What if the Germans (or someone else) actually bought Anticosti Island in Canada?

[New Cleo Genesis]

Earlier this year, I read this document about the attempt by German industrialists to buy Anticosti Island in 1937 and 1938, ostensibly as a source of lumber and pulpwood. The plan ultimately fell through due to the obvious issues of national security.

However, the impression I got from reading the document is that the Germans did a really poor job of hiding their true interests on the island. I'd be interested in hearing whether it would have been possible for Germany to have used a legal straw man to whom the island would have been sold, and then use it for some military or espionage-related purpose themselves. Historically the Canadians were investigating the possibility of a German submarine refueling depot on the island even after the sale was cancelled, but I'm not sure if that would even have been the most useful purpose; thinking of an early variant of Operation Pelikan launched against the St. Lawrence River from the island in 1939, for example. Obviously the island would not remain in German hands for long in any scenario, though there might still remain undiscovered supplies that the Germans could later utilise.

Or, alternatively, if Germans buying the island is an impossibility, could it have been sold to someone else, who might later be hostile towards Canada? One final and somewhat different idea I also hatched would be the Canadians (or even Americans) establishing a prisoner-of-war camp on the island and it experiencing a successful revolt.

Here is an earlier thread about this, and apparently the only time this episode has been mentioned on the forum before.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

As soon as Canada declares war, Canadian troops will take over the island [1]. If there's any delay, the island will be blockaded until it can be taken.

[1] Think Samoa in WW1

 

[Canuck Wingnut]

If an innocent(-seeming) logging company wanted to purchase land in Canada, I can't think of any reason they couldn't do so- after all, logging companies still own large areas in Canada today. Having read the article you linked (which was fascinating) I can't see any reference to the Canadian government actually shutting down the deal (though they discussed doing so)- the article just says that the option the German company had taken out on the island expired quietly in 1938. As far as I can tell the effort to buy the island for logging purposes was precisely what it purported to be.

I can't see a use for the island from the German perspective. Smuggling in weapons is likely to attract law enforcement attention. Espionage is also hard to imagine as being successful enough to justify the effort spent- radio transmissions powerful enough to reach Germany (or even the German embassy in Washington DC) would be discovered; and Anticosti Island is a long way from most conventional targets, and far enough away from the main shipping channel on the St. Lawrence that there's no guarantee that spotters stationed there would see all shipping leaving the river, let alone the main convoy assembly points on the Atlantic Coast (Halifax).

It could be used as a weather station- but OTL the Germans just put an automated weather station ashore on a remote part of Labrador, and relied on its distance from everything to keep it safe- in was only found in the 1970s! Overall, I can't see the Germans getting good value for money out of buying the island.

 

[New Cleo Genesis]

If an innocent(-seeming) logging company wanted to purchase land in Canada, I can't think of any reason they couldn't do so- after all, logging companies still own large areas in Canada today. Having read the article you linked (which was fascinating) I can't see any reference to the Canadian government actually shutting down the deal (though they discussed doing so)- the article just says that the option the German company had taken out on the island expired quietly in 1938. As far as I can tell the effort to buy the island for logging purposes was precisely what it purported to be.

I can't see a use for the island from the German perspective. Smuggling in weapons is likely to attract law enforcement attention. Espionage is also hard to imagine as being successful enough to justify the effort spent- radio transmissions powerful enough to reach Germany (or even the German embassy in Washington DC) would be discovered; and Anticosti Island is a long way from most conventional targets, and far enough away from the main shipping channel on the St. Lawrence that there's no guarantee that spotters stationed there would see all shipping leaving the river, let alone the main convoy assembly points on the Atlantic Coast (Halifax).

It could be used as a weather station- but OTL the Germans just put an automated weather station ashore on a remote part of Labrador, and relied on its distance from everything to keep it safe- in was only found in the 1970s! Overall, I can't see the Germans getting good value for money out of buying the island.

Guess that's that then. Anything about the POW camp idea you'd like to comment on?

As soon as Canada declares war, Canadian troops will take over the island [1]. If there's any delay, the island will be blockaded until it can be taken.

[1] Think Samoa in WW1

No shit? I literally said that in the opening myself.

 

[Canuck Wingnut]

Anything about the POW camp idea you'd like to comment on?

An interesting option for a TL- which could involve Anticosti Island- would be a successful Operation Kiebitz, the Kriegsmarine effort to break out a group of imprisoned Kriegsmarine submarine commanders from the PoW camp at Bowmanville, Ontario. The plan involved using a pickup submarine, but thanks to the landlocked nature of the target camp the prisoners would have had to break out on their own and travel a significant distance to the coast before the U-536 (the planned pickup sub) could render any assistance. If the PoW camp had been in the gulf of the St. Lawrence the U-536 might have been able to organize a break-out from the outside.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

An interesting option for a TL- which could involve Anticosti Island- would be a successful Operation Kiebitz, the Kriegsmarine effort to break out a group of imprisoned Kriegsmarine submarine commanders from the PoW camp at Bowmanville, Ontario. The plan involved using a pickup submarine, but thanks to the landlocked nature of the target camp the prisoners would have had to break out on their own and travel a significant distance to the coast before the U-536 (the planned pickup sub) could render any assistance. If the PoW camp had been in the gulf of the St. Lawrence the U-536 might have been able to organize a break-out from the outside.

It would make a good storyline for a movie or videogame.

 

[New Cleo Genesis]

An interesting option for a TL- which could involve Anticosti Island- would be a successful Operation Kiebitz, the Kriegsmarine effort to break out a group of imprisoned Kriegsmarine submarine commanders from the PoW camp at Bowmanville, Ontario. The plan involved using a pickup submarine, but thanks to the landlocked nature of the target camp the prisoners would have had to break out on their own and travel a significant distance to the coast before the U-536 (the planned pickup sub) could render any assistance. If the PoW camp had been in the gulf of the St. Lawrence the U-536 might have been able to organize a break-out from the outside.

It would make a good storyline for a movie or videogame.

Yeah, "Die Hard on a Canadian island" is certainly unique.

 

[scotsofthewest]

Very interesting Article. But the POW story idea sounds very interesting.