The proposed compromise groups Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South African, Indian, Royal Marine, and possibly British Army formations into an imperial expeditionary force. One outline uses three corps of three divisions, with the composition left open. Alex Clarke recalls encountering a similar notion in a period paper, but gives no bibliographic reference and says it attracted no support. A reorganized Fourth Sea Lord's office could supply transport and shipping taken up from trade to land the force in another theatre. It could attack German colonies while the main British Expeditionary Force served in France, supported and expanded by the Territorials. The Navy would still hold the North Sea. In the counterfactual, coordinated staff work makes these commitments compatible without a fundamentally different budget.
Chapter · 1:03:25-1:06:27
A Dominion expeditionary force for maritime strategy
The British Expeditionary Force still goes to France, while a Dominion formation and naval transport capacity open secondary theatres and attack German colonies.