Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Grenier
Fusiliers Mont-Royal

The weak link in this Bde is the Fus M.R. I do not believe that Grenier has the military knowledge and professional ability to produce a good and well-trained Bn. He has commanded the Bn for over 5 years and is nearly 50 years old. He should really be replaced by a better and younger man.

(Gen. Montgomery, “Notes on Inf. Bdes of Canadian Corps,” Jan 1942)

Born on 23 January 1893 in Montreal, Paul Grenier was grandson of a former mayor of the city and commanding officer of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal since March 1938. He had joined the 150th Battalion as a lieutenant and served in France with the 42nd Battalion then the 22nd Battalion until severely wounded at Passchendaele. A militia officer with the Fusiliers Mont-Royal since 1919, he steadily rose through the ranks by seniority and led the battalion to Iceland in June 1940.

The Fusiliers arrived for training in England in October 1940, and by the start of the new year Grenier was on a senior officers’ course. “There is no doubt that he has the necessary drive, determination and personality to command a battalion,” the commandant remarked, “but possibility owing to the question of language his tactical knowledge has been more difficult to assess and his solutions at time distinctly unorthodox.” Unable to yet form a firm opinion as to Grenier’s capacity, the commandant concluded, “I would sooner see him in command of his own unit before assessing his ability to handle a battalion in the field.”

For the next year, FMR morale declined through mediocre training and lack of discipline. One officer observed that Grenier treated his men as children or even as servants. Superiors noticed his unfitness for command and determined to make a change. On a January 1942 inspection tour of the 6th Infantry Brigade, General Bernard Montgomery called the FMR “the weak link” due to its aged and inefficient commanding officer. In April 1942, Grenier was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel Dollard Ménard, an RMC graduate twenty years younger.

Grenier returned to Quebec where was given command of the 34th Brigade Group. He died in Montreal on 20 May 1958.

Further reading:

Caroline D’Amours, “Training for Operation Jubilee Tactics and Training in the Fusiliers Mont-Royal and the Dieppe Raid, 1939-1942,” https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol22/iss4/3/