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Supplement No. 3 to Report of Committee No. 8
Subject: Critical Areas of Canada and Approaches Thereto
Prepared by: Subcommittee No. 3
Major Charles H. Jones, Infantry, Chairman. Lt. Col. H.W. Crawford, Engineers.
I. Papers Accompanying.
1. Bibliography. (Omitted, filed in Rec.Sec.) 2. List of Slides. " 3. Appendices (1 and 2). " 4. Annexes. (Incl. A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,K, and L) "
II. The Study Presented.
Determine under the geographical factor, the critical areas in
Crimson (Canada) and the best approaches thereto for Blue. A critical
area is assumed to be any area of such strategic importance to either
belligerent that control thereof may have a material bearing on the out-
come of the war.
III. Facts bearing on the study.
1. General Considerations: An area in Crimson territory may be of strategic importance from the viewpoint of tactical, economic, or political considerations. In the final analysis, however, critical areas must be largely determined in the light of Red's probable line of action and Crimson's contribution to that effort. 2. Geographical Features of Canada. a. Location and extent. The location and extent of the Dominion of
Canada is shown on the Map herewith (see Exhibit A). It comprises the
entire northern half of the the North American continent, excepting only
Alaska and the coast of Labrador, a dependency of the colony of Newfoundland.
The principal political subdivisions are those located along the
border of the United States. These from east to west are: (1) The Maritime Provinces: Prince Edward Island. Nova Scotia. New Brunswick. (2) Quebec. (3) Ontario. (4) The Prairie Provinces: Manitoba. Saskatchewan. Alberta.
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(5) British Columbia.
Newfoundland, while not a part of the Dominion of Canada, would
undoubtedly collaborate in any Crimson effort. b. Topography. (Slide 14852)
The great area in eastern Canada underlain by rocks of Precambrian
age is known as the Canadian Shield. Its northern boundary crosses the
Arctic archipelago; the eastern boundary lies beyond Baffin Island and
Labrador, and reaches the depressed area occupied by the St. Lawrence, a
short spur crossing this valley east of Lake Ontario to join the Adirondack
Mountains of New York. The southern boundary runs from this spur west to
Georgian Bay thence along the north shore of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, thence northwest from the Lake of the Woods to the western end of Lake Athabaska. Its average elevation does not exceed 1500 feet. The greatest known elevations are in the eastern part of Baffin Island and along the coast of northern Labrador. Peaks of the Torngat Mountains of Labrador have elevations of between 4000 and 5000 feet. The coast is one of the boldest and most rugged in the world, with many vertical cliffs rising 1000 to 2000 feet high. Occasional exceptions occur in which there are reliefs of several hundred feet, as in the hills along the north shore of Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The area is dotted with lakes, large and small, and of irregular outline. A lowland of considerable extent stretches for some distance into Ontario and Manitoba from Hudson Bay.
Extending south and west form the Canadian Shield, between the Appalachian Mountains on the east and the Cordilleras on the west, lies the Great North American plain. The northeastern portion of this plain called the St. Lawrence lowlands occupies southern Ontario, south of a line extending from Georgian Bay to the east end of Lake Ontario; eastern Ontario lying between the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers, and that part of Quebec lying adjacent to the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Quebec.
The plain west of the Canadian Shield, known as the Interior Plains, stretches northward to the Arctic Ocean between a line approximately joining Lake Winnipeg and Lake Athabasca, Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake on the east, and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the west.
That part of the St. Lawrence Lowlands lying in the eastern angle of
Ontario, and in Quebec south of Montreal and extending down the St. Lawrence is comparatively flat and lies less than 500 feet above sea level. On the lower St. Lawrence it is greatly narrowed by the near approach of the Appalachian system to the Canadian Shield. The part lying adjacent to Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron is of less even surface, has its greatest elevation of over 1700 feet south of Georgian Bay and slopes gently to the Great Lakes.