Brigadier Eric Haldenby
48th Highlanders of Canada
9th Infantry Brigade

The people are simply magnificent. They do not complain. They realize that they are the front line of British defences and it was amazing the way they sprang into action when the air attack on Britain started. There is no panic or alarm … Germany will never succeed in breaking the spirit of the British.

(Haldenby quoted in Globe and Mail, 11 Oct 1940)

Born in Toronto on 5 June 1893, Eric Wilson Haldenby was an architect and First World War veteran. He had been commissioned with the 48th Highlanders and enlisted with the 92nd Battalion in August 1915. He served on the front with the 15th Battalion, earning a promotion to captain and the Military Cross for gallantry at Vimy Ridge and Hill 70.

After the war, he completed a degree in architecture at the University of Toronto and remained active in the 48th Highlanders. On mobilization in September 1939, he was appointed commanding officer of the 1st Battalion while fellow First World War veteran and former 15th Battalion CO, Lieutenant-Colonel John P. Girvan, took command of the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion.

Along with the 1st Canadian Division, Haldenby and the 1st Battalion left Canada for the United Kingdom in December 1939. After the Dunkirk evacuation in late May 1940, the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade, which included the Royal Canadian Regiment, the 48th Highlanders, and the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, landed in France as part of the Second British Expeditionary Force.

By mid-June, Paris had fallen and the BEF was ordered to withdraw in anticipation of France’s surrender. With the German army threatening to encircle the regiment, Haldenby and his officers commandeered a French train to escape back to the Channel. Initial news reports suggested he had bribed a reluctant French engineer with wine and cigarettes, but later stories described persuasion at gunpoint. “I’m afraid we looked like an army of brigands,” the colonel remarked, “but the French people gave the boys a grand reception.” Although the Highlanders made it back to England with no casualties, they did however lose almost all their bagpipes.

In September 1940, Haldenby was recalled to Canada and promoted to command the 9th Infantry Brigade in the 3rd Division. Command of the 48th passed to Major Bill Southam. He led the brigade overseas in July 1941, and initially impressed General Bernard Montgomery as a smart brigadier. Monty, however, soon doubted Haldenby, finding him indecisive. He was replaced but his military service was not at an end.

He returned overseas in 1943 and, after his transport was torpedoed in the Mediterranean, took charge of No. 1 Canadian Base Reinforcement Group at Avellino during the Italian campaign. In late 1944, he acted as chairman for No. 2 Officer Survey and Classification Board, which recommended the retention or return of Canadian officers stationed in England. For his vital contribution to morale, discipline, and training he was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire:

Brig Haldenby by his cheerful leadership, determination and understanding has developed and maintained a most desirable and noticeable keenness throughout his entire Command; this and the soldierly bearing of his troops has caused much favourable comment from the Commanders in the field and given them confidence that their casualties would be adequately replaced.

He was honorary colonel of the 48th Highlanders from 1963 to 1966 and died in Toronto on 18 October 1971.