Defence Scheme No. 1

Defence Scheme No. 1 was created on April 12, 1921, and detailed a surprise invasion of the northern United States as soon as possible after evidence was received of a US invasion of Canada. It assumed that the US would first attempt to capture Montreal and Ottawa and then Hamilton, Toronto, the Prairie Provinces, and Vancouver and the rest of Southwestern British Columbia. Defence Scheme No. 1's US counterpart was War Plan Red, a plan to invade Canada as part of a war with Britain that was created in 1930.[1]

The purpose of invading the US was to allow time for Canada to prepare its war effort and to receive aid from Britain. According to the plan, Canadian flying columns stationed in Pacific Command in western Canada would immediately be sent to seize Seattle, Spokane, and Portland. Troops stationed in Prairie Command would be sent to attack Fargo and Great Falls, then move to Minneapolis. Troops from Quebec would be sent to seize Albany in a surprise counterattack while Maritime troops would attack Maine. When resistance to the Canadians grew they would retreat to their own borders, destroying bridges and railways to hinder US pursuit.[1][2]

Brown himself did reconnaissance for the plan,[2] along with other lieutenant-colonels, all in plainclothes from 1921 and 1926. As historian Pierre Berton noted in his book Marching as to War, the investigation had "a zany flavour about it, reminiscent of the silent comedies of the day." To illustrate that, Berton quoted from Brown's reports, in which Brown recorded, among other things, that in Burlington, Vermont, the people were "affable" and thus unusual for Americans; that Americans drink significantly less alcohol than Canadians (it was during Prohibition), and that upon pointing out that to Americans, one responded, "My God! I'd go for a glass of beer. I'm going to 'Canady' to get some more"; that the people of Vermont would be serious soldiers only "if aroused;" and that many people in the US might be sympathetic with the British cause.

Despite Berton's description of the plan and its creator as "quixotic", Berton notes the plan had its supporters, such as General George Pearkes, who remarked that Defence Scheme No. 1 was a "fantastic desperate plan [which] just might have worked."

Christopher M. Bell, however, criticized the plan as "suicidal." Since Brown did not coordinate with the British, he did not know that the British military did not plan to send a large army to Canada on the grounds of not being able to defend its territory against the much larger United States. His plan would thus have sacrificed the best Canadian troops for no reason. Brown also did not understand the importance of keeping Halifax, Nova Scotia, one of the main targets of a US invasion, and other Atlantic ports open. Bell states that Canada's best strategy would have been, as the Americans expected, to engage in a defensive war.[1]

In 1928, Defence Scheme No. 1 was terminated by Chief of the General Staff Andrew McNaughton, who sought peaceful US-British relations. Many of the documents relating to the scheme were accordingly destroyed. While never fully justified, when declassified information about the United States' War Plan Red was released, Defence Scheme No. 1 demonstrated the foresight of such an operation, especially in that it was prepared before War Plan Red was researched.

• Canada-United States relations
• Defence Scheme No. 2

• Excerpt from Canadian Defence Scheme No. 1 (See End of Article)
• "Raiding the Icebox" The Washington Post. December 30, 2005
• "Canadian Army Journal, Vol. 8.1 Winter 2005 book review" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 14, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2006.