Hitler buys Anticosti Island

OK - just read this gem off Wikipedia about Anticosti Island, a large island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence:

"In 1937, the government of Nazi Germany, led at the time by Adolf Hitler, tried unsuccessfully to buy the island. Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King became involved, and forbade the Nazis' plan.[7]"

OK - how do we make this happen? The cite leads to a Canadian forces journal article from 2001. Apparently the Germans were thinking Sub base or somesuch nonesense. They actually came close - the owners of the Island wanted to sell it - but the government stepped in an quashed it. Obviously, the Canadian government allowing this is ASB - heck the British or even American governments would offer more than the Germans for it if it came to it - but how do we make this happen?

It's just too juicy to pass up - even if it is near-ASB.

Mike Turcotte
 
OK - just read this gem off Wikipedia about Anticosti Island, a large island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence:

"In 1937, the government of Nazi Germany, led at the time by Adolf Hitler, tried unsuccessfully to buy the island. Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King became involved, and forbade the Nazis' plan.[7]"

OK - how do we make this happen? The cite leads to a Canadian forces journal article from 2001. Apparently the Germans were thinking Sub base or somesuch nonesense. They actually came close - the owners of the Island wanted to sell it - but the government stepped in an quashed it. Obviously, the Canadian government allowing this is ASB - heck the British or even American governments would offer more than the Germans for it if it came to it - but how do we make this happen?

It's just too juicy to pass up - even if it is near-ASB.

Mike Turcotte

Even if Nazi Germany managed to buy the island, how did they plan to defend it? Wouldn't the Canadians easilly captured the island as soon as war broke out?
 
It is possible that ownership of the island could be sold to Germany, but Canada could forbid the passage of foreign warships there, basically since the island is completely surrounded by Canadian national waters there is little the Germans can do to exploit their purchase.

There is also the probability that the US would apply the Monroe Doctrine to any likely purchase and just diplomatically block it.
 
The article doesn't make it clear exactly what buy means in this context: As a German-owned property on Canadian land or actually acquiring sovereignty over the island?

Former? It's just another asset to be frozen and/or seized on the outbreak of war.

Latter? Likely receives a minimal garrison, and gets taken early in the war.

Reading the wikipedia entry suggests the former is most likely (as the island was incoperated into Quebec in 1867).
 
Yes, I have a hard time seeing how the Germans could have pulled it off, although it would have been interesting.
 
And I thought my HMS Heligoland was far fetched...

Seriously, Anticosti is slap in the middle of the St. Lawrence Seaway, so no way would this strategic island fall into enemy hands - I suspect a ploy to get the Canadian & British governments to start a bidding war with Germany, but very properly quashed.
 
Even if Nazi Germany managed to buy the island, how did they plan to defend it? Wouldn't the Canadians easilly captured the island as soon as war broke out?

If I was the Canadians that'd be my whole plan. I'd laugh all the way to the bank.
 

archaeogeek

Banned
I would note that there was a small submarine resupply post/weather station which went completely unnoticed somewhere either in Labrador or Cote-Nord (not too far from Anticosti). We only know about it because a german veteran who had been stationed there wondered about it during a trip to Canada.

And they didn't even need to buy the piece of real estate they made use of.
 
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