It was not part of Canada, it had voluntarily given up responsible government. How Newfoundlandish was the actual decisions made by the Newfoundland military during the war and not just puppets of the British or Canadian dominion armies?
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Not very much. A lot of bases in Newfoundland were also given to the Americans as part of the Bases for Ships agreement so they didn’t even have control of their own territory. The island’s main role was a naval port and an airbase for the Battle of the Atlantic. They sent a medical unit and an artillery unit but that was as far as dedicated military units. Most either joined the British or Canadian armies. Remember the island’s economy had completely tanked in the Great Depression so there wasn’t much to spend. Also there was the weather monitor station Kurt the Germans set up in Labrador that went completely undiscovered by Canada until the 1970’s.
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The Canadians were getting concerned about the American presence; wooing Newfoundland was the unfinished business of Confederation.
The lack of a domestic Newfoundland government diminished any patriotic feelings of fielding Newfoundland units, besides undewriting tge Newfoundland Regiment was what helped bankrupt Newfoundland in the first place.
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