US war plan against the British Empire
War Plan Red
, also known as the
Atlantic Strategic War Plan
, was one of the
color-coded war plans
created by the
United States Department of War
during the
interwar period
of 1919?1939, covering scenarios related to a hypothetical war with the
British Empire
(the "Red" forces, likely in reference to the
Red Ensign
). Many different war plans were prepared by mid-level officers primarily as training exercises in how to calculate the logistical and manpower requirements of fighting a war,
[1]
and War Plan Red outlined those steps necessary to defend against any attempted
invasion of the United States
by British forces. It further discussed fighting a
two-front war
with both Japan and Great Britain simultaneously (as envisioned in War Plan Red-
Orange
).
War Plan Red was developed by the War Department after the 1927
Geneva Naval Conference
, and approved in May 1930 by
Secretary of War
Patrick J. Hurley
and
Secretary of the Navy
Charles Francis Adams III
and updated in 1934?35. It was a routine hypothetical exercise that neither required nor received presidential or congressional approval.
[2]
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, it was decided that no further preparations would be made but the plans were to be retained.
[3]
War Plan Red was not declassified until 1974.
The war plan outlined actions that would be necessary if, for any reason, the US and Britain went to war with each other. The plan assumed that the British would initially have the upper hand by virtue of the strength of the
Royal Navy
. The plan further assumed that Britain would probably use its base in
Canada
as a springboard from which to initiate an invasion of the United States. The assumption was taken that at first, the US would fight a defensive battle against invading British forces, but the US would eventually defeat the British by
blockading
Canada's ports and cutting off its food supplies. It is debated whether this would have been successful, however, and if the plan would have ultimately resulted in a stalemate.
[4]
Outline
[
edit
]
War Plan Red first set out a description of Canada's geography, military resources, and transportation and went on to evaluate a series of possible pre-emptive American campaigns to invade Canada in several areas and occupy key ports and railways before British troops could provide reinforcement to the Canadians?the assumption being that Britain would use Canada as a staging point. The idea was that US attacks on Canada would prevent Britain from using Canadian resources, ports, or airbases.
[2]
A key move was a joint US Army-Navy attack to capture the port city of
Halifax
, cutting off the Canadians from their British allies. Their next objective was to "seize Canadian Power Plants near
Niagara Falls
."
[5]
This was to be followed by a full-scale invasion on three fronts: from
Vermont
to take
Montreal
and
Quebec
, from
North Dakota
to take over the railhead at
Winnipeg
, and from the Midwest to capture the strategic
nickel mines
of
Ontario
. In parallel, the US Navy was to seize the Great Lakes and blockade Canada's Atlantic and Pacific ports.
[2]
Zones of operation
[
edit
]
The main zones of operation discussed in the plan are:
- Nova Scotia
and
New Brunswick
:
- The first strike
with poison gas
against the port city of Halifax was used to seize it, preventing the Royal Navy from using the naval base there, and cutting the undersea cable through Halifax, severing the connection between Britain and Canada.
- The plan considers several land and sea options for the attack and concludes that a landing at
St. Margarets Bay
, then an undeveloped bay near Halifax, would be superior to a direct assault via the longer overland route.
- Failing to take Halifax, the US could occupy New Brunswick by land to cut Nova Scotia off from the rest of Canada at the key railway junction in
Moncton
.
- Quebec
and the valley of the
Saint Lawrence River
:
- Occupying
Montreal
and
Quebec City
would cut the remainder of Canada off from the
Eastern seaboard
, preventing the movement of troops and resources in both directions.
- The routes from northern
New York
to Montreal and from
Vermont
to Quebec are both found satisfactory for an offensive, with Quebec being the more critical target.
- Ontario
and the
Great Lakes
area:
- Occupying this region gains control of
Toronto
and most of Canada's industry and prevent Britain and Canada from using it for air or land attacks against the US industrial heartland in the
Midwest
.
- The plan proposes simultaneous offensives from
Buffalo
across the
Niagara River
, from
Detroit
across the
Detroit River
into
Windsor
, and from
Sault Ste. Marie
across the
St. Mary's River
into
Sudbury
. Controlling the Great Lakes for US transport is considered logistically necessary for a continued invasion.
- Winnipeg
- Winnipeg is a central nexus of the Canadian rail system for connecting the country.
- The plan saw no major obstacles to an offensive from
Grand Forks, North Dakota
, to Winnipeg.
- Vancouver
and
Victoria
:
No attacks outside Western Hemisphere first
[
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]
Unlike the
Rainbow Five
plan, War Plan Red did not envision striking outside the Western Hemisphere first. Its authors saw conquering Canada as the best way to attack Britain and believed that doing so would cause London to negotiate for peace. A problem with the plan was that it did not discuss how to attack Britain if Canada declared its neutrality, which the authors believed was likely (the plan advised against accepting such a declaration without permission to occupy Canadian ports and some land until the war ended).
[6]
The U.S. decided it should focus on the North American and Atlantic theater of operations first while leaving its Pacific outposts of the
Philippines
,
Guam
, and
American Samoa
alone to fend off any British, Australian, and New Zealander attacks during the early stages of the conflict.
[6]
Based on extensive war games conducted at the
Naval War College
, the plan rejected attacking British shipping or attempting to destroy the British fleet. The main American fleet would instead stay in the western North Atlantic to block British?Canadian traffic. The Navy would wait for a good opportunity to engage the British fleet and, if successful, would then attack British trade and colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
[6]
In 1935, War Plan Red was updated and specified which roads to use in the invasion. "The best practicable route to
Vancouver
is via
Route 99
."
[5]
American war planners had no thoughts of returning captured British territory: "The policy will be to prepare the provinces and territories of CRIMSON and RED to become U.S. state and territories of the BLUE union upon the declaration of peace." The planners feared that should they lose the war with Britain, America would be forced to relinquish its territories to the victors, such as losing
Alaska
(then an
organized incorporated territory
) to Canada as part of the peace treaty: "It is probable that, in case RED should be successful in the war, CRIMSON will demand that Alaska be awarded to her."
[7]
[5]
British strategy for war against the United States
[
edit
]
The
British military
never prepared a formal plan for war with the United States, during the first half of the 20th century. For instance, the government of
David Lloyd George
in 1919 restricted the
Royal Navy
from building more ships to compete with American naval growth and thereby preventing the plan's development. Like their American counterparts, most British military officers viewed cooperation with the United States as the best way to maintain world peace due to the shared culture, language, and goals, although they feared that attempts to regulate trade during a war with another nation might force a war with America.
[6]
The British military generally believed that if war did occur, they could transport troops to Canada if asked, but nonetheless saw it as impossible to defend Canada against the much larger United States, so did not plan to render aid, as Canada's loss would not be fatal to Britain. An October 1919 memo by the
British Admiralty
stated if they did send British troops to Canada,
...the Empire would be committed to an unlimited land war against the U.S.A., with all advantages of time, distance and supply on the side of the U.S.A.
[8]
A full
invasion of the United States
was unrealistic and a naval blockade would be too slow. The Royal Navy could not use a defensive strategy of waiting for the American fleet to cross the Atlantic because Imperial trade would be left too vulnerable. Royal Navy officers believed that Britain was vulnerable to a supply blockade and that if a larger American fleet appeared near the
British Isles
, the Isles might quickly surrender. The officers planned to, instead, attack the American fleet from a Western Hemisphere base, likely
Bermuda
, while other ships based in Canada and the
West Indies
would attack American shipping and protect Imperial trade. The British would also bombard coastal bases and make small amphibious assaults. Colonial forces from India and Australia would help capture
Manila
to prevent American attacks on British trade in the Far East and perhaps a conquest of
Hong Kong
. The officers hoped that such acts would result in a stalemate making continued war unpopular in the United States, followed by a negotiated peace.
[6]
Canadian military officer Lieutenant Colonel
James "Buster" Sutherland Brown
developed an earlier counterpart to War Plan Red,
Defence Scheme No. 1
, on April 12, 1921. Maintaining that
the best defense was a good offense
, "Buster" Brown planned for rapid deployment of
flying columns
to occupy
Seattle
,
Great Falls
,
Minneapolis
, and
Albany
. With little hope of holding the objectives, the actual idea was to divert American troops to the flanks and away from Canada, hopefully long enough for British and Commonwealth allies to arrive with reinforcements. Defence Scheme No. 1 was terminated by
Chief of the General Staff
Andrew McNaughton
in 1928, two years before the approval of War Plan Red.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Roberts, Ken.
Command Decisions
. Center of Military History, Department of the Army. Archived from
the original
on December 30, 2007
. Retrieved
July 19,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
John Major, "War Plan Red: The American Plan for War with Britain,"
Historian
(1998) 58#1 pp 12?15.
- ^
June 15, 1939: Declassified Letter "Joint board to Secretary of Navy"
- ^
Joint Estimate of the Situation ? Red and Tentative Plan ? Red
. Security Classified Correspondence of the Joint Army-Navy Board, compiled 1918 ? 03/1942, documenting the period 1910 ? 3/1942. Joint Board, 325. Serial 274.
- ^
a
b
c
Carlson, Peter (December 30, 2005).
"Raiding the Icebox"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
March 1,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Bell, Christopher M. (November 1997). "Thinking the Unthinkable: British and American Naval Strategies for an Anglo-American War, 1918-1931".
The International History Review
.
19
(4): 789?808.
doi
:
10.1080/07075332.1997.9640804
.
JSTOR
40108144
.
- ^
Steven T. Ross,
American War Plans, 1890-1939
, 78, 145-152, 178, 180-181.
- ^
C. Bell (August 2, 2000).
The Royal Navy, Seapower and Strategy Between the Wars
.
Palgrave Macmillan
. p. 54.
ISBN
9-7802-3059-9239
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Bell, Christopher M., “Thinking the Unthinkable: British and American Naval Strategies for an Anglo-American War, 1918-1931”,
International History Review
, (November 1997) 19#4, 789?808.
- Holt, Thaddeus, "Joint Plan Red", in
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History
, Vol. 1 no. 1.
- Major, John. "War Plan Red: The American Plan for War with Britain,"
Historian
(1998) 58#1 pp 12?15.
- Preston, Richard A.
The Defence of the Undefended Border: Planning for War in North America 1867?1939
. Montreal and London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1977.
- Rudmin, Floyd W.
Bordering on Aggression: Evidence of U.S. Military Preparations Against Canada
. (1993). Voyageur Publishing.
ISBN
0-921842-09-0
External links
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
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