In 1930, the United States planned a war with Britain
The US military planned a large-scale invasion of Canada, with bombings of industrial facilities and even using chemical weaponsthat was sanctioned by none other than the legendary American general Douglas MacArthur.
Of course, such plans were developed in the event of the onset of large-scale military conflicts with all possible adversaries, including the neighboring countries of the USA, Japan and China. However, the thoroughness of the preparation for the war with Britain cannot but surprise.
This military plan had the name "Red" and was created by the Americans since the middle of the 20-s. The Americans openly admitted that their allied relations with Britain during the First World War were temporary. From that moment until 1935, the plan was refined and supplemented, having existed until the beginning of the Second World War.
The plan was based on the assumption that in the war with the United States, Great Britain will use the territory of Canada as a point of concentration of forces. Consequently, the main blow should be inflicted precisely in Canada - the only ally of Great Britain, located in close proximity to the territory of the United States. The U.S. military plan included an invasion of Canada to isolate its resource potential from Britain. The plan provided for a ground campaign - the Americans were wary of the British the fleetnot wanting to make the outcome of the war dependent on the outcome of naval battles.
The plan consisted of three parts:
1. The first part of the plan provided for a combined attack of the army and navy in the direction of Halifax.
2. The second part of the plan consisted of a large-scale offensive on three fronts:
• From Vermont to Quebec and Montreal
• From North Dakota towards Winnipeg
• Far West towards Vancouver and Victoria
3. The third part of the plan was to seize the Great Lakes region.
In general, the plan quite clearly reflected the main features of the strategic thinking of the military-political leadership of the United States, especially clearly manifested during the Second World War period: a verified sequence of logically correlated operations, setting tactical goals within the limits of feasibility.
As further developments showed, with the start of World War 1939, and even more so after Pearl Harbor on 1941, the implementation of the Red Plan was completely unthinkable. Moreover, during the war years, the two countries became loyal allies, and their alliance still exists today. Nevertheless, the fact that the American leadership found a sufficient number of people who sincerely considered the prospect of a war with Britain real remains surprising. It is even more interesting that in the thirties, Churchill considered this possibility, who considered that, despite the majority opinion, the war with America would not have become something incredible.
In 1931, the state government commissioned a record-breaking pilot, Charles Lindberg, to explore the west coast of the Hudson Bay for the possibility of using combat hydroplanes here and to find possible points of least resistance that could become bridgeheads. Later, the US Congress allocated 57 million dollars for the construction of three secret airfields near the border with Canada.
In the 1930s, the Nazis had their own in the United States who organized marches along Park Avenue and rallied in support of Hitler at Madison Square Garden. And Britain, meanwhile, was the largest empire in the world, not to mention the world's best navy. Many Americans believed that the United States was gradually becoming the world leader, and knew very well how Britain acted in similar situations in the past: it crushed them with its military might. With the development of such a scenario, the Americans understood that they would be in a far from an unenviable position. In 1935, the United States conducted military exercises of unprecedented scale, deploying its troops and artillery arsenals at Fort Drama, which is in close proximity to the Canadian borders. It was from this area, according to the plan, that a first strike was supposed to hit the territory of Canada.
“America felt that Britain had set it up in large measure in order to maintain its leading position on the world stage,” says M. Vlahos, a professor at the US Navy Military College.
Even Hitler was convinced that a war between the United States and Britain was inevitable, but, surprisingly, he wanted Britain to win, believing that this would be the most advantageous outcome for Germany, since in this case the United Kingdom could attack the United States together with Germany .
Using the military plans at their disposal, modern military experts from different countries believe that the most likely outcome of a military conflict between the two powers could be a large-scale and very bloody naval battle in the North Atlantic, which would have led Britain to surrender Canada to the United States. vital trade routes.
The end of the “Red Plan” was laid on 15 June 1939 of the year: this is the date of one of the classified until recently American documents drawn up shortly before the invasion of Nazi Germany into Poland, which says that this invasion plan is “completely inapplicable”, but it should be “preserved” for the future". In modern textbooks stories the beginning of World War II is given the role of the main reason for the development of particularly friendly relations between the United States and Great Britain. Although it could be otherwise!
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