The Canadian Army at War - Canada's Battle in Normandy - the Canadian Army's Share in the Operations, 6 June - 1 September 1944 [Illustrated Edition] by C. P. Stacey

Author:C. P. Stacey [Stacey, C. P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 19149072
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2013-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

The Canadian Army Takes Over

By this period, General Crerar's Canadian Army Headquarters had already taken over a section of the front. It was indicative of the manner in which the resources of the 21st Army Group were to be shared out between its two Army Headquarters that the first fighting formations to serve under him in the field should be not Canadian, but British. The bridgehead was now large enough to afford room for the Canadian Army Troops; arrangement were made accordingly, and at noon on 23 July, Headquarters First Canadian Army took over the 1st British Corps from General Dempsey, and became responsible for a front of roughly a dozen miles running inward from the coast. The Canadian Army Commander thus assumed control of the extreme leftward sector of the Allied line—which he never afterwards relinquished.

In this sector, the British forces were in the main committed to a holding role. General Montgomery, however, desired that this left flank should now push forward with a view to facilitating the use by the Allies of the inland port of Caen. Planning for this limited operation was actively carried on, but finally it was shelved in favour of a much greater enterprise. The first battle of the First Canadian Army was to be no minor affair, but an undertaking that would leave its mark on the history of the world. The assumption of a very active role by General Crerar's Army was foreshadowed by an extension of its front on 31 July. At noon on that day, the 2nd Canadian Corps in the Caen sector passed under its command, and the Army Commander was now responsible for a 20-miles front extending from the banks of the River Orne four miles south of Caen round to the Channel coast east of the mouth of that river.

From D Day until 11 July, the 3rd Canadian Division had fought under the command of a British Corps. From the time when it arrived in France until 31 July, the 2nd Canadian Corps had been under the Second British Army. Now, for the first time, the Canadian formations in the theatre were concentrated under their own higher command—which was itself, of course, subject to the superior authority of the 21st Army Group and of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. A word must be said of the remarkably smooth and effective cooperation which had existed between the staffs of the Canadian formations and the various British headquarters with which and under which they fought. The point is familiar to everyone who has first-hand knowledge of the situation. For those who have not, it is perhaps enough to quote a comment found in the War Diary of the General Staff of Headquarters, 2nd Canadian Corps:

“While there is satisfaction in becoming part of First Cdn Army, there will be genuine regret in H.Q. 2 Cdn Corps at leaving Second Brit Army. 2 Cdn Corps' relations with Second Brit Army and other corps of that formation have been excellent, and while

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