WW 2 NFB Film on Food and War

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-5774892958354867332&hl=en#docid=325207440181384086

Food, Weapon of Conquest

Watch this video on nfb.ca

This 1940s wartime newsreel shows the food shortage in Nazi-occupied countries that have been forced to hand over their farm produce to Germany, leaving their own populations hungry. Part of the Canada Carries On series.

Great Educational Resource

I found a great educational resource today developed by the founder of Wikipedia, Dr. Larry Sanger

The site is called Watchhow

The site states..

…imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Then imagine creating many, many more such videos.

Just think: hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.

Http://www.watchhow.org

World War One History

The link to World War I videos and slideshows are at
http://www.watchknow.org/Default.aspx?content=2bdd8622-4736

World War Two History

http://www.watchknow.org/Default.aspx?Category=980

Oshawa Peacekeepers Day-1st Annual August 9th, 2009

Snafu Cartoon: Internet Archive

Private Snafu learns about the hazards of enemy booby traps the hard way.

This is one of 26 Private SNAFU (‘Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) cartoons made by the US Army Signal Corps to educate and boost the morale the troops. Originally created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman, most of the cartoons were produced by Warner Brothers Animation Studios – employing their animators, voice actors (primarily Mel Blanc) and Carl Stalling’s music.

http://www.archive.org/details/booby_traps

Also
Private Snafu imagines the good times his family is having back home while he’s stationed in the Arctic. Technical Fairy First Class shows that even his family is helping with the war effort – his dad building tanks, his mom planting a Victory Garden, Grandpa riveting battleships, and his girl joining the WAC’s and even the family’s horse is pitching in.

This is one of 26 Private SNAFU (‘Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) cartoons made by the US Army Signal Corps to educate and boost the morale the troops. Originally created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman, most of the cartoons were produced by Warner Brothers Animation Studios – employing their animators, voice actors (primarily Mel Blanc) and Carl Stalling’s music.

http://www.archive.org/details/home_front

William Sam Magee: Memories of WW 2

Story One Hundred and Two: 1940 French Canadian Guards of Buckingham Palace

London 1940
A news reel illustrating how French Canadians soldiers replaced the Welsh Guards at Buckingham Palace

more about "1940 French Canadian Guards of Buckin…", posted with vodpod

Story One Hundred and One: The War Graves Photographic Project

source: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/022/f1/e002343046.jpg

An amazing project  is called the  War Graves Photographic Project  which  aims  to photograph every war grave ,  individual memorial,  MoD grave and family memorial of  serving military personnel from WW 1 to the present  day.

The goal is 1.75 million graves and memorials from commonwealth veterans.

To volunteer  your time to help

Contact directly

steve@twgpp.org or derek@twgpp.org

Canadian  coordinator  is Vernon Masterman

http://www.twgpp.org/

Story One Hundred: Canadians as Peacekeepers

During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson – later Canada’s 14th Prime Minister brought into common use the  term peacekeeping

Since 1947, Canadian Forces have been involved in 72 international operations leading up to the declaration of the Peacekeepers’ Day in Canada falls on 9 August

PA Daniel, Oshawa Resident served in Korea and Gaza as a peacekeeper during his 35 year career with the Canadian Military.  He provides a short story while serving in Gaza

Canadians as Peacemakers

New missions – The Cold War’s end signalled a new era of international co-operation at the United Nations. In the five years ending in 1996, the UN set up 24 new peacekeeping missions – six more than the total for the previous 43 years. UN peacekeeping hit an all-time high in late 2006, with more than 80,000 peacekeepers serving on 18 different missions.

New conflicts within states – Traditional peacekeeping took place between states, monitoring peace treaties to which all parties had agreed, and patrolling contested borders. Lately, more conflicts have been internal. Their sides are ‘non-state actors’, not governments. They are harder to define, making it harder to identify who should participate in peace negotiations. Also, there is often no clear area of conflict – fighting is spread through a country’s entire territory. In these cases, the international community is asked to create basic structures for peace and security, and take on responsibilities that used to be internal affairs of the state.

New actors: Conflict resolution is no longer the exclusive job of the UN. Regional organisations such as NATO, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Organisation for African Unity are also involved. In addition, a wide range of other civil and NGO organisations plays key roles in peace operations.

New skills – Because we now face more complex crises, we’ve begun to send people with a greater mix of skills. Military personnel now work with police and other experts to return conflict societies to security. These experts may include regional and municipal administrators; judges and prosecutors to develop judiciaries and run courts; media, health, tax and social policy advisors; child protection experts; facilitators and mediators; and even people to manage basic services such as sewage treatment plants or railways.

Canadian peacekeeping policy is evolving in new directions to meet changing conditions. This site explains how Canada has responded to these challenges to carry out today’s peace operations.

Source:

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/youth/sub.cfm?source=teach_resources/peacefact

Oshawa Plaque at Oshawa Memorial Park

Resources

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/Pearson-en.asp

http://www.unac.org/en/link_learn/fact_sheets/index.asp

http://www.forces.gc.ca//ite/operations/current_ops_e.asps

http://gmcknight.webng.com/Peacemakers

Story Ninety-Nine: Sex, Love and War

Over two million allies  soldiers were stationed in wartime Britain, over 500,000 Canadians  were stationed in Britain between 1939 and 1945,    combined with the 1 1/2 million American men,  these men had a variety of affairs with local British women.

The BBC  series  Sex, Love and War details the stories of British women and  their Canadian soldiers.  This is not sexually explicit  but a well done and sensitive documentary loyal to the gift of the storytellers.    See the War Bride Story in the collection, meanwhile many ( numbers  unknown) British women with children did not reunite with their Canadian lovers.

Link( Three part series)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6662574689212944978&hl=en

Story Ninety-Eight: Treason

In 1944 the Nazi created the Britisches Freikorps or British Free Corps which was the brainchild of John Amery a son of a British cabinet minister. This Nazi recruitment effort focused on recruiting POW’s which included three Canadians.

Edwin Barnard Martin of the Essex Scottish Regiment(Captured at Dieppe in 1942) , CPL. John Gordon Galaher, Pvt. George Hale. At a military trial on Sept 28, 1945 they were sentenced to life imprisonment.
All were given a royal pardon in 1954
(Source documents of WW 2 Court Martial Records at ottawa Federal Records Centre in Tunney’s Pasture, microfilm Lot 44, Accession 72R6)

More information at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Free_corps

Documentary: The Brits Who Fought For Hitler
A nation reviles treachery, perhaps now more than ever. But the chronicles of recent history have ignored the most shameful episode of World War Two. The Britisches Freikorps unit of the Waffen SS served alongside the Nazis on the Eastern Front. Its members wore the death’s head insignia and took German rank. They helped defend Berlin even as Hitler retreated to his bunker. But each and every member was recruited from British, Canadian, Australian and South African soldiers who volunteered to betray their country. Recognising the potential propaganda value of the unit, the Nazis ordered 800 SS uniforms with Union Jack arm badges. Most Allied prisoners of war ignored or resisted recruitment tactics ranging from leaflet bombardment to bribery and torture. But some 200 Allied prisoners answered the Nazi call. Some were motivated by greed, or by sympathies with the fascist cause. Others were simply described by intelligence files of the time as of ‘weak character’, and found the opportunities offered by the Germans to drink and womanise too tempting. The British Free Corps was itself betrayed by one of its number who joined only to feed MI5 with information. John Brown, the quartermaster of a camp at Genshagen. As Germany collapsed, Brown’s information allowed the Allies to round up the traitors who often posed as fleeing PoWs. They were prosecuted and sentenced at court martial and treason trials. The intelligence files were quietly closed and access to the devastating information within was restricted. There was no cover-up, rather a conspiracy of indifference. For the first time on British Television, the British SS soldiers speak of their treachery, and their part in a failed German propaganda coup