canadian troops first saw action in ww2 at the invasion of sicily.
canadian troops first saw action in ww2 at the invasion of sicily.
where did canadian troops first see action in ww2?
the invasion of sicily
in the spring of 1943, mackenzie king, who until then had tried to keep the canadians out of action as much as possible in order to avoid casualties that might lead to a difficult decision on conscription, became obsessed with the fear that the war might end with the canadians winning no victories on land. as churchill had described italy as the "soft underbelly" of the axis, king believed the up-coming italian campaign would provide an opportunity for easy victories that would not cause too many casualties, and insisted to the british that a canadian division had to take part in operation husky, the invasion of sicily, saying the canadian people would be unhappy with him if the war ended with only battles for canada being hong kong and dieppe. despite king's crass political motives for wanting the canadians to take part in husky, the british agreed to accommodate him. mcnaughton was opposed at first to losing a division, saying he was opposed to sending the 1st division to sicily "merely to satisfy a desire for activity". in june 1943, mcnaughton very reluctantly approved of the decision to detach the 1st canadian division from the first canadian army, which was to take part in operation husky as part of the british 8th army commanded by general bernard montgomery. mcnaughton was concerned about losing a division, but was promised that 1st division would return to britain to rejoin first canadian army when husky was completed, and the possibility of finally getting the 1st division into action, which had been assigned to britain in late 1939, was too much to resist. operation husky began on 9 july 1943, and mcnaughton complained much when the initial press releases announcing the invasion did not mention the canadians were taking part. when mcnaughton tried to visit sicily to observe the 1st division in action, montgomery refused, saying the 1st canadian division was operating as part of his 8th british army and he not want mcnaughton interfering with his operations. general guy simonds commanding the 1st division supported montgomery as he felt mcnaughton would do more than "observe" his operations and it would be impossible for him to serve two commanders at once. mcnaughton complained furiously about his exclusion from sicily, saying that as the senior canadian general in europe that he had the right to visit canadian troops wherever they were in europe. the british found the canadian nationalist mcnaughton a "prickly" man to deal with, as mcnaughton saw canada as an equal power and not as a subordinate nation.
andrew mcnaughton
when the first canadian army was formed overseas in 1942, lieutenant-general mcnaughton's aim was to keep the canadian army unified to lead the cross-channel assault on northwest europe. two brigades of the 2nd canadian division led the ill-fated dieppe raid in 1942. aside from this endeavour, the army did not see combat until july 1943. in 1943, because the canadian government wanted canadian troops to see action immediately, the 1st canadian infantry division, 1st canadian armoured brigade, and 5th canadian armoured division were detached from the army for participation in the italian campaign.
first canadian army