Extract from article '7 Historical Battles You've Never Heard Of' on Lapwing, 7th June 2016
(5) The Canadians And The French Nearly Went To War Over A Fight In The Rockies
Before the Canadians actually declared war on the opponents of the Garner Administration in the Second American Civil War, the Entente had cut their armies' teeth through intervening in foreign wars with units ostensibly composed of volunteers that were nonetheless semi-officially sanctioned by their home countries' governments. The Canadians' intervention in Goering's War has been made famous by the BlockBuster Original film, Siege of Vorbecksburg, in which the tiny force of cavalry fended a Mittelafrikan force several times larger than themselves and only managed to escape the continent through the aid of askari guides. But between that campaign and the direct involvement of the Canadian government in the course of America's bloody civil war, there was another war that Canadian volunteers got caught up in, a war which has almost been forgotten.
General Edmund Ironside had led the cavalry at the Siege of Vorbecksburg and after a short period of recuperation was given another army of volunteers to lead and another war to fight. This time, he led a unit of mostly infantry, and he was sent to San Francisco to fight the Pacifican War of Independence. This seems an odd choice, given the Canadian's later support for the United States. But Canada had already enjoyed the benefits of American chaos, nicking the Panama Canal for themselves, establishing New England as a protectorate, and annexing Alaska outright. The Pacificans' fight for independence was part of this wider theme, as Canada's new generation of politicians sought to take America down a peg before picking a fight with Red Britannia.
Ironside was given a great deal of freedom by the Pacifican military, and the war he fought was mostly free of actual fighting, as his soldiers sped across the deserts of the Mojave, taking advantage of America's distraction by events further east to secure the frontiers of the Pacific States. They followed the Colorado River north, and it was at Salt Lake City in Utah that they finally encountered a concerted resistance to their advance. But the American soldiers defending the city were not alone. They were joined by a regiment of soldiers trained to fight in mountainous conditions, drawn from the armies of the French Republic in exile in Algiers. The French troops were led by Louis Franchet d'Esperey, a veteran of the First World War, the same as General Ironside. D'Esperey was by fluke the highest ranking officer in the city when the Canadian infantry descended upon the city and led the Americans as well as his own soldiers.
The French had chosen to send volunteers to the United States and had not bothered consulting their Canadian allies. And to be fair, Canada had not considered informing the rest of the Entente of their decision to support Pacifican independence. The irony of the situation they were in was not lost on either D'Esperey or Ironside. Both men found themselves waging a farcical campaign, each attempting to achieve their goals, but without causing any injury to the opposing army. But after a couple of weeks circling each other and baring their teeth with little effect, the high command of both the US and Pacifica applied pressure to their respective commander, demanding speedy results.
The fact that neither army answered to their home country, but to the host nation for whom they were fighting, meant that it took a while longer for news of the bizarre situation to filter back to Ottawa and Algiers. And the reaction was not positive. The fact that French and Canadian men were fighting and killing each other in the Rockies was a scandal in both countries and Edward VIII and the elderly President Petain shared a number of heated phone telegram exchanges. Some suggested that the Battle of The Great Salt Lake could break the Entente Cordiale that had survived the Weltkrieg and the subsequent Syndicalist Revolutions.
Of course, cooler heads prevailed. Through back channels, both Ironside and D'Esperey's armies were reassigned to different fronts. Edmund Ironside would spend the rest of the Pacifican War of Independence in Idaho, while his French counterpart would end up fighting the Southrons in Kentucky. Only months later, the Garner Administration sought terms with Pacifica and acknowledged the newborn republic's proclaimed borders, while the enormous gains that the Pacificans had made (including Salt Lake City) were returned to the United States.
Ironside and D'Esperey met again in 1938, after Ironside's volunteers were sent to this time aid the Garner Administration, fighting the Combined Syndicates in the Midwest. While Ironside prepared his soldiers for the Sprint to Chicago, he met the French general with whom he had awkwardly clashed a little under a year earlier. It isn't recorded what words passed between them, but it was no doubt a rather strained affair.
There is a small, but well maintained war cemetery in Salt Lake City where the bodies of the French and Canadian volunteers are interred alongside one another. The battlefield they fought on has been forgotten, drowned out by the conflagration of the Second American Civil War and Weltkrieg Zwei that tore Europe apart at nearly the same time.
(5) The Canadians And The French Nearly Went To War Over A Fight In The Rockies
Before the Canadians actually declared war on the opponents of the Garner Administration in the Second American Civil War, the Entente had cut their armies' teeth through intervening in foreign wars with units ostensibly composed of volunteers that were nonetheless semi-officially sanctioned by their home countries' governments. The Canadians' intervention in Goering's War has been made famous by the BlockBuster Original film, Siege of Vorbecksburg, in which the tiny force of cavalry fended a Mittelafrikan force several times larger than themselves and only managed to escape the continent through the aid of askari guides. But between that campaign and the direct involvement of the Canadian government in the course of America's bloody civil war, there was another war that Canadian volunteers got caught up in, a war which has almost been forgotten.
General Edmund Ironside had led the cavalry at the Siege of Vorbecksburg and after a short period of recuperation was given another army of volunteers to lead and another war to fight. This time, he led a unit of mostly infantry, and he was sent to San Francisco to fight the Pacifican War of Independence. This seems an odd choice, given the Canadian's later support for the United States. But Canada had already enjoyed the benefits of American chaos, nicking the Panama Canal for themselves, establishing New England as a protectorate, and annexing Alaska outright. The Pacificans' fight for independence was part of this wider theme, as Canada's new generation of politicians sought to take America down a peg before picking a fight with Red Britannia.
Ironside was given a great deal of freedom by the Pacifican military, and the war he fought was mostly free of actual fighting, as his soldiers sped across the deserts of the Mojave, taking advantage of America's distraction by events further east to secure the frontiers of the Pacific States. They followed the Colorado River north, and it was at Salt Lake City in Utah that they finally encountered a concerted resistance to their advance. But the American soldiers defending the city were not alone. They were joined by a regiment of soldiers trained to fight in mountainous conditions, drawn from the armies of the French Republic in exile in Algiers. The French troops were led by Louis Franchet d'Esperey, a veteran of the First World War, the same as General Ironside. D'Esperey was by fluke the highest ranking officer in the city when the Canadian infantry descended upon the city and led the Americans as well as his own soldiers.
The French had chosen to send volunteers to the United States and had not bothered consulting their Canadian allies. And to be fair, Canada had not considered informing the rest of the Entente of their decision to support Pacifican independence. The irony of the situation they were in was not lost on either D'Esperey or Ironside. Both men found themselves waging a farcical campaign, each attempting to achieve their goals, but without causing any injury to the opposing army. But after a couple of weeks circling each other and baring their teeth with little effect, the high command of both the US and Pacifica applied pressure to their respective commander, demanding speedy results.
The fact that neither army answered to their home country, but to the host nation for whom they were fighting, meant that it took a while longer for news of the bizarre situation to filter back to Ottawa and Algiers. And the reaction was not positive. The fact that French and Canadian men were fighting and killing each other in the Rockies was a scandal in both countries and Edward VIII and the elderly President Petain shared a number of heated phone telegram exchanges. Some suggested that the Battle of The Great Salt Lake could break the Entente Cordiale that had survived the Weltkrieg and the subsequent Syndicalist Revolutions.
Of course, cooler heads prevailed. Through back channels, both Ironside and D'Esperey's armies were reassigned to different fronts. Edmund Ironside would spend the rest of the Pacifican War of Independence in Idaho, while his French counterpart would end up fighting the Southrons in Kentucky. Only months later, the Garner Administration sought terms with Pacifica and acknowledged the newborn republic's proclaimed borders, while the enormous gains that the Pacificans had made (including Salt Lake City) were returned to the United States.
Ironside and D'Esperey met again in 1938, after Ironside's volunteers were sent to this time aid the Garner Administration, fighting the Combined Syndicates in the Midwest. While Ironside prepared his soldiers for the Sprint to Chicago, he met the French general with whom he had awkwardly clashed a little under a year earlier. It isn't recorded what words passed between them, but it was no doubt a rather strained affair.
There is a small, but well maintained war cemetery in Salt Lake City where the bodies of the French and Canadian volunteers are interred alongside one another. The battlefield they fought on has been forgotten, drowned out by the conflagration of the Second American Civil War and Weltkrieg Zwei that tore Europe apart at nearly the same time.