When Julius Lemp sunk the Athenia, he was surprised by the number of life boats and individuals in the water. He thought he might have sunk a troop ship carrying soldiers from Canada. Do you think that is enough for a short sub-section here stating the Canadian Army was involved in the Battle of France or not? The first book doesn't mention Canada except for Lemp's speculation and he could be mistaken about it. After all, the Athenia wasn't a troopship. Also, in OTL the Canadian Army did not arrive in Britain in significant numbers until after Dunkirk and so weren't involved in fighting in France until after D-Day. ML4E 21:39, May 15, 2012 (UTC)
- I double checked the rest of the series via Amazon search, and references to Canada are sparse in W&E and nil in TBS.
- I think a TWPE section would be pretty thin at the moment, but accurate given what little we know. Not too much more than "The Canadian Army participated in the Battle of France...". TR 15:34, May 16, 2012 (UTC)
- We do have Canada listed as a combatant on the template for World War II (The War That Came Early), though that template is now outdated. We can call it the Phase I template and draw up a Phase II template, though we wouldn't know whether to put Canada on or not. It would be nice to know how Ottawa reacted to the Big Switch. They would have had to make peace with Germany; they couldn't afford to antagonize Britain so badly, and even if they could, they wouldn't be able to do anything to the Germans. As we've stated elsewhere, the options are Canada is neutral, Canada is at war with the USSR but in name only, and Canada is actively contributing to SecCo's war. My money's on neutrality and I'd handicap each of the other options as increasingly unlikely, but there's absolutely nothing to go on in text. Really quite annoying. Turtle Fan 16:20, May 16, 2012 (UTC)
- It's 50/50 whether HT will even address it. Given that he made Canada an oasis after the UK cozied up to Germany in Colonization, he could do something not dissimilar in TWPE. At a minimum, the de jure war with the USSR but actually fighting Japan seems plausible. TR 20:03, May 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Well they're certainly not going to go fascist just because Britain did and they figure they might as well follow suit. It's conceivable they'll end up taking in political exiles from the UK, though probably only a trickle.
- It would help if I knew what Canadian attitudes toward communism, the Soviet Union, and its leader were at this time. There was a latent distrust not far below the surface in France and the UK before Hitler invaded Poland and the dominoes started falling; that's what the Hess Agreement seems to have capitalized on. It was there in the US as well. I have a vague sense that it was present to a much lesser degree in Canadian public opinion, but I don't even know what that's based on.
- As for war with Japan--Uh-oh, that puts them squarely in the sights of the great Japanese Arctic Army with its invincible Chi-Has. Turtle Fan 03:41, May 17, 2012 (UTC)
That's what I thought based on previous discussions you two have had. I think it best to not bother putting anything in for now. ML4E 18:21, May 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Works for me. TR 20:03, May 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, we can't put it in the template if HT says nothing. Annoying that his overlooking Canada has created this wind-twisting ambiguity. It was easy enough to say Canada was fighting in Phase I in a throwaway line, would it be that much harder to do the same now? Turtle Fan 03:41, May 17, 2012 (UTC)