1st Canadian Infantry Division

1st Canadian Infantry Division   Mobilized: 1 September 1939 Disbanded: September 1945

The 1st Canadian Division refers to four organizations raised during the 20th Century.

• 1st Canadian Division

• 1st Canadian Infantry Division (1939-1945)

• 1st Canadian Division (1954-1958)

• 1st Canadian Division (1988)

The first formation so designated was a fully manned and equipped combat division which formed the initial contribution of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. A second iteration was raised for the Second World War, and served in I Canadian Corps. The last two iterations of the 20th Century were peacetime divisions. This article refers to the Division raised during the Second World War.

Mobilization

On 1 September 1939, the Canadian Government authorized the mobilization of the Canadian Active Service Force, which included a new 1st Canadian Division. Following the precedent of 1914, the Infantry Brigades represented all parts of Canada: the 1st from Ontario, the 2nd from Western Canada and the 3rd from Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. Each of the Brigades contained one of the existing Permanent Force Battalions, and the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery formed one of the three artillery "Brigades" (later "Regiments") of the Division. By the time the Division was ready to be dispatched overseas its strength stood at 12,543. (At the end of the war, as a result of successive reorganizations, the "authorized composition" totalled 18,093.)

On 5 October 1939 Major-General A.G.L. McNaughton became "Inspector-General of Units of the 1st Canadian Division" and formally took command on 17 October. Shortly after Canada's declaration of war on Germany on 10 September, preparations were made to send the Division to the UK. The first convoy arrived on 17 December 1939, and the Division would spend the next three and a half years in the British Isles.

To England

At the outset there seemed to be small justification for expecting a static future. In the spring of 1940 Hitler began combat operations which, in short order, led to the capitulation of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and finally France. In June, during the last phases of the German invasion, the 1st Brigade Group landed in Brittany but had to withdraw immediately without being committed to active operations. Then began what was termed the "Long Wait" by postwar historians; a protracted period with concentration focused on both the defence of Great Britain and preparations for future invasions of German-held Europe. A minor exception to this static role occurred in the late summer of 1941, when the Division supplied troops for a Canadian-British-Norwegian expedition to Spitsbergen.

The Division was not idle during its sojourn in the UK. During and after the initial crisis of 1940 the men trained incessantly with ever-improving equipment and there was much to learn. From the infantryman's point of view the "battle drill" idea, with its emphasis on realism, was a highlight of the training. The Division also participated in numerous large scale exercises which, after the formation of the Canadian Corps (1940) and 1st Canadian Army (1942), became increasingly significant. One aspect of this preparatory period deserves special mention. Throughout their long months of training, mainly in south-eastern England, the Canadians came to know and admire the British people. The goodly fellowship of the "pubs," contacts with the "Home Guard" and the common danger of German air raids, engendered a strong feeling of mutual respect and affection in soldiers and civilians. This feeling was not confined to southern England, and Scotland was a favourite objective of many men on leave. It was not surprising that many members of the 1st Division married in the United Kingdom and afterwards brought their wives and families to Canada. Command of the division rotated from Lieutenant General McNaughton (promoted to take over the Canadian Corps) to Major General G.R. Pearkes, VC for two years until September 1942, when he was succeeded by Major General H.L.N. Salmon. As Allied strategy developed in the Mediterranean, an opportunity appeared for the active employment of the Division in that theatre. In the spring of 1943 the Division was selected to participate in the invasion of Sicily. It was while preparing for this active role that General Salmon was killed in an air accident. He was succeed by Major General G.G. Simonds who at age 39 was the youngest Canadian General Officer.

Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King visits General Pearkes, GOC of 1st Canadian Division, 26 Aug 1941, Surrey, UK. Library and Archives Canada Photo PAC 132774.

Personality

Dr. Jack Granatstein gives a lengthy description of the division on the eve of Sicily:

The First Division was generally thought to be adequately trained and a good division. The infantry units had had the Battle Drill training designed to develop standard routines and instinctive reactions, as well as substantial combined operations training and a gruelling assault-landing course. The division included the three PF infantry battalions, which ought to have provided a leavening of discipline and professionalism, though they did not always do so. The 2nd Brigade included the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, which, some claimed, was not yet well led by its PF officers; Vancouver's Seaforth Highlanders, led by Lieutenant Colonel Bert Hoffmeister, a regiment considered to have the best officers in the division; and The Loyal Edmonton Regiment, which was recognized for the quality of its rank and file. The brigade commander was the tough-talking but not always tough Chris Vokes, Simond's RMC classmate. The 3rd Brigade, led by a portly, slow-moving regular force officer, Brigadier M.H.S. Penhale, consisted of the Royal 22e Regiment, The Carleton and York Regiment from New Brunswick, and The West Nova Scotia Regiment, and was thought to have been less well trained than the other brigades. This fault was not due to Penhale but to the previous brigade commander, Brigadier Charles Foulkes, or so General Vokes claimed in his memoirs. In the 1st Brigade were The Royal Canadian Regiment, The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment from eastern Ontario, and Toronto's 48th Highlanders under Brigadier Howard Graham, a lawyer, Militia stalwart, and former Hasty P's officer. In the division, the battalions' commanding officers had all been changed frequently in the years since mobilization, and there had also been much moving around of non-commissioned officers and men, with older men returning home, reinforcements coming aboard, and promotions and cross-postings changing the mix.

The division staff was again good, but untried. The GSO I, Lieutenant Colonel George Kitching, was British, an officer who had joined the RCR at the outbreak of war after British Army service. The Commander, Royal Artillery, Brigadier Bruce Matthews, was a Militia gunner of great ability. The administrative side fell under Lieutenant Colonel Preston Gillbride, the wonderfully titled Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General (AA&QMG), another able man and 'great operator'. And the Commander, Royal Engineers, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Walsh, was a PF officer, a tough, forceful man.¹

Sicily

Sailing secretly at the end of June, the Division took its place on the left flank of General Bernard Montgomery's famed Eighth Army for the Sicilian landings. The amphibious attack against Pachino peninsula was an unqualified success. The defenders were surprised and overrun with very few Allied casualties, and so began a controversial 38-day campaign. General Simonds' troops advanced inland under difficulties:

The weather was extremely hot, the roads extremely dusty, and there was little transport; the troops were fresh from a temperate climate and a long voyage in crowded ships; and even though for a time there was scarcely any opposition, mere marching was a very exhausting experience under these conditions.

Continuing over the rocky terrain, they had their first fight with the Germans at Grammichele on 15 July. Three days later they captured Valguarnera. Both were rear-guard actions by a withdrawing enemy, and the first real tests came on the July 20 at Assoro and Leonforte. At the former, the 1st Brigade launched a surprise attack at night against an ancient Norman stronghold on the summit of a lofty peak. They seized and held their place in the face of fierce counter attacks, the records for the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division afterwards revealing generous tributes to the fieldcraft (Indianerkrieg) of the Canadians. Leonforte, an equally difficult situation, was captured by the 2nd Brigade after a bitter fight. These three days cost the Division about 275 casualties.

The advance then turned the east towards Adrano, at the base of Mount Etna. In their path stood Agira, "one of the most imposing of Sicily's innumerable hill-towns," and in the neighbouring hills the enemy put up a stubborn resistance. Both the 1st and 2nd Brigades were heavily engaged during the last week of July. The operations were, however, effectively supported by Canadian tanks and by the divisional artillery, reinforced by units of the Royal Artillery. General Simonds also had temporarily under his command the 231st British Infantry Brigade (the Malta Brigade), which threatened German communications from the south. After a bitter struggle Agira was captured on the 28th. Between Agira and Adrano the Hermann Goering Division made a stand at Regalbuto, using tanks as pillboxes in the debris of the town. While part of the 1st Division loosened the enemy's grip on this town, the 3rd Brigade, temporarily under the command of the British 78th Infantry Division, assisted that formation in the Dittaino Valley.

American encircling operations in the western and northern districts of the island, combined with steady British pressure north of the Catania Plain, forced the enemy out of the defences based on Etna, and the campaign ended when the Allies entered Messina on 16-17 Aug. The 1st Division had performed all of its allotted tasks and had acquired valuable battle experience at a total cost of 2,155 casualties. The measure of the achievement was contained in General Montgomery's statement: "I now consider you one of my veteran Divisions."

The Division passed from XXX Corps to XIII Corps on 10 Aug, and moved to a concentration area in the rear on 11-13 Aug, relieved of operational responsibilities. Divisional headquarters moved to Francofonte. During the battle of Sicily they had travelled 120 miles, over largely rough and mountainous terrain.

Italian Mainland

On 3 September 1943, the 1st Canadian and British 5th Infantry Divisions moved across the Strait of Messina in the vanguard of the Eighth Army. Operations in southern Italy met little opposition and, moving to assist Allied forces at Salerno, the 1st Division took Potenza on 20 September. The main feature of these operations was the delay imposed by enemy demolitions and exceedingly difficult terrain. There was much work for the armoured cars of the 4th Reconnaissance Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards); the following extract from their regimental history describes a typical incident and illustrates the cooperation of all arms:

A large railway bridge had had one span blown (near Bianco), although the whole bridge had been prepared for demolition. The engineer recce officer removed 300 pounds of explosive from the bridge, and as the area of the riverbed had also been mined, the Squadron moved forward across the bridge, while a patrol of infantry went ahead to try to contact the enemy, and the tank commander brought up a scissors bridge to take his tanks over the weak place, where the span had been blown.²

At the beginning of October the Division had its first serious engagement on the mainland at Motta Montecorvino where picked troops of the 1st Parachute Division put up fierce resistance. Supported by tanks of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, General Simonds' troops pressed forward to Campobasso (later a Canadian leave centre), crossed the Biferno and forced the Germans out of Castel di Sangro. Major General Christopher Vokes took command of the division in November.

The Moro River

The winter of 1943-44 brought two focal points of action - the Moro River and Ortona. General Montgomery was determined to allow the enemy no respite and at the end of November launched an offensive to carry the 8th Army from the Sangro to the Moro River. General Vokes was then given the task, under V British Corps, of forcing the Moro and capturing Ortona. Making feints on both flanks, the Division crossed the Moro on the evening of 5 December, though it took four more days to consolidate the bridgehead.

Beyond the Moro was "the Gully" against which repeated attacks were launched, during which Captain Paul Triquet of the Royal 22e Régiment earned a Victoria Cross. Even after the Canadians secured a foothold beyond the Gully, the Germans resisted desperately. Finally, on 18 December, the infantry advanced under the cover of a heavy barrage and evicted the stubborn enemy from this bitterly contested feature.

Ortona

Operations began immediately against Ortona. This fighting was of a very different nature - hand-to-hand struggles in built-up-areas - but no less fierce. The enemy was the famous 1st German Parachute Division. "High explosive was the master weapon in this battle. Not only did it open the way from house to house, but it was used repeatedly to destroy whole buildings and their occupants." Christmas came and went while the grim struggle continued. General Vokes said afterwards, "Everything before Ortona was a nursery tale." At last, on 27 December, after suffering heavy losses, the paratroopers grudgingly withdrew. The 1st Division had again accomplished its task, but had paid dearly: one month of operations, beginning on the Moro, had resulted in 2,339 casualties, and the Division was more than 1,000 below strength.

The Liri Valley

The year 1944 opened with a lengthy static period in the Ortona Salient. At the end of January I Canadian Corps took over operational control of the Division and, shortly afterwards, the 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division joined the Corps. In the spring the Allies prepared to resume the offensive in Italy, with the objective being Rome. The 1st Division took part in an elaborate "cover plan" conveying the impression that they would make a third amphibious assault north of Rome, then launched the actual attack in the Liri Valley, near Cassino.

After British, French and Polish troops, with the help of Canadian armour, had breached the Gustav Line, the first of three fortified such lines guarding the approach to Rome, I Canadian Corps advanced on 17 May against the Hitler Line. The 1st Division relieved the 8th Indian Division and attacked across the Cassino-Pignataro road. At the end of the first day Forme d'Aquino had been reached; a deep gully running directly across their axis and forming a natural anti-tank defence. Fortunately, Allied pressure on its flanks compelled the enemy to abandon this position and, on the 18th, the 1st Division was probing the outer defences of the Hitler Line. Shell-proof shelters and subterranean bunkers, anti-tank ditches, minefields and strongpoints had been carefully integrated although not, in all instances, completed. Eighteen armoured pillboxes mounted camouflaged 75mm guns in revolving turrets.

The Hitler Line

Early on 23 May the Division assaulted the Hitler Line. The attack was supported by a tremendous bombardment fired by 810 Allied guns, more than 300 being employed on the barrage in front of our Infantry. Nevertheless, the 90th Panzer Grenadier and 1st Parachute Divisions reacted quickly and brought down heavy fire on the Canadians. Unexpected minefields slowed the advance and the deadly 75mm guns took heavy toll of supporting British armour. The 2nd Brigade suffered severely, but the 3rd Brigade succeeded in penetrating the Line and, by noon, General Vokes was able to commit his reserve in that sector. Although the Panzer Grenadiers resisted fiercely, they were overcome and the Line was broken. On the left flank the following morning, the 1st Brigade had captured Pontecorvo -- "a heap of stone and mortar, with the mangled corpses of its defenders lying everywhere in the streets." The divisional casualties (879) were very high, but the enemy's were higher and the way was open for the 5th Armoured Division to force the Melfa River in the direction of Ceprano.

General Vokes' troops took part in the pursuit along Highway No. 6, but were not again heavily engaged in the battle for Rome. With spearheads halted less than 30 miles from the capital, the Division passed into reserve with the remainder of the Corps on 4 June, the day that Rome fell. Within 48 hours of this victory the long-awaited Allied invasion of North-West Europe began in Normandy.

The Gothic Line

After recuperating in the Volturno Valley, the Division again played an active role in deceptive manoeuvres at Florence. Then the Red Patch moved secretly to the Adriatic, where the Eighth Army was preparing a massive assault (Operation "Olive") to smash through the Gothic Line to the Lombard Plain. On the evening of 25 August the 1st Division sent four battalions across the historic Metauro River. "It was the first of a score of river crossing for the Canadians in their fight up the northern Adriatic coast, and the ease of it gave little warning of the grim actions ahead." At the end of the month the Division assaulted the Gothic Line proper. This, too, had received the careful attention of the Todt organization and there was heavy fighting before the Canadians forced their way through strong fortifications and established bridgeheads over the Conca.

Once again the weather came to the aid of the enemy: the autumn rains made rough roads almost impassable, while the Germans enjoyed the advantage of good lateral communications. In mid-September the Division had heavy fighting during the Battle of Rimini, on the San Fortunato ridge. The defenders were well supplied with automatic weapons, mortars and anti-tank guns. They resisted fiercely, but after our troops closed in "dozens of badly shaken German infantry scrambled out of the ground, tossing off their helmets and equipment and trotting obediently down towards the Ausa with hands clasped behind their heads." The neighbouring village of San Martino held out for three days against persistent, resolute attacks, but by the 20th the 1st Division had subdued the enemy and was preparing to cross the virtually undefended Marecchia.

The Rivers: Savio, Lamone, Senio

After a short rest the Division returned to the line on 11 October. By that time the rainy weather had ended Allied hopes of "quickly debouching into the valley of the Po", and another difficult winter lay ahead. The immediate problem was to get across the treacherous Savio River in the face of a prepared enemy. The attack was launched on the 20th and succeeded in carving out a narrow bridgehead. Then the Savio suddenly rose and only the superhuman efforts of the engineers saved the bridgehead. The enemy counter-attacked strongly and, before the crisis passed, Pte E.A. "Smokey" Smith of The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada won the Division's second Victoria Cross of the campaign.

In November the troops had another rest from painful operations and, shortly afterwards, Major General H.W. Foster (who had previously commanded the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division in North-West Europe) succeeded Major General Vokes as Commander of the 1st Division. The Red Patch then entered the last phase of its active operations in Italy. At the beginning of December the Division mounted an assault across the River Lamone with the help of the Desert Air Force and Artillery, but the enemy replied with vicious counter-attacks and our troops were repulsed with heavy losses. Later in the month the Division secured the bridgehead, pressing forward against fierce resistance to capture crossings over the Canale Naviglio. The advance ended at the turn of the year with the occupation of the winter line along the Senio River. The Division remained on this line, "with all its discomforts and inconveniences, in some places only ten yards from the enemy, until the end of February."

Reunion with First Canadian Army

Early in 1945 the Corps, including the 1st Division, began a long journey from Italy, through France, Belgium and the Netherlands to join General H.D.G. Crerar's First Canadian Army in North-West Europe for the last Final Phase of the campaign.

Operation GOLDFLAKE had brought General Foster's troops to the final stages of the war against Germany. Committed in the western Netherlands, they attacked across the Ijsselmeer in mid-April and speedily cleared the enemy out of Apeldoorn. In the last days of the war the Division was halted on the Grebbe Line, some miles east of Utrecht, to facilitate Allied arrangements with the Germans for feeding the starving Dutch population.

Order of Battle 1943-1945

1st Canadian Division Headquarters

• The Saskatoon Light Infantry (MG) (First Canadian Division Support Battalion)

• 4th Recce Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) (Except Jul 1944 - Mar 1945)

• 1st Canadian Armoured Car Regiment (Jul 1944 - Mar 1945)

1st Canadian Infantry Brigade

• The Royal Canadian Regiment

• The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment

• 48th Highlanders of Canada

• 1st Infantry Brigade Ground Defence Platoon (Lorne Scots)

2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade

• Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

• The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

• The Edmonton Regiment/The Loyal Edmonton Regiment

• 2nd Infantry Brigade Ground Defence Platoon (Lorne Scots)

3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade

• Royal 22e Regiment

• The Carleton and York Regiment

• The West Nova Scotia Regiment

• 3rd Infantry Brigade Ground Defence Platoon (Lorne Scots)

Royal Canadian Artillery

 

Headquarters, 1st Divisional Artillery, RCA

 

1st Field Regiment (RCHA)

• 2nd (Yorkton) Light Anti-Aircraft Battery

• 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery

• 54th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery

Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers

• Headquarters RCE

  • 2nd Field Park Company, RCE

  • 1st Field Company, RCE

  • 3rd Field Company, RCE

  • 4th Field Company, RCE

  • 1st Canadian Division Bridging Platoon, RCE

Royal Canadian Corps of Signals

• 1st Infantry Divisional Signals, RCCS

Royal Canadian Army Service Corps

• Headquarters RCASC

  • 1st Infantry Brigade Company, RCASC

  • 2nd Infantry Brigade Company, RCASC

  • 3rd Infantry Brigade Company, RCASC

  • 1st Infantry Divisional Troops Company, RCASC

Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps

• No. 4 Field Ambulance, RCAMC

• No. 5 Field Ambulance, RCAMC

• No. 9 Field Ambulance, RCAMC

• 2nd Canadian Field Hygiene Section, RCAMC

• 1st Canadian Field Dressing Station

• 2nd Canadian Field Dressing Station

Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps

• 1st Infantry Division Ordnance Field Park, RCOC

Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

• Headquarters RCEME

  • 1st Infantry Brigade Workshop, RCEME

  • 2nd Infantry Brigade Workshop, RCEME

  • 3rd Infantry Brigade Workshop, RCEME

  • One LAA workshop

  • Eleven light aid detachments.

Canadian Postal Corps

• One divisional postal unit.

Canadian Provost Corps

One provost company.

Canadian Intelligence Corps

One field security section.

General Officers Commanding

Senior Commanders and Staff Appointments

Divisional Chiefs of Staff

Commanding Officers 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade

Commanding Officers 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade

Commanding Officers 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade

Commanders of the Supporting Arms

1. Granatstein, Jack Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON, 2002) ISBN 0802046916)

2. Jackson, Harold McGill 'The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards: A History' 1951