Simonds

Vincent J. Curtis

26 Nov 2019

Perhaps no man was better prepared by family tradition and training for high command in the Canadian army than Guy Simonds.  Born in 1903 in England into a military family, Guy came to Victoria, B.C. in 1911 at the age of nine.  His father had been a career officer in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and he returned to Britain after the outbreak of World War I.

Guy Simonds enrolled in RMC in 1921 after coming second in nation-wide entrance exams.  He graduated in 1925 second academically in his class and ranked as best overall cadet.  He was commissioned a 2Lt in the RCHA.  Between 1932 and 1934 he attended a Long Gunnery Staff course in England, and attended Camberley Staff college between 1936 and 1937.  Promoted Major in 1937, he returned to RMC as an Associate Professor of Artillery and instructor of tactics.

When World War II broke out, Simonds was appointed GSO II (Operations) of the 1^st Canadian Infantry Division, the first formation sent by Canada to Britain.  In June 1940, with invasion imminent, Simonds was appointed CO of the 1^St Field Regiment, RCHA.  In November 1940, after the threat of invasion had passed, Simonds was appointed Commandant of the Canadian Junior War Staff College, in which he condensed the two-year Camberley course into 14 weeks to meet the shortage of qualified Canadian staff officers.  Subsequently, he was appointed GSO I of the 2^nd Canadian Infantry Division, then commanded by Victor Odlum.

Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June, 1941, afforded Simonds the chance to move to a higher staff position.  In August of that year, he was promoted Acting Brigadier and placed on the staff of 1^st Canadian Corps under Andrew McNaughton and George Pearkes.  Later, Harry Crerar came into the picture.

Simonds caught the eye of Bernard Montgomery for his excellent staff work in Exercise Tiger in May 1942.  Simonds was tasked to the planning of Operation Jupiter, an invasion of northern Norway, and so was not involved in planning the disastrous raid on Dieppe.  Switching back to a command position, Simonds was appointed GOC 1^st Canadian Infantry Brigade.

January 1943 found Simonds as Chief of Staff of the 1^st Canadian Army under the command of McNaughton.  Exercise Spartan of March, 1943 demonstrated McNaughton’s incompetence as a field commander, and the boy-wonder put it to him that he step aside as a tactical commander.  A furious McNaughton shipped Simonds to Montgomery, then in Tunisia.  There, Simonds leaned the Montgomery method of the set-piece battle on an army scale.

Canada sent its 1^st Division to North Africa to participate in the invasion of Sicily.  Its commander, Harry Salmon, was killed in a plane crash, and Montgomery contrived to have Simonds, then just 40, promoted to Major-General and GOC 1^st Canadian Division.  Simonds led the division in the Sicily campaign with determination, and impressed Montgomery as a field commander.

Simonds led 1^st Div in the invasion of Italy in September, 1943.  He fell ill later that month, and was replaced by Chris Vokes.  In November, Simonds was appointed GOC 5^th Canadian Armoured Division in Italy, again with Montgomery’s help.  Monty wanted to give Simonds seasoning with tanks.

The activation of the 1^st Canadian Corps gave the lackluster Harry Crerar, then 55, a chance for a field command, and thus began the poisonous relations between Crerar and Simonds.  Old Crerar was jealous of the image and publicity the dashing young Simonds was acquiring through his battlefield successes, the first Canadian successes of the war.  Crerar tried to have Simonds sacked and returned to Canada, claiming he was too ‘high strung’ and doubting his suitability for command despite his brains, technical knowledge, and experience.   Crerar then deprived 5^th Div of the new equipment meant for it as a means of undermining Simonds.

Montgomery was not about to let Harry Crerar’s personal jealousies spoil the war effort, and a protégé’s career.  Montgomery forbade Crerar from sending Simonds home in disgrace from Italy.

All this was in prelude to the Normandy campaign.
-30-