Editing Guy Simonds (section)

===Sicily 1943===
On April 20, 1943 (three days before his fortieth birthday) Simonds was promoted to [[Major general|major-general]]<ref name="Generals of World War II"/> and appointed [[General officer commanding|General Officer Commanding]] (GOC) of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division,<ref name="Z_Husky_47">Zuehlke, p. 47.</ref> having risen from [[Major (Canada)|major]] to major-general in three-and-a-half years–faster than any other officer in the Canadian Army.{{sfn|Granatstein|2005|p=156}} A senior officer had described Simonds to Colonel [[James Ralston]], the Defence Minister, as, "a most outstanding officer but not a leader of the type that will secure the devotion of his followers", although he, "has undoubted ability and will fight his Division and make few mistakes."{{sfn|Granatstein|2005|p=156}} Simonds's new division had sustained extremely heavy casualties the year before at Dieppe under its previous commander, Major-General [[John Hamilton Roberts]], and was still recovering from its losses.{{sfn|Graham|1994|p=69}}

[[File:The Campaign in Sicily 1943 A17963.jpg|thumb|left|Major-General Simonds, GOC of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, coming ashore on Sicily, July 1943]]

Just nine days later, however, he was suddenly transferred to the 1st Canadian Infantry Division as its GOC, replacing Major-General Salmon, who had been killed in a plane crash earlier that day over [[Devon]] while planning for Operation Husky, codename for the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]].<ref name="Z_Husky_47"/>{{sfn|Granatstein|2005|p=156}} British Rear Admiral [[Philip Mack]], Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Finlay and several other members of Salmon's staff were among the casualties.{{sfn|Graham|1994|p=69}}

In this last post he led the 1st Canadian Division through the invasion of Sicily, which started on July 10, 1943.<ref name=juno/> The division was placed under the command of [[XXX Corps (United Kingdom)|British XXX Corps]], serving alongside the veteran [[51st (Highland) Division|51st (Highland) Infantry Division]], commanded by [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] [[Oliver Leese]]. XXX Corps was part of the British Eighth Army, under the command of [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[Bernard Montgomery|Sir Bernard Montgomery]]. Aged just 40, he was the youngest Canadian officer to lead a [[Division (military)|division]] in action at that time.{{sfn|Granatstein|2005|p=156}} He came under fire for the first time on July 16, 1943, after nearly 17 years of service in the Canadian Army.{{sfn|Granatstein|2005|p=157}}

Always a supporter of Simonds, Montgomery was impressed with the way the younger man had commanded 1st Division throughout the brief but bitter campaign in Sicily, marking him out as a man destined for higher command.<ref>English (1991) p. 184.</ref> Morton noted that Simonds had proven himself to Montgomery in Sicily as "...an able field commander. No other Canadian would ever quite meet Monty's standards." At Agira and Regalbuto, Simonds won "costly, difficult battles" over the [[Wehrmacht]] who used the mountainous terrain of Sicily to their advantage.<ref name="Morton 1999 p. 210">Morton (1999) p. 210.</ref> The victories were not cheap, as the 1st Division had suffered 2,310 casualties in Sicily, losing 562 men killed in action or dying of their wounds, with the rest being wounded or taken prisoner.<ref>Morton (1999) p. 212.</ref>

[[File:Guy Simonds e010778918-v8.jpg|thumb|right|Major-General Simonds, pictured in Italy, 1943]]