For those readers who took notice of our recent article covering the rich history of Winnipeg's intricate transit legacy, the mention of a certain little-known mock Nazi invasion of the city during the height of the Second World War may have left some of you wanting to know more. On February 19, 1942, a day that will live in infamy for Winnipeggers of a certain age, the Manitoba capital was the site of one of the most bizarre events in Canadian history.

"If Day" actors roughing up a Winnipeg Free Press newsie, image via the Western Canada Pictorial Index

Known as If Day, the elaborately staged Nazi invasion included thousands of soldiers, WWI veterans, and other volunteers in full WWII Canadian Forces and Nazi military costumes, complete with a full array of weaponry, artillery, AA guns, jeeps, and tanks. Winnipeg experienced a dramatic day of simulated firefights on the streets, with bridges and rail yards 'blown up,' and numerous other scenes of destruction, all of which ended in Winnipeg's fall to the Third Reich.

Nazi soldiers arresting the Mayor and three Aldermen on the steps of City Hall, image via the Western Canada Pictorial Index

With the mayor in chains, City Hall flying the Swastika, and the city's schools, libraries, churches, newspapers, and other public institutions under Nazi control, Winnipeggers lined the streets, as so many in Europe had done during the Blitzkreig, and hailed their new masters. The triumphant Nazi soldiers paraded down Portage and Main (the latter renamed "Hitlerstrasse"), after claiming Winnipeg for the Fuhrer as "Himmlerstadt," the latest acquisition of the Nazi regime.

"If Day" Victory Parade on the newly minted "Hitlerstrasse," image via the Winnipeg Free Press Archives

As the product of an elaborate propaganda machine aimed at revving up a War Bond campaign, If Day was more than successful in achieving its financial aims. Winnipeg's target of $24 million CAD ($345 million in today's dollars) was met in just five days, and the total provincial target of $45 million ($650 million in today's dollars), was exceeded by a full $15 million ($215 million in today's dollars), bringing the total to $60 million ($865 million in today's dollars).

"Make Your Dollars Fight for Manitoba," If Day propaganda poster, image via the Winnipeg Tribune

On the recruiting front, however, If Day fell short of expectations. While there was an average of 36 recruitments per day during this period, If Day saw just 23 enlistments, the realness of it all perhaps proving a little too effective and the horrors of war brought quite literally, a little too close to home. In 2006, If Day was briefly featured in filmmaker Guy Maddin's critically acclaimed, My Winnipeg, and has been featured since in a small handful of documentary pieces, yet despite such efforts, the event remains largely forgotten.

The above 90-second newsreel footage of If Day covers many of the highlights of the event and provides a good glimpse of the wild wartime shenanigans that took place on what remains one of the most perplexing public events in Winnipeg's, if not the entire country's, history. Below, a modern-day view of Portage Avenue reveals the location of the If Day victory parade as it appears today, Winnipeg having undergone a significant amount of urban renewal in the years following the Second World War.

Portage Avenue, one-time site of the If Day victory parade, as seen today, image via Google Street View

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