1941 was a year full of crimes against humanity and that continues as 1942 gets going. We have an entire subseries called the War Against Humanity so we can do justice to those events on a scale that's not possible in the regular weekly episodes. WAH episodes come out twice a month; the playlist is right here: ru-vid.com/group/PLsIk0qF0R1j4cwI-ZuDoBLxVEV3egWKoM For deeper coverage of the war, check out our day by day coverage on Instagram: instagram.com/ww2_day_by_day/ And please read our rules of conduct before you comment, saves everyone headaches (and loads of time): community.timeghost.tv/t/rules-of-conduct/4518
"Loose lips sink ships" arose not to protect U.S. shipping but to keep Americans from figuring out just how badly their shipping was getting sunk. btw. Tarakan is Russian for cockoach.
As a retired US Merchant Marine officer, it bothers me when all the losses in ships are measured only in tonnage. Each one of those ships had an average compliment of 42 men. Each one of them a person just like you, your family and friends. If a crew member was lost, he received no recognition and his family received nothing. I am not criticizing Indy, he is doing a great job. He has only the descriptions and numbers from his research. I only ask that we remember the human side of the Battle of the Atlantic.
One of my relatives was nicknamed Jonah. I think it is because after being on more than one stricken ship he was considered unlucky to have on board. He survived the war. Their efforts were vital. Russia issued a medal for those on the arctic convoys.
Like so much with history like this it is so easy to "understate" the human cost, thank you for this comment, it has actually always bothered me how Naval warfare is remembered and I had no idea just how many people could be lost with every merchant ship that went down!
@@greenkoopa I understand your sarcasm but he meant that had it not been for: 1- Hitler's stand fast order 2- Stalin being as much of a delusional idiot as Hitler was, to think he can launch way bigger offensives than his army was capable of Army Group Center would've faced a disastrous defeat in early 1942 and the Soviets would've needed less time to reach Berlin
Saw an interview with a U-boat captain years ago. He knew when he had left US waters for Canadian waters because the lights on shore went out and he heard the constant pinging of sonar.
"Between 1942 and 1944, German submarines (U-boats) repeatedly penetrated the waters of the St. Lawrence River and Gulf, sinking 23 ships and costing hundreds of lives. It was the first time since the War of 1812 that naval battles were waged in Canada's inland waters." www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-the-st-lawrence
@@nickdanger3802 That was a really interesting article. I confess I don't know much about the geography of that area, but it seems like it wouldn't be that terribly hard to defend such a narrow inlet - send a few local fishermen out with some Boys anti-tank rifles and just criss-cross the deeper parts of the channel, take a few shots at anything that looks like a U-boat passing by. If they lost even one U-boat to the local hillbillies out for a day-cruise they'd probably think twice about trying to operate in the area.
@@Raskolnikov70 I'm not sure what you're referring to by "narrow inlet". The Gulf of St. Lawrence, bounded on the northeast by Quebec, on the northwest by the island of Newfoundland (which during WWII was a territory of Britain rather than Canada), and on the south by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, is about 400 km on its long axis and 200 km on its narrow axis. Its largest opening to the Atlantic, the Cabot Strait, where the ferry they mention in the article was sunk, is 80 km wide at its narrowest point. You're not going to find a U-boat there at night without radar, and in January in Canada night is 16 hours a day or more. You're also not going to find U-boats there without radar in bad weather, which that area in January has a reputation for (as opposed to other parts of Canada in January, heh). So U-boats could pretty much motor on in there at will until radar became widely available. Also, while U-boats were small by the standards of warships, they were still three quarters the length of a football field and were armed with a 10.5cm gun as well as their torpedoes, so you wouldn't want to get into a firefight with one unless you were on a warship yourself.
“We’re the battling bastards of Bataan; No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam. No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces, No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces. And nobody gives a damn. Nobody gives a damn.” - Frank Hewlett, 1942 -
@@LucidFL Without education, "thinking for yourself" is like fishing in the dark and makes even the smartest person an easy prey for pied pipers. How's that for thinking for myself?
Interesting facts this week: on the 13th, the world’s first large-scale mass-produced helicopter and the first helicopter used by the US and UK armed forces, the *Sikorsky R-4* , will have its first flight. Also on the same day, test pilot Helmut Schenck became the first person to escape from an aircraft using an ejection seat.
Why does the name of the helicopter sounds so Slawic? I guess Sikorsky was an immigrant or decendant thereof? Is it true that the first saving of a pilot by an ejection seat happend in 42? Weren't those around than far earlier? I remember that the Japanese were reluctant to include them because of the additional weitght though.
@@kaltaron1284 Well the ejection seat was actually still considered rather experimental at the start of World War II, and was only perfected at the end of the war due to ever higher speeds of newer planes. There were indeed ejection seats in development before World War II, but those were relatively rare and did not go far in development. Also Sikorsky was named after aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky, a Russian-American who fled his homeland after the Russian Revolution in 1917 and eventually set up his company in America, so perhaps why the name sounds Slavic or so.
@@gunman47 Good to know. I was somehow under the impression that the technology was more sophisticated and widespread than it apprently was. 42 is about mid-war so it makes sense that the technology starts to spread now. Thanks for the information on Sikorsky. I thought it might be something like that. America profited greatly from immigrants for decades when the rest of the world was in turmoil. Kinda ironic that the current president wanted to close the country as much as possible.
@@gunman47 Why ''Also Sikorsky was named after aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky'' didn't Sikorsky just move to the US during the Russian civil war and start his company there?
Can‘t wait for Stalingrad to start later on in the year! You guys had better do a special on it minute by minute like you did for Pearl, it‘ll only be around ~7000 episodes, should be easy
Can't wait for the minute by minute coverage of Vasily Zaitsev, Dimitri Petrenko & Victor Reznov at Stalingrad too. When the time comes, I'll track the Call of Duty series missions that are happening in real time during the week itself. It so happens coincidentally that the Guadalcanal campaign is occurring around the same time as Stalingrad too, so there's a lot to cover in August. Think John Basilone, the Thin Red Line and Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault!
@@greenkoopa If they do get to do a WW2 Special on Vasily Zaitsev, perhaps they may cover the sniper battle duel against Major Koenig if we are lucky...
I appreciate your discussion of war crimes and atrocities during WWII even if RU-vid thinks is not appropriate. As a former History teacher I used to tell my students we should learn from both the great and horrible stuff humans have done in the past, to show us our possibilities in both good and evil, to imitate the feats and prevent the crimes
Sadly a lot of schools have become just as censorious as big tech companies and would probably never approve of such "objectionable" material being shown in class. It's sad that everything has gotten so dumbed-down and safe and turned into a hugbox, because it's resulting in too many people that can't deal with their ideas and assumptions being challenged and react like children.
"We're the Battling Bastards of Bataan, No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam, No aunts, no uncles, no nephews, no nieces, No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces ... and nobody gives a damn."
But apparently there were enough artillery pieces, 155mm, to put a monkey wrench into the 65th Brigade's advance! Too bad there weren't more, or better still, too bad that the PA and the PD didn't receive their full complements of artillery- tons of 75mm for the PA and 105mm guns for the PD (and 60mm mortar rounds for their company level weapons platoon). The Japanese had never faced heavy artillery concentrations before and they got quite a learning experience this week!
@@rcgunner7086 i read a book, Undefeated: America's Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor, its said that the US Marines stationed in Corregidor had enough heavy weapons and ammo to act as a "firefighter brigade", basically reinforcing and responding to any place in the defensive line where the Japanese were concentrating an attack to make a breakthrough. but MacArthur being an Army guy(and we know that old Army guys back then didn't really like the US Marines) decided that the Marines would be better off at Corregidor as "reserve force" because he viewed them as "glory seeking hounds" and kept believing that the Philippine Army and USAFFE troops could hold the line despite being low on supplies. idk if its true though or just a disgruntled vet just saying it, since the book was a compilation of American veterans of the campaign. also love how the book detailed the Battle of Morong village, the last cavalry charge of the US military, until 2001.
@@christianjohnsalvador1121 Unfortunately, this was written by a disgruntled veteran. There are two Marine units in the Philippines at the start of the war. The 4th Marines (Regiment) and 1st Marine Battalion, Separate. 4th Marines was a regiment in name only. 4th Marines consisted of a understrength Regimental HQ company, service company, and understrength 1st Battalion with 2 rifle companies and a machinegun company. Marine Colonel Samuel L. Howard only has 771 officers and enlisted Marines under his command. The Marines were deployed on Corregidor to take the place of US 31st Infantry Regiment which was the original infantry garrison for Corregidor because the Harbor Defenses of Subic and Manila Bays command had no infantry. The 4th Marines In general accounts are going to appear to be stronger. That is due to Japanese bombs. Japanese air raids destroyed many of the Marine anti-aircraft emplacements at Cavite and Olongapo so the remnants of 1st Marine Battalion, Separate, Batteries B, D, E, and F were folded into 4th Marines. 4th Marines is far from being a "firefighter brigade" or a well equipped force.
Greatest two channels on youtube. Indy and Mark Felton. They should be required in all classrooms worldwide and to all politicians. RU-vid should be ashamed of restricting access.
I wouldn’t watch Mark Felton as he’s nowhere near the level of trustworthy of this channel. Some of his videos have plagiarised entire scripts from websites or forums without any credit and he’s also sometimes gotten very important facts wrong, such as that video about the Tiger at Kursk where the battle in question actually happened about 200km away a month later. Not to mention that those websites will also have a level of dubiousness about them since they’re not written by historians either.
I hate how youtube are cracking down on everything now, I don't see why a reputable channel like this that makes really good content needs to have a "trigger warning" at the beginning of a video. This is factual and well balanced content and it's important that people get to see this kind of thing without age restrictions or warnings. It's bloody history not someones "opinion".
That nothing I’ve had comments removed because I used the word H1ttl3r or n4z1 or f4sc1st RU-vid is straight trash. Someone’s feelings might get hurt by history.... stuff em hurt their feelings.
I'll tell ya the fresh take on ww2 this channel is giving me is nothing short of amazing. Like I used to think that the German army was invincible until stalingrad and that the US homeland was never touched by the war. Great work indy and team.
@@benismann Yeah but I also meant that I thought the war never got near the US mainland. I thought the only part of war it saw was in hawaii or by the forces it sent to Europe, Africa and Asia. True it was never touched like countries in Europe but to learn that U boats had actually reached US waters and New York was still supprising for me as I thought USA was unreachable by Germany.
Imagine how happy the "Happy Time" would've been if Heinz Guderian and "Smiling Albert" Kesselring were in a couple of those U boats. Also: the map work is continually _world class._ Thank you, TimeGhost team.
He, with Clark and Fredendall, are strong candidates for the most incompetent US generals of WW2. With Clark and Patton, he is a strong candidate for greatest US glory hound. My opinion of him is not high. Ike (who hated him), Collins and Ridgeway are the ones to study.
Interesting side note: at around this time a budding politician came to Washington and got a job in the Office of Price Administration. His name: Richard Milhous Nixon.
@@Raskolnikov70 Just checked his bio. He became a Naval Reservist in September 1941, but has not received any formal naval training as yet. HIs brother Joe is currently training to be a naval aviator. Robert (Bobby) won't be signing up until November 1943.
I knew a gentleman who served in the Merchant Marine during WWII. He had his ship shot out from under him twice during the war, and he recounted how he had ingested oil while he was in the water and how it made him deathly ill. He also told me how his ship was stopped by a U-Boat off the coast of Florida. The Germans actually boarded his ship to verify the cargo was not war material. He told me the German Captain spoke perfect English, and how he was so impressed by the German Officer's demeanor and professionalism.
That had to have been psychologically taxing on the guys getting deployed back then, not knowing when things would be over and when they'd see home again. Typically in the Army we'd have an idea of when the tour or deployment or even a training program would be over and we'd be able to have that mental calendar in our heads, the "X Days and a wakeup for me!" thing that helps you endure a rough situation. We experienced something similar at the start of the Gulf War in 1990, not knowing when we'd get back, but that was obviously such a different situation because our existence as a nation wasn't in peril or anything like that.
Great shout out to the US artillery on Bataan. I wasn't expecting that, nor were the Japanese! Those 155's spotted by the Scouts really did a number on the 65th Brigade. But too bad you missed the red letter date on the last cavalry charge carried out by the 26th with Edwin Ramsey (a guy who should get a biography show- his story is pretty incredible).
When my grandfather was a child during the war he saw US destroyers engaging U-boats off the coast of Maine near the mouth of the Kennebec River. My great-grandfather was working at Bath Iron Works at the time building destroyers and was also in the Maine National Guard. So the Battle of the Atlantic has an interesting place in my family's history.
The way RU-vid is going lately we'll be down to special episodes about WWII leaders' pets and favorite ice cream in a few months. God forbid a single person anywhere is offended by historical facts.....
@@Raskolnikov70 Pretty sure the warning is to get the youtube algorithim to recognize this isnt a "For Kids" video. Since uh, RU-vid sometimes does that.
World War Two and crew, I absolutely love how much you pack into every episode. I just want to pass on my thanks for your attention to detail, and how you consistently go deeper than any other historical series that I have seen. Great job guys!
I remember seeing an interview with Karl Dönitz as an old man. He said words to the effect that serving on a U boat was wet, dirty, exhausting and jolly dangerous at all times, and that he never heard any of his men ever talk about a "happy time."
Maybe the term "happy time" was just propaganda. On second thought maybe Donitz didn't want to admit that U Boat crews were happy about killing all those merchant seaman, because admitting that would make Nazis look bad. As if a nation that committed the atrocities they did could look any worse.
This is absolutely terrific program. Many thanks for it. On another note, as a long term fan of Google and its products, I am disgusted by the new idiotic RU-vid "warning" policy.
Of course by sinking three ships out of war you considerably slow down Allied logistical build up (not to mention kill trained and experienced merchant crews) about %75
My dad worked for the railroad hauling war supplies to New York and loading it all on cargo ships to send to Britain. He told me that you could watch the skyline glowing at night from the burning ships that the German U-boats were sinking just outside the harbor at New York.
I hope you guys will do a special series on life under Japanese occupation in Southeast Asia. It's something often not known much about especially in the West.
They're probably saving a detailed account for War Against Humanity. Also it tokk a few more years after the war for Southeast Asia to be nominally free. IMHO if the Japanese had been serious with their Great Eastern Co-Prosperity Sphere, they'd be remembered far more fondly than they are. But in reality it was all just smoke and mirrors. Or does the term come from a time when more moderate forces were in control?
@@kaltaron1284 I always got the sense that the Japanese never had the time or ability to give developing that co-prosperity sphere the attention they needed to. Similar to what happened to the Germans on the Soviet front, they were able to loot and pillage but were suddenly on the defensive and fighting for their survival within a short period of time. They had all sorts of grand plans for establishing governments, exploiting resources, etc... but had to put it off until after the war. Not that they ever intended to treat their new colonies kindly or anything like that, but even if they did they never got the opportunity to try.
I'd like to see special episodes on each individual country. How the Japanese managed places like Indochina, Indonesia, Burma, etc... doesn't seem to get much attention beyond the major battles fought there and discussion about logistics and resources.
@@Raskolnikov70 The Germans literally wanted to purge the east of Slaws, Jews and other unwanted beings to make room for German settlers and in parts of Poland did so. The Japanese also replaced one colonial yoke with another and accourding to repowrts from the time were often worse the prior owners. Some of that had to do with the dehumanizing traing of the IJA. Japan's goal was to establish themselves as the new colonial master of East Asia and superiour to other Asians. Had they been a bit more overt and tactful about that, history would remember them in a better light.
So many "minor" Soviet paratroop operations that are successful. This definitely feels like it deserves more coverage and attention when the paratroop units of western allied armies are so idolised
It seems like the Soviets are using them more intelligently and effectively than anyone else did during the war. Instead of trying to plan big, complicated and overly-ambitious offensives like Crete or Market Garden they're using them in small numbers, close enough to their main forces that they can be immediately supported, in order to take limited objectives. As more of a force-multiplier instead of being the main force, if that makes any sense.
@@Raskolnikov70 Exactly right. They were the only ones on either side who "got" that this was the way you use paratroopers - like you would helicopter-delivered special forces today.
The german submariners called it “the second happy times”, as it was reminding them of the early, easier days. You make it sound like some grand strategic thing.
Wasn't it though? Especially after the H-man (RU-vid doesn't like it when I say the H-word or N-word [no, not that one, the other one] for some reason...) allowed unrestricted submarine warfare. It meant that a whole lot of target-rich environments just opened up for them and they'd be better able to choke off the UK's supplies that much faster. Instead of having to pretend like the US was neutral like they did prior to Dec. 7, that is.
Great Video. Just a correction. The Japanese force that had landed at Sarawak (Kawaguchi Detachment) was not later to land on Western Java. The force that landed on western Java was the IJA 2nd Division. This unit landed together with 16th army Headquarter. After Sarawak and Sabah was capture, kawaguchi detachment later was later diverted to southern Philippines.
Britain: Uhhh, guys...might we suggest... USA: No, no, no, we got it. We cool. Oh, crap... Stalin: We got this! 1942 is our year, baby! Russians in the field: WTF is he talking about?
Stalin: The great counter offensive is going on full steam!......or not. O blyat...this is bad, this is VERY bad! Stop running! There can be no retreat! Except you, fall back to the Caucasian mountains, and no more.
Whats with the USA always refusing advices from other nations lol. USA also refused Britain's advice when fighting in Vietnam. Britain already had experience against communist guerillas in Malaya. But USA be like "nah we cool".
Fun facts - only one quarter of all Lend Lease to the USSR in WWII passed via the Murmansk route, another quarter went via the South Atlantic and then to Abadan in Persia before being transshipped by road across the Caucasus. Fully one HALF of all aid went via the Pacific Ocean in Soviet flagged merchant ships escorted by US destroyers up to half way before they were met by Soviet military escorts. The Japanese were terrified about bringing the USSR into the war so avoided attacking these convoys at all costs, there were one or two incidents of them attacking a Soviet convoy after which they issued apologies and reparations each time. The North Atlantic route got all the glory but the Indian Ocean and Pacific routes did all the hard work !
@@eedwardgrey2 The Japanese stopped and inspected these cargoes to verify that they were not contraband of war, so this route took things like foodstuffs (spam!), lumber, aluminum, clothing and fabrics. Tanks, warplanes, ammunition, probably fuel as well, had to take one of the other routes.
I believe the bulk of US or British tanks sent to the USSR went via Iran. Photos of them in Soviet service tend to show them on more southern parts of the front, which is logical if they were sent via Iran. Fighting the German advance towards Stalingrad, in Ukraine and later in Romania. I have seen photos of Shermans with Soviet crews advancing in Romania in 1944.
This is real history we need to learn from and not forget..... yet we need a content warning because it may offend people who didn't realize they were watching history channels.
@@jliller Even with the warning youtube will still de monetize the episode. The war against humanity series is completely de monetized. They had to have an episode explaining why you had all the warnings and how they made no money putting out these episodes becauseof it. Some idiot makes horrible food in hopes to get Gordon to respond and gets money. These guys put in a ton of effort and get far less unless its from patrion.
Crazy how good Indy’s narration style is. I know how all this ends up by 1945, and yet I still get scared by the news of Japan’s successes in the pacific.
A few years ago I went to my local medal/relics shop and there was an old ragged man looking at the medals. I went to also look at the medals and he struck up a conversation with me. He said his father had earned each medal for fighting on every front the British had been fighting on. I doubted this but thought it could be possible. He described how his father was on a British ship protecting tonnage to the Soviet Union on its eastern most side. His ship was fired upon and sunk. He floated for a bit and he became a Japanese POW. That Japanese ship itself sunk and he died. I've always wondered if these details were true but I've never seen anything yet that sounds like this story.
Hi Indy and the crew! Could you put those little fact boxes what you have in most of the pictures little bit bigger and in the upper corners? I, and I think many others watch these videos with subtitles, because english isnt our first language, and for me personally it's just a habit to keep the subtitles on. I cant really see well some of the fact boxes because the subtitles are in the way. Other than that a very nice and informative video, as usually.
I like these little graphic improvements in this episode and latest WaH like Stalin's face appearing while Indy read his order. They make the episode even more dynamic, consistent and just better.
I really appreciate the coverage, as much as possible, of the entire war. One thing that I take away from this series is the scale of the European eastern front. Major operations that are impressive close up appear to make only seemingly minor shifts when looking at the entire front. The usual US view of the war focuses on northern Europe or Italy where similar movements would show dramatic changes on the shorter front.
Pause the video at the beginning when they're showing the world map and take a look at how the entire area the Germans controlled compares to the rest of the Soviet Union. It looks so huge in detail, but then you zoom out and look at the big picture and OMG WTF was Germany thinking by invading them.....
@@Raskolnikov70 considering Nazi racial beliefs, they, or Hitler anyway, were probably thinking "Degenerate Slavic peasants, it'll be easy." Generals who knew better also knew it was a good idea to keep their mouths shut
@@Raskolnikov70 Hitler was thinking that if little Finland could defeat the Russians then it would be a walkover for the mighty German armies that had been preparing for war for the best part of a decade.
@@dougie1943 Actually, the timing was because of the oil shortages in German-occupied Europe. Germany had to make a move on the Caucasus or accept certain defeat. That’s why it was June 1941.
History tends to forget soviet counteroffensive in winter 41/42. It was enourmous soviet success and only overoptimism of soviet leadership (not Stalin only) prevent total german disaster Napoleon style.
@@karimhammam9105 A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term submersible is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully autonomous craft, capable of renewing its own power and breathing air, whereas a submersible is usually supported by a surface vessel, platform, shore team or sometimes a larger submarine.
@@rdflatman5660 Yes that is true but they act autonomously from other ships/boats therefore are not submersibles but submarines. Notice how at the same time the Royal Navy used the term submarine for their craft, which were basically the same as a U-boat.
I think the thing that gets me about the war in the Southeast Asia/ Pacific Islands; not in China though; is the sense of both massive and small scale. The supply lines and logistical issues are huge, yet the actual number of troops are small compared to the other fronts of the Pacificand European wars
But the number of troops actually engaged being relatively small is exactly BECAUSE of the logistical issues - everyone had to have a very low "teeth to tail" ratio. You could send your conscripts by the millions to the front in Europe, but not in the Pacific.
Indy, it would be nice if you guys include the scale of what is now effectively the Rzhev battle, so everyone gets a perspective early on. By the time the 'Rzhev Claw' is eliminated, 14 months later it will have cost as many Soviet lives as Stalingrad. But because it is not anywhere near as well-known, it might just seem like a series of minor skirmishes. For example, some days of Soviet attacks on Rzhev were equivalent to D-day losses, and the attacks would last for weeks.
It's a pretty minor thing, but Manado is pronounced Ma-NA-do, with the emphasis on the second syllable. I'm sure it's already recorded for the next few episodes but just in case. :) Good job team!
I think one thing that really stands out is that we can see the allies making several plans over the past few weeks on what to do over a long period of time, but for the axis, not so much. I think this really would determine how both sides perform in the future because though slow and delaying, once the plans kick off to hey are likely to be very hard to stop
Early in the war Stalin overrode his military advisors. Later in the war Zhukov, Konev , Rokossovsky and Vasilevsky could argue with Stalin and Stalin would defer to them.
I am amazed by the animations of the eastern front, showing detailed positions for hundreds if not thousands of units throughout the week. Is that data freely available?
@@extrahistory8956 I meant in electronic form. Reconstructing these movements from books is a humongous effort, and it would be nice if those who did this, release this data in electronic form so no-one needs to do this again.
You mention the German submarines off America's shore. My grandfather commanded gun emplacements on the shores of Galveston, (you can still see the cement fixtures along the sea wall there.) He talked about spotting German subs and firing. They managed to cause one to beach and took the prisoners. He took one look at their uniforms and insisted that they must have a base closer than Germany because there was no way, in his view, that they could have kept their outfits as well pressed as that over that amount of time. Decades later he was proven right when submarine bases were discovered in South America.
The battle of the atlantic in a nutshell: Germany: sinks many merchant ships* Allies: Oh no! Also Allies: Anyway... But on more serious note, I was taught to never to dehumanize sacrifice, so, not anyways to that. However, the shipping lost in general is manageable.
Thanks Indy. Just what i needed to watch this morning. As far as convoys & shipping went, the Canadian Corvettes served a huge role in protecting convoys. Not the ideal ship for the job, but could be produced quickly in pretty vast numbers, and were manned by very determined crews - who knew their duty. My late father was in the RCN. Canadians have always had a reputation in any conflict they've ever been in, for getting the job done. No matter the odds, no matter even if others have failed before. If it needs doing, give its to the Canadians.