank was the canadian version of the Sherman. the montreal locomotive works made 188 grizzlies in 1943-1944 before american production increased to the point that it could supply enough shermans to allied armies
Valentine (soviet union 1940-1945)
this british designed, Canadian manufactured tank was actually used by the Soviet Union during the second world war. the canadian pacific railway's angus shop in montreal made 1420 valentine (so-called because the prototype was completed on february 14), all but 30 of which canada shipped to the red army.
a cantine truck
russian weather station
little cannons
gunners/cannons
the canadian corps of commissionaires
this organization harnesses the unique skills of veterans and retired canadian forces and rcmp personnel to provide specialized security services.
thomas fuller passage
the name of this passageway honours the late captain thomas g. fuller, whose operational exploits on loan to the royal navy during the second world war, serving in and commanding flotillas of motor torpedo boats and gun boats, earned him great distinction as "the pirate of the adriatic". his "nelson-loke" tactics of thwarting, sinking, boarding and capturing enemy shipping revolutionized coastal forces small boat warfare, insufficiently recongnized as R.C.n.v.r. operations that deserved a better place in canadian military history.
some of the paintings on the wall
what's through the looking glass?
giant record rooms?
art and "badges"
plane "Art"
the wolf seemed to be a popular character.
time to head back to work.