German flag

[Panzer987]

What is with the German flag in the game? It's probably the most unusual thing I've seen, and I don't recall ever seeing Germany utilize such a flag. It's weird because all of the other flags seem correct, and maybe Germany's is too, but it's like none I've ever seen before.

Lastly, what's up with Canada being under U.K. control instead of fighting as an independent country as they did in WWII? Is that merely a limitation of the game?

[IainMcNeil]

We could not use Swastikas and this was the Imperial German flag before the Nazis came to power.

As for Canada it was a design decision. It could easily be another country but as they shared resources and technology it made more sense to treat them as a single playable nation.

[shawkhan]

There is a mod available for the Swastika, if more historical reality is wanted. Someone here must be a Canadian, to wonder why such a small nation should be treated as independent. Canada's ground troops totalled about one Corps-sized unit in the war, hardly enough to justify inclusion as a separate nation. The Commonwealth(UK,Canada, Australia,New Zealand,South Africa, India, et al) fought as a unit, under the control of Whitehall during the war. It simply wouldn't be feasible to consider each nation by itself.

[Panzer987]

I'm Canadian by birth, so there you go...

However, you gotta give the Great White North some historical credit, since one of the seven D-Day beaches was taken solely by Canadian forces (Sword Beach, maybe? Or Gold Beach? Can't remember which...)

[Panzer987]

And I believe Australia is represented somewhat as an independent country by occupying Mosul in Iraq.

[Happycat]

Someone here must be a Canadian, to wonder why such a small nation should be treated as independent. Canada's ground troops totalled about one Corps-sized unit in the war, hardly enough to justify inclusion as a separate nation. The Commonwealth(UK,Canada, Australia,New Zealand,South Africa, India, et al) fought as a unit, under the control of Whitehall during the war. It simply wouldn't be feasible to consider each nation by itself.

Actually you will probably find lots of Canadians here---there is a very strong war gaming community in Canada.

Your information pertaining to Canadian strength is erroneous. In World War 2 Canada eventually fielded a complete army group consisting of a permanent and an ad hoc corps, and miscellaneous brigades. There were a total of eight divisions, three of which were kept in Canada (conscripts under the National Resources Mobilization Act could not be compelled to serve overseas---although one brigade was sent to the Aleutians).

In addition, by the end of the war Canada had the fourth largest navy in the world.

I suspect that any Dutch players on this forum would be the first to tell you of the significant contribution that the Canadian army made in the second world war.

Using size as the criteria, Canada has more "right" to be included in the game than does Bulgaria.

Using competency as the criteria, arguably Mussolini's Italy could be excluded as an independent country as well.

I believe that there are some Brits at Slitherine who excluded Canada simpy because they haven't gotten over the fact that we waited a week after Britain's DOW before joining in

[Happycat]

We could not use Swastikas and this was the Imperial German flag before the Nazis came to power.

As for Canada it was a design decision. It could easily be another country but as they shared resources and technology it made more sense to treat them as a single playable nation.

Actually we gave Britain OUR resources, if you want to call that sharing

But no argument about the technology, the western allies all contributed brilliantly in that area. The USSR also came up with some wonderful technological advances, but I don't think Stalin was ever in a sharing mood, was he?

[borsook79]

Using size as the criteria, Canada has more "right" to be included in the game than does Bulgaria.

No it does not. At least when talking about the size of armed forces. Bulgaria is not an independent country in the game (i.e. not like e.g. Italy) just has its own manpower pool, that's it. Plus Canada serves as a second "British" capital in the game, which does show its importance. Talking about army contribution we may hear that Poland should still be a separate country after 39 as there were at least 3 armies of Polish soldiers. Heck, even Croatia fielded 3 divisions, Slovakia around the same etc etc... going into this direction will lead us to HOI2 which is a great game, worth playing by anyone who is interested in WW2, but CEAW has it own feel, part of that feel is a level of simplicity that, imo, is more important than satisfying some sense of patriotism or nationalism.

What is with the German flag in the game?

Actually this is very common, other games use that approach too. It's because using a historical flag would make the game illegal in some countries... HOI2 German edition has even the name of "Hitler" changed into something else (and no, sadly not Hilter)

[Happycat]

Using size as the criteria, Canada has more "right" to be included in the game than does Bulgaria.

No it does not. At least when talking about the size of armed forces. Bulgaria is not an independent country in the game (i.e. not like e.g. Italy) just has its own manpower pool, that's it. Plus Canada serves as a second "British" capital in the game, which does show its importance. Talking about army contribution we may hear that Poland should still be a separate country after 39 as there were at least 3 armies of Polish soldiers. Heck, even Croatia fielded 3 divisions, Slovakia around the same etc etc... going into this direction will lead us to HOI2 which is a great game, worth playing by anyone who is interested in WW2, but CEAW has it own feel, part of that feel is a level of simplicity that, imo, is more important than satisfying some sense of patriotism or nationalism.

And thus proving my long-held belief that most war gamers have no sense of humour. My last three comments were made with tongue firmly ensconced in cheek (for example, I really don't believe that there are any Brits left who are pissed because we waited until Sept 10th before declaring war on Germany). My only serious point was, and remains, that Shawkhan was wrong is asserting that Canada only had a "corps sized unit" on the ground in WW2. There is a huge difference between a corps and an army in any military organization that I am familiar with.

[borsook79]

Using size as the criteria, Canada has more "right" to be included in the game than does Bulgaria.

No it does not. At least when talking about the size of armed forces. Bulgaria is not an independent country in the game (i.e. not like e.g. Italy) just has its own manpower pool, that's it. Plus Canada serves as a second "British" capital in the game, which does show its importance. Talking about army contribution we may hear that Poland should still be a separate country after 39 as there were at least 3 armies of Polish soldiers. Heck, even Croatia fielded 3 divisions, Slovakia around the same etc etc... going into this direction will lead us to HOI2 which is a great game, worth playing by anyone who is interested in WW2, but CEAW has it own feel, part of that feel is a level of simplicity that, imo, is more important than satisfying some sense of patriotism or nationalism.

And thus proving my long-held belief that most war gamers have no sense of humour. My last three comments were made with tongue firmly ensconced in cheek (for example, I really don't believe that there are any Brits left who are pissed because we waited until Sept 10th before declaring war on Germany). My only serious point was, and remains, that Shawkhan was wrong is asserting that Canada only had a "corps sized unit" on the ground in WW2. There is a huge difference between a corps and an army in any military organization that I am familiar with.

Yes, you're right in both points, i.e. humour (more smileys next time please) and the size of Canadian forces