Canadian troops freed 45,000 Jewish prisoners from Nazi concentration camps in one night

With antisemitism continuing to raise its ugly head around the world, as we saw yesterday with the attack on Bondi Beach in Australia, I thought I’d share this Canadian war documentary about how 45,000 Jewish prisoners of war in Nazi  concentration camps during World War II were freed by Canadian troops. It’s an interesting story from many perspectives, not the least of which are the stunned Jewish prisoners, who had suffered so badly and were scheduled to be murdered within hours of this daring rescue.

The documentary seems to be a part of a series of new short docs on Canada‘s war effort in World War II, on YouTube. This is one that appeared this morning on my feed, and which I thought was worth sharing. 

Americans will note that their generals did not want to bother with the task, instead suggesting they bomb the concentration camps first before attempting to rescue the prisoners. it’s not clear why they thought bombing wouldn’t kill the prisoners before they got there, but thankfully we never got a chance to find out. 

Brits will note that General Montgomery was reluctant and was going to say no until a Canadian general stepped in and supported  Mongolis’ daring proposal. As it turns out, this strategy became military doctrine almost immediately after its dramatic success, and was buried for a long time after the war, as a result. I did not study this in high school nor university despite having a Canadian History degree. I’m just learning about it today. Which, given the time that has passed, is not cool Canada.

These docs on Canada‘s war effort in World War II have reminded me that we were the special forces of the allied forces in Europe. If there was a hard job to do, they sent in the Canadians. At the beginning, it was because we were colonials. But by the end of the war, it was because we were the best people for the job.

More importantly, though, it seems the Canadian war effort in World War II, as it was in World War I, was characterized by Canada outsmarting the enemy. I don’t want to seem too egotistic or patriotic about it, but if you look at what happened here, in Holland, and also with our armoured divisions in Italy, as well as the D-Day invasion forces, it’s clear our intelligence network and officer core had a different way of solving problems. Ways in which the enemy never conceived or anticipated.

As Donald Trump continues to attack Canada, I simply say: Careful what you wish for…