Background
Henry Duncan Graham Crerar was born on April 28, 1888, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to lawyer Peter Crerar and Marion Stinson Crerar.
1940
General Eisenhower and General Crerar of the Canadian Forces.
1940
General Dempsey, General Hodges, Marshal Montgomery, General Simpson, and General Crerar.
1944
William Lyon Mackenzie King visits General Bernard Law Montgomery during World War II. From left to right, General Montgomery, Mackenzie King, and Lieutenant General Henry Duncan Graham 'Harry' Crerar.
1944
Lieutenant General Crerar looking at a map while sitting on the wing strut of a light observation plane.
1944
France
Lt General Henry Crerar, Commander of the 1st Canadian Army, arriving at a public relations camp in France, 1944. The officer of the back is Lt Col RS Malone.
1945
Nijmegen, Netherlands
A farewell sign posted on behalf of General. H.D.G. Crerar to troops of the First Canadian Army departing the Netherlands.
1945
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Henry Crerar greets or says goodbye to Queen Wilhelmina.
Harry Crerar (left) speaks with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, November 1944.
Frankfurt, Germany
Harry S. Truman decorating a group of officers (L-R) General H. D. G. Crerar, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, Air Marshal Sir James Robb and Major General Air F W De Guingand, July 1945.
United Kingdom
Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar, pictured wearing a military uniform in the United Kingdom in May 1944.
Brigadier-General Henry Duncan Graham Crerar, at his desk at the Canadian military headquarters in Cockspur Street, London, 21st November 1939.
Lieutenant-General Harold Duncan Graham 'Harry' Crerar, talks to British Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese, who is visiting the Canadian corps during the Italian Campaign, World War II, February 1944.
Henry Duncan Graham Crerar
Major General C. Vokes, General H. D. C. Crerar, Field Marshal Sir B. L. Montgomery, Lieutenant General B. G. Horrocks, Lieutenant General G. C. Simonds, Major General D. C. Spry, and Major General A. B. Mathews.
Ottawa, Canda
Return to Ottawa on 7 August 1945 of General H.D.G. Crerar D.S.O. after World War II. (L-R): Mrs. Crerar, General Crerar, Rt. Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King, Mrs. H.Z. Palmer.
General Crerar received the Order of the Companions of Honour.
General Crerar received the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.
General Crerar received the Distinguished Service Order.
General Crerar received the Order of Saint John.
Henry Duncan Graham Crerar
Henry Duncan Graham Crerar
Henry Duncan Graham Crerar standing with a man in uniform wearing a kilt and holding bagpipes.
The Right Honorable Winston Churchill looking towards the Rhine, with General H.D.G. Crerar, of Corps General G.G. Simonds, as well as Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, on the left, and Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, on the right.
Brig. G.R. Turner, Brig. Crerar and Major General McNaughton leaving for Paris. Mme. Vanier seeing them off.
Lt. Gen. Guy Simonds, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and General H. D. G. Crerar.
Paris, France
Brig. Crerar, Brig. Georges P. Vanier, Mme Vanier, Major General A.G.L. McNaughton, and Brig. G.R. Turner.
Apeldoorn, Netherlands
General H.D.G. Crerar, General Officer Commanding 1st Canadian Army, and Captain C.B. Newman, Assistant Provost Marshal, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, inspecting a company of the Canadian Provost Corps, Apeldoorn, Netherlands, 12 July 1945.
Grave, Netherlands
General H.D.G. Crerar, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief First Canadian Army, with personnel of The Royal Montreal Regiment, in front of a Daimler armored car, 11 April 1945.
Mook, Netherlands
General H.D.G. Crerar, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief First Canadian Army, cutting the ribbon to open the Walsh Bridge, the longest (1286 feet) Bailey bridge in the world, built by the Royal Canadian Engineers (R.C.E.), 26 February 1945.
Eelde, Netherlands
Tank crews of The British Columbia Dragoons lined up in front of their Sherman tanks during a review by General H.D.G. Crerar followed by a mounted marchpast, 23 May 1945.
General Montgomery, General Hodges, General Crerar, General Bradley and General Dempsey.
Netherlands
Sitting, from left to right: Stanisław Maczek, 1st Polish Armoured Division; en: Guy Simonds, II Canadian Corps; H.D.G. Crerar, 1st Canadian Army; Charles Foulkes, I Canadian Corps; B.M. Hoffmeister, 5th Armoured Division. Standing, from left to right: R.H. Keefler, 3rd Infantry Division; A.B. Matthews, 2nd Infantry Division; H.W. Foster, 1st Infantry Division; R.W. Moncel, 4th Armoured Brigade; S.B. Rawlins, 49th British Division. Date 20 May 1945.
Marshal Montgomery with General Crerar, and General Sir Miles Dempsey at 21st Army Group HQ, 10 May 1945.
Brig. C. Churchill Mann (left), Gen. H.D.G. Crerar (center) and Air Marshal E.C. Hudleston (right).
France
Visit the British Expeditionary Force in France. (Left to right): Brig. Crerar, (two unidentified, Maj.-Gen. A.G.L. McNaughton, Maj.-Gen. Paget, Maj.-Gen. Alexander.
H.M.King George VI with Lt.Cols. D.J. Mingay, E.A. Cote and Gen. H.D.G. Crerar inspecting officers at 3rd Canadian Infantry Division Headquarters. (L-R): Maj. Lovering, Capt. Black, -, Capt. Sinkiewicz, Lt. Asquith, Maj. Wickwire.
Visit of Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill to First Canadian Army front.
Presentation of decorations by Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery and General Dwight Eisenhower.
Meeting of senior officers at the headquarters of the 1st Canadian Army.
Château de Rots, Normandy
Canadian officers enter Château de Rots, Normandy, France. Left to right they are Colonel Richard S Malone, Lt General Henry Crerar (Commander, 1st Canadian Army) and Major Austin.
The Irish Regiment of Canada passes the saluting base during General. H.D.G. Crerar review at Eelde airport.
Apeldoor, Netherlands
The commander of the 1st Canadian Army in the Netherlands, General Crerar, arrives at Prince Bernhard's headquarters in Apeldoorn where he will receive the Grand Cross in the Order of Orange-Nassau with the Swords Date: July 20, 1945.
200 Lonsdale Rd, Toronto, ON M4V 2X8, Canada
In 1906 Henry studied at Upper Canada College in Toronto, Canada.
13 General Crerar Crescent, Kingston, ON K7K 7B4, Canada
In 1906 Henry studied at Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Canada.
Henry Crerar
Henry Duncan Graham Crerar was born on April 28, 1888, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to lawyer Peter Crerar and Marion Stinson Crerar.
Prior to his military service, Harr worked as an engineer with the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, where he founded the research department in 1912. He attended and graduated from Upper Canada College and Highfield School in Hamilton in 1906, and then went to the Royal Military College of Canada, in Kingston, Ontario. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of artillery in World War I. Unlike most officers, he remained in the army after the war. After attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1923 to 1924, followed by the Imperial Defence College in 1931, he was appointed Director of Military Operations & Military Intelligence in 1935 and Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada in 1939.
Prior to his military service, he worked as an engineer with the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, where he founded the research department in 1912.
After being director of military operations 1935-39 he was commandant of the RMC. Now a general he headed the Canadian planning staff in the UK. Here Robert G. L. McNAUGHTON arrived in Dec 39 to head the first Canadian contingent to reach England. This was built up to five divisions including those that distinguished themselves in Sicily and Italy under Guy G. SIMONDS.
In July 1940 Crerar returned to Canada to be CGS. But a month after promotion to lieutenant general on 22 November 1941 he voluntarily took a reduction in rank to head the 2d Cdn Inf Div overseas. The 1 st Cdn Corps Hq was formed late in 1941 with Crerar as acting head, but it had no troops assigned.
After McNaughton finally had 2d Cdn Corp Hq activated in Italy on 1 Feb 1944 Crerar commanded it until 3 March 1944 and returned to England. Crerar’s 1st Cdn Army Hq became operational in Normandy on 23 Jul 44 to comprise the 1st Br Corps and SIMONDS’s 2d Cdn Corps. Taking over the Caen front, where Simonds already had been heavily engaged, Crerar launched phase two of Opn Totalize. Not “as vigorous and venturesome as the occasion demanded”, he could not capitalize on the opportunity to trap and destroy most of Kluge's forces by driving to Falaise and linking up with Patton.
German resistance at Falaise ending on 18 Aug and the breakout finally achieved, Crerar led his two corps north. But while other Allied armies made spectacular gains through shattered enemy forces, Crerar’s army became “the Cinderella of Eisenhower’s forces” . The Canadian general had the mission of overrunning missile launching sites and eliminating the “fortresses” of Le Havre, Boulogne, and Calais. But he attacked each port in tum, not appreciating until too late that these places (like Singapore) were highly vulnerable from the land side. Although the assaults cost only 1,500 casualties, it was not until 1 October 1944 that Crerar took the last fortress.
Toward the end of Opn Market-Garden, Montgomery belatedly gave Crerar the mission, on 27 September 1944, of clearing the Schelde estuary. The delay allowed the Germans to organize defenses in the maze of waterways and islands between the sea and Antwerp. The 1st Cdn Army eventually needed help from the 1st Br Army and the 1st US Army. As the arduous campaign approached a climax, Crerar had to turn over command to his brilliant subordinate, Simonds, and go to England on 27 Sep 1944 for dysentery treatment. Returning as Simonds’s unconventional plan for taking Walchem Island, which Crerar had opposed initially, was proving to be a success, Crerar waited until 9 November to resume command. Promoted exactly a week later to full general, Crerar became the first Canadian to hold that rank in the field (Stacey, m, 426).
During the Ardennes crisis in December, the 1st Cdn Army remained relatively inactive around Antwerp. (Ironically, this was Hitler’s main objective.) Starting 8 February 1945 and his army augmented by the 30th Br Corps, Crerar attacked SE from the Nijmegen bridgehead. Through difficult terrain, in bitter winter weather, and against fanatic resistance, the 1st Cdn Army broke through the last defended section of the Siegfried Line (at Udem) on 27 February 1945. All resistance in Montgomery’s zone ended with the Gentian surrender on 5 May. Having at one time or another had British, Belgian, Dutch, Polish, and US units in his Canadian army, which reached a maximum strength of 500,000, Crerar sailed for Canada on 30 July 1945. The next year he retired from military service.