Guy Simonds
Canadian general (1903-1974) · Canada · On the map · Died at 71
Lieutenant-General Guy Granville Simonds, was a senior Canadian Army officer who served with distinction during World War II.
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Photos 12
Major-General Simonds, GOC of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, coming ashore on Sicily, July 1943
Major-General Simonds, pictured in Italy, 1943
General Montgomery (eighth from left) talking with Lieutenant-General Simonds (ninth from left) and other senior officers of II Canadian Corps at Corps Headquarters in the Normandy bridgehead, France, July 20, 1944
General Sir Bernard Montgomery shows Prime Minister Winston Churchill the battle situation on a map held by the commander of II Canadian Corps, Lieutenant-General Simonds, during Churchill's visit to Normandy, July 22, 1944. Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey, the commander of the British Second Army, looks on.
Brigadier J. A. W. Bennett is made a Commander of the British Empire by King George VI at the headquarters of the First Canadian Army in Belgium, October 1944. Lieutenant-General Simonds, wearing a black beret and having just been made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, stands a short distance away, and behind him is Field Marshal Montgomery.
From left to right: Christopher Vokes, Harry Crerar, Sir Bernard Montgomery, Brian Horrocks (both British Army), Guy Simonds, Daniel Spry and Bruce Mathews, all pictured here in February 1945 during Operation Veritable.
Field Marshal Montgomery with his staff, army, corps and division commanders at Walbeck, Germany, March 22, 1945. Standing in the third row, seventh from the left, is Lieutenant General Simonds.Awards
About this person
Acknowledged by many military historians and senior commanders, among them Sir Max Hastings and Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, as one of the best Canadian generals of the war, Simonds, after serving the first few years of the Second World War mainly as a staff officer, commanded the 1st Canadian Infantry Division with distinction in Sicily and Italy from July 1943 until January 1944, and later II Canadian Corps during the Battle of Normandy from June−August 1944 and throughout the subsequent campaign in Western Europe from 1944, towards the end of which he temporarily commanded the First Canadian Army during the Battle of the Scheldt, until victory in Europe Day in May 1945. The historian J. L. Granatstein states about Simonds: "No Canadian commander rose higher and faster in the Second World War, and none did as well in action. Simonds owed his success wholly to his own abilities and efforts - and those of the men who served under him".