The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign: A Study of Failure in High Command Review

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The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign: A Study of Failure in High Command ReviewProfessor John English's work is a well-written, balanced, detailed and authoritative study of the largely mediocre role played by the First Canadian Army during the Normandy campaign of June-July 1944.
Professor English argues that the First Canadian Army's ineffective effort during the 1944 Normandy campaign can be traced back to the lackadaisical attitude held by many Canadian Army officers towards both the study of the art of war and the proper training of subordinate staff during the inter-war years. At the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, the senior Canadian Army commanders were not only unable to understand the complexities of modern warfare, they were also unable to properly train their subordinate staffs, officers and enlisted ranks for the modern battlefield. For those few exemplary Canadian Army officers who cared passionately about the profession of arms - most notably Lieutenant General Guy Simonds - there was one senior British Army officer who acted as their teacher: Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery. Whatever critics may say about his arrogant attitude, prickly ego and blunt language, he was, and remains, in my estimation, the finest and most consummate professional military officer of World War Two. Other senior Canadian Army officers often parroted Montgomery's words, but none, with the exception of Guy Simonds, ever equaled his battlefield successes.
I found Montgomery's opinions of the senior Canadian Army commanders especially telling. They were either glowing (Guy Simonds was "the best commander in the Canadian Army") or blunt (Major General Chris Vokes was nothing more than "a good, plain cook"). General Harry Crerar (commanding officer of the First Canadian Army) was also the subject of disdainful comments by Montgomery. For example, in a letter to General Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the British Imperial General Staff, Montgomery stated that he felt Crerar was not suited to command an army in the field. After reading English's work, General Crerar comes across as a military officer of very dubious qualities: Indolent, insecure, and intellectually superficial. He was seemingly obsessed with inane bureaucratic paperwork and army regulations and held a deep-seated jealousy of his finest subordinate field commander, Lieutenant General Guy Simonds. In the end, those Canadian Army junior officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted ranks who fought their way through the Normandy campaign were ill-served by most of their senior Canadian Army commanders. They, not most of their senior generals, are the heroes of the Canadian Army in Normandy.The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign: A Study of Failure in High Command Overview

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