In the second World War, Canada was involved with the War in the Pacific in 1941. After Japanese troops invaded parts of China, Canada sent 2000 troops over to Hong Kong to protect them, because at that time Hong Kong was a British colony. Canada was made prisoners of war, so the Japanese did all they could to capture soldiers and keep them captive. The Japanese treated the soldiers extremely badly; they would be tortured, captured, made into slaves, starved and even killed. Canada lost 300 men in the battle but "267 more died from their treatment in prison camps"(Quinlan et all, 126). Since the number of lives lost from the torture was so close to the number of lives lost in battle many people were sceptical if sending troops over was even worth it. Personally I think it was because they were able to try their best and defend Hong Kong, which was a joint country with them.The image above shows the men battling in the War of the Pacific and showed how tough it would have been fighting in water.
Carley, you do a good job of giving the background information. I like that you provide your perspective. Why do you think trying their best is a strong enough justification for sending over troops?
ReplyDeletebecause we did make some ground and without even trying we wouldn't have helped at all which could have effected Canada's identity in making it weak and unwilling.
Delete