Andrew B. Godefroy's history 'In Peace Prepared: Innovation and Adaption in Canada's Cold War Army' traces the history of Canada's post-Second World War military. This was a remarkable decade, where Canada emerged from the War with a huge army and a wealth of experience, demobilized to almost nothing, then rebuilt within the span of a decade. All the … Continue reading Supplemental Reading – In Peace, Prepared
45-Emergency measures
Before we begin: Something I picked up from last post. Col Dobson’s briefing made no mention of Alex Gabriel or any suspicions they may have about an attack out west in Winnipeg. The focus of his briefing is on Quebec. The result of this (in part) is that the focus of the federal government response will … Continue reading 45-Emergency measures
Glossary of Terms – March 2019
Hello everyone! I've been planning this for a while, but the project kept getting bigger and bigger as I went on. It's going to keep growing, but I figured now's as good a time as any to put this out there. So this here's a glossary of terms specific to Canada, the Canadian Armed Forces, … Continue reading Glossary of Terms – March 2019
Supplemental Reading – Robert Falcon Ouellette on the Métis Wars
Sometimes you get lucky, and the fates conspire to hand you a gift. So I already (briefly) introduced Member of Parliament Robert Falcon Ouellette, the MP for Winnipeg Centre. He's the real life human being who stands in contrast to the underwhelming Jim Riley whom Bland has representing a similar region in the novel (Winnipeg … Continue reading Supplemental Reading – Robert Falcon Ouellette on the Métis Wars
33-Wargaming…on a map!
Well, it’s Monday again. How about we start the week off with a nice long run-on sentence! As Canada Command staff officers watched and assessed the situation in Quebec and elsewhere after the raids on the ammo compounds, the growing hints of wider trouble suggested that their worst planning scenario, “a prolonged, coordinated challenge to … Continue reading 33-Wargaming…on a map!
What do you hope to accomplish?
I was originally planning is as my 50th post but…well…scheduling is a funny thing. So we’re coming in at number 53 for this one. Now, I recently had a conversation about this blog with a colleague. Or to be accurate, I was explaining the idea from the ground up because the colleague in question had … Continue reading What do you hope to accomplish?
Warning Order/Frag Order – Or how you can lead without actually making a plan…
So like I discussed earlier, Battle Procedure is the means by which a commander creates a plan for a previous unseen situation in real time. A major part of this involves delegating portions of the plan to subordinates, and having them develop their parts concurrently to you so that a detailed plan can emerge in … Continue reading Warning Order/Frag Order – Or how you can lead without actually making a plan…
27-Winnipeg Map Recce (3): Morale & Motivation!
It’s about time we wrapped up the Winnipeg Map Recce. Alex Gabriel feels he’s ready to return to Stevenson’s HQ, and finally meet his subordinates. He’ll tell them exactly how they’re going to take and hold down town Winnipeg against all comers, and they will no doubt feel privileged to hear it, since he spent … Continue reading 27-Winnipeg Map Recce (3): Morale & Motivation!
Militia Assemble!
The featured image for this post is the Reservists of 1870 by French impressionist painter Pierre-Georges Jeanniot. While he’s most commonly known for paintings of the gilded age of Paris, he began his life as an officer in the French Army and served during the Franco-Prussian War. A lot of his early paintings, which established … Continue reading Militia Assemble!
26-Winnipeg Map Recce(2)-Terrain!
***This post gets into some detail about fighting a war in a Canadian City, which raises certain ethical questions and issues. My post discussing these issues can be found here.*** So like the title says, this post is going to look at the terrain aspects of Alex Gabriel’s Winnipeg battle plan. To this end we’re … Continue reading 26-Winnipeg Map Recce(2)-Terrain!
Putting Down Uprising 