14 February 2019

General Leese Speaking with Canadian NCO in Italy


Image size: 1600 x 1442 pixel. 443 KB
Date: Friday, 8 September 1944
Place: Somewhere in Italy
Photographer: Unknown

Eighth Army Commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese speaking with Regimental Sergeant Major G.D. Gilpin, 1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, Italy, 8 September 1944. The vehicle is a Humber Super Snipe staff car, "The Old Faithful" of Monty (Census No. M239459). The running boards are already deleted. Leese commanded the Eighth Army at the fourth and final battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944 (when the bulk of the Eighth Army was switched in secret from the Adriatic coast to Cassino to strike a joint blow with the U.S. Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, who Leese disliked working alongside) and for Operation Olive on the Gothic Line later in 1944. His rank of lieutenant general was made permanent in July 1944. The 1st Field Regiment itself landed in Sicily in July 1943 and in Italy in September 1943, providing field artillery support for the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. In March 1945 the regiment moved with the 1st Canadian Corps to North West Europe where it served until the end of the war.24 The overseas regiment was disbanded on 25 August 1945.


Source :
"Corps Commanders: Five British and Canadian Generals at War, 1939-45" by Douglas E. Delaney
http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/ol-lo/vol-tom-3/par1/art/1rcha-eng.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Leese

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