Editing Guy Simonds (section)

{{Short description|Canadian general (1903–1974)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Guy Simonds
|image= Guy Simonds e010786106-v8 (cropped).jpg
|image_size= 
|alt= 
|caption= 
|nickname= 
|birth_date= {{birth date|1903|04|23}}
|birth_place= [[Ixworth]], near [[Bury St Edmunds]], Suffolk, England
|death_date= {{death date and age|1974|05|15|1903|04|23}}
|death_place= [[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada
|placeofburial= [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto]]
|allegiance= Canada
|branch= [[Canadian Army]]
|serviceyears= 1926–1960
|rank= [[Lieutenant-general (Canada)|Lieutenant General]]
|servicenumber= 
|unit= [[Royal Canadian Horse Artillery]]
|commands= [[Commander of the Canadian Army|Chief of the General Staff]]<br />[[Canadian Army Command and Staff College]]<br />[[National Defence College, Canada]]<br />[[II Canadian Corps]]<br />[[5th Canadian Division|5th Canadian Armoured Division]]<br />[[1st Canadian Division|1st Canadian Infantry Division]]<br />[[2nd Canadian Division|2nd Canadian Infantry Division]]<br />[[1st Canadian Infantry Brigade]]<br />[[1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery|st Field Regiment]], [[Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery|Royal Canadian Artillery]]
|battles= [[World War II]]<br />[[Korean War]]
|awards= [[Companion of the Order of Canada]]<br />[[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br />[[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35842|page=56|date=29 December 1942|supp=y}}</ref><br />[[Distinguished Service Order]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36180|page=4220|date=21 September 1943|supp=y}}</ref><br />[[Canadian Forces' Decoration]]<br />[[Virtuti Militari|Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari]] (Poland)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37204|page=3963|date=31 July 1945|supp=y}}</ref><br />[[Commander of the Legion of Merit]] (United States)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37686|page=4105|date=13 August 1946|supp=y}}</ref><br>[[Commander of the Legion of Honour]] (France)<br />[[Order of Orange-Nassau|Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau]] (Netherlands)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37476|page=1053|date=19 February 1946}}</ref><br />[[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Commander of the Order of Leopold]] (Belgium)
|relations= 
|laterwork= 
}}
[[Lieutenant-general (Canada)|Lieutenant-General]] '''Guy Granville Simonds''', {{post-nominals|country=CAN|size=100%|sep=,|CC|CB|CBE|DSO|CD}} (April 23, 1903 – May 15, 1974) was a senior [[Canadian Army]] officer who served with distinction during [[World War II]]. Acknowledged by many military historians and senior commanders, among them [[Max Hastings|Sir Max Hastings]] and Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery|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 (military)|staff officer]], commanded the [[1st Canadian Division|1st Canadian Infantry Division]] with distinction in [[Allied invasion of Sicily|Sicily]] and [[Allied invasion of Italy|Italy]] from July 1943 until January 1944, and later [[II Canadian Corps]] during the [[Operation Overlord|Battle of Normandy]] from June−August 1944 and throughout the subsequent [[Western Front (World War II)|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".{{sfn|Granatstein|2005|p=173}}

After the end of the war, he went to the [[Royal College of Defence Studies|Imperial Defence College]] (IDC) in [[London]], initially as a student and later as an instructor, before returning to Canada to command the [[National Defence College, Canada]]. In 1951, at the age of just 48, he was appointed [[Commander of the Canadian Army|Chief of the General Staff]] (CGS), the head of the Canadian Army, a post he held for four years, including during the [[Korean War]], before retiring in 1955.