Brigadier G.R. Bradbrooke
14th (Calgary) Tank Regiment
5th Armoured Brigade

 I think a made a success of every command I had. But what annoyed me was that I never was able to use those units, I never got into a fight. I never got into a battle. That was my disappointment in the Second World War.

(Bradbrooke, interview, 29 May 1980)

Born on 1 November 1896 in Blatchley, England, Gerard Renvoize Bradbrooke was a decorated First World War veteran and long serving army officer. A self-described “puny little runt,” he had first enlisted as bugler in November 1914, served as a machine gunner in the trenches, and was commissioned from the ranks in May 1917. Twice wounded, he earned the Military Cross at Passchendaele. “Mud was up to you knees,” he later explained. “I remember moving forward … and here were British infantry lying dead in waves.”

Bradbrooke joined the Permanent Force after the war, and as part of the Lord Strathcona’s Horse witnessed the transition from cavalry to mechanization. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, he was assigned to RMC as an instructor. In February 1941, he replaced Lieutenant-Colonel W.K. Jull to raise the Calgary Regiment (Tank), later re-designated the 14th Tank Regiment, Canadian Armoured Corps, which went overseas in June.

By the end of November, Bradbrooke reluctantly relinquished command to go to Egypt and the North African theatre as an observer. “It came as a profound shock to all in the battalion to hear of Col Bradbrooke’s departure,” the unit war diary recorded, “for he has commanded the battalion since its mobilisation and has been greatly admired by all ranks of the battalion.” Lieutenant-Colonel J.G. Andrews succeeded to command later in December.

Although he did not experience combat himself in Libya, Bradbrooke observed the desert conditions of which tank warfare was a prominent feature. “Nobody wants to capture territory,” he reported. “A few square miles of desert are of no account. Each side is just trying to annihilate the other side.” His tour was cut short in spring 1942 on promotion to organize the 2nd Army Tank Brigade in Canada. He returned to the United Kingdom in September 1942

Bradbrooke led the 5th Armoured Brigade to Italy in December 1943, but health and age meant he never served in combat. In a farewell message on 22 February 1944, he wrote: “I’m being relieved by a younger and more vigorous comdr who will rapidly gain your confidence, esteem and loyalty. Your attitude to me during the last year and a half is, as a memory my most treasured possession.” He was succeeded by Brigadier Desmond Smith.

Removed from command and sent back to England, Bradbrooke admitted suffering a nervous breakdown before requesting an assignment back to Italy. He acted as a military liaison officer in the Mediterranean theatre until health forced a return to Canada in March 1945. He welcomed the Calgary Regiment home and retired from the army in 1946.

He died in Victoria, British Columbia on 30 September 1980, shortly after recording his army recollections in an interview.