bobbob wrote:After being in the back ground on this forum since pretty much from the start, ive decided to start to particapate in some of the discussions. To begin with ive being play military games as far back as the 70,s, with a collection of over 40 Avalon Hill boardgames and a good complment of computer games over the years. I will be looking for some email games if anyone wants to put up with a rookie. So onto my first question, will Canadian troops be put in with regular British troops or will they be marked differently. Although they were part of the English forces it would be the first time that they were under direct command of Canadian Generals. At the least i would like to see some type symbol showing that they are different than the English. Thanks. PS: Hope this make it in the right thread.
They weren't different from the British in WWI: They were British colonial troops. Prime Minister Borden didn't send them overseas as a "Canadian" independent force, like MacKenzie King would do in 1939, but as "British "colonial" troops to be commanded by the British High Command.
That is one of the main reasons, in restrospect, why Quebec Nationalists were upset at the time of the declaration of war in 1914. While most French-Canadian Nationalists of the time, including Wilfrid Laurier, were in favour of going overseas to help France as a "brethen in need", they opposed going there as British "subjects", but rather as a fully autonomous "Canadian" army and navy. For unknown reasons, Borden refused. To him we were bound to be British colonials, English-Canadian or not.
In fact, Canada was not an fully independent Dominion at the time as far as foreign affairs were concerned. Canada didn't declare war on the Central Powers on its own in 1914. They simply followed London's actions, like Ireland or other British colonies throughout the Empire. Compare with the Canadian's independent declaration of war on Germany on September 10th, 1939, after the 1931 Statute of Westminster.
Sure, Canadians like Arthur Currie got to be general and command Canadian troops, but the Canadian Corps remained nonetheless under British command, and its Divisions and Regiments to be used piecemeal throughout the BEF's front despite political pressure from Canada. Did they perform great military feats? Sure, especially at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. But were they an independent force? Certainly not in WW1.