"The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest military engagement of the Second World War. From September 1939 until May 1945, the Allies fought Nazi Germany for control of the vital North Atlantic shipping lanes which were crucial to the success of the Allied war effort. On September 4th, 1939, Merchant Navy sailor Hannah Baird became the first known Canadian casualty of the war. She lost her life when the British passenger liner SS Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat while enroute to Montreal.
"Allied merchant vessels sailed from North America to Britain, laden with food, ammunition and other supplies the United Kingdom needed to continue the fight against the enemy. Throughout the nearly six-year conflict, German U-boats stalked Allied convoys, often hunting in groups known as wolf-packs..
"These convoys were defended by Allied naval and air escorts, including those of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. In June 1944 Flight Lieutenant David Hornell earned the Victoria Cross posthumously for his great bravery in sinking a German U-boat north of the Shetland Islands.
"By the end of the war more than 25,000 trans-Atlantic merchant ship voyages, transporting approximately 165 million tonnes of cargo, had been completed under the escort of Canadian forces.
"Lest we forget."
