E. L. M. Burns conflict World War II
World War II
During World War II Burns, promoted on 1 February 1942 to the temporary rank of brigadier, assumed command of the 4th Canadian Armoured Brigade, part of the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division, which eventually went to England. Precisely fifteen months after his promotion to brigadier, he received another promotion, this time to major general, on 1 May 1943, when he became the bew General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. The division had been severely mauled the year before during the disastrous Dieppe Raid.He was not destined to lead the division into battle, however, as, throughout January 1944, there were several changes in the higher levels in command in preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy in the spring. Lieutenant-General Ernest William Sansom, commanding II Canadian Corps, and under whose command Burns's 2nd Division was serving, was returned to Canada and replaced by Major-General Guy Simonds, returning to England from the Italian front where he had been GOC of the 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division. Burns himself handed over command of the 2nd Division to Charles Foulkes while Burns proceeded to Italy where he succeeded Simonds in command of the 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division on 23 January 1944. Not long after his arrival his superior, Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar, the commander of I Canadian Corps and who was soon to return to England to take over the First Canadian Army, had a high opinion of Burns and, believing him to be corps commander material, wanted Burns to succeed him as GOC I Canadian Corps.That was all in the future, however. By the time of Burns's assumption of command, the division had been in Italy for just ten weeks. On 17 January the division's 11th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier George Kitching, had launched a disastrous assault over the Arieli River, which failed with heavy casualties. This aside, the division still possessed more battle experience than its new GOC, who, in this war, had never commanded even a company in battle, let alone an entire division. He therefore found himself in the same position that every Canadian divisional commander, the exceptions being Major-General John Hamilton Roberts, who had commanded the 2nd Division at Dieppe, Simonds, who before being GOC of the 5th Division had commanded the 1st Canadian Infantry Division in Sicily, along with Christopher Vokes, who succeeded Simonds in command of the 1st Division. Even Burns's superior, Crerar, had not had the chance to command the two divisions (the 1st and 5th) serving in his corps. The lack of battle experience mattered to the men who had successfully commanded units in battle before (such as at the recent Battle of Ortona, where Vokes's 1st Division had driven out German paratroopers, albeit at a heavy cost) and they were frustrated at an as-yet untested commander being given command of a newly arrived division. General Sir Bernard Montgomery, the former commander of the British Eighth Army (under whose control I Canadian Corps fell), placed experience in battle very highly, as did his successor in command of the Eighth Army, Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese, a man with whom Burns was to clash with on several occasions over the following months.As a result of this, Burns had a lot to prove, and he had to prove it quickly, in the eyes of both his superiors and subordinates alike. Leese, initially at least, liked what he saw of "Tommy" Burns, writing home to his wife in early March, "I think he will be good. I will be glad to get rid of Harry [Crerar] and get Burns installed & to get down to some degree of permanency." Lieutenant Colonel W. C. Murphy, the 5th Division's GSO1, also hoped for a permanent commander who would stay longer than a few weeks. He wrote to his family in early February, "General Burns has joined us. He is very nice to work with and all goes well from that angle. No doubt I'll find a general that I consider good enough to keep on the job one of these days. I hope we'll settle down with no more changes for a while because things always have to be adjusted a bit with each boss man's viewpoint."Despite Murphy's wishes, change did arrive, as in late March, after receiving a promotion, this time to the acting rank of lieutenant-general on 20 March, Burns became GOC I Canadian Corps, taking over from Crerar, who was returning to England to take over command of the First Canadian Army. Crerar, who continued to think highly of Burns, wrote to Lieutenant-General Kenneth Stuart, the acting commander of the First Army in England as well as chief of staff at Canadian Military Headquarters (CMHQ), that, "Burns is showing up very well, indeed, and gives one a feeling of great confidence. Vokes [GOC 1st Division] has certainly reached his ceiling but, providing he is told very clearly what he is to do, and is guided, in his actions, from above, can be regarded as fit for the responsibilities of his appointment." Vokes was a tough officer who had commanded the 1st Division's 2nd Infantry Brigade throughout the fighting in Sicily and briefly in Italy but Montgomery believed that command of a division was his limit, which he probably told Crerar, who might well have been offended by Vokes's womanizing and almost constant cursing. As a result, Burns, to his surprise, found himself promoted to corps commander instead of Vokes.Burns's performance as a corps-level commander proved to be controversial, despite the successes of the Canadian forces in the Italian campaign, and so he was replaced as commander of I Canadian Corps by Major-General Charles Foulkes.Following this major setback to his career, Burns, reverting back to his permanent rank of major-general, was given another chance, and he was sent to Northwestern Europe in December 1944, becoming the Chief of Canadian Section, 1st Echelon, 21st Army Group, a position he held until September 1945, by which time the war, after six long years, had finally come to an end.
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