Lieutenant-General E.W. Sansom
3rd & 5th Canadian Divisions
II Canadian Corps

We’ve all seen those supposedly terrifying pictures of grim German soldiers. We can beat those unsmiling automatons. We are going to lick them with cheerful young Canadians, quick thinking lads who know how to take it. The accent is on youth.

(Quoted in Star Weekly, 18 Oct 1941, 28)

Born on 18 December 1890 in New Brunswick, Ernest William Sansom was a First World War veteran and professional army officer. Serving in the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, and earning the D.S.O., he commanded the 2nd Battalion for the final month of the war and then the 1st Battalion until demobilization in 1919. He joined the Permanent Force in 1920 and by the start of the Second World War was director of military training.

He was assistant quartermaster general for the 1st Division until being recalled from England in October 1940 to take command of the newly formed 3rd Division. “My ambition and confident expectation,” he told the press, “is to make my division the best in the Canadian forces overseas when the time comes, as it will soon, for us to take our place there.” When asked about the mood of Canadian troops overseas, Sansom responded:

To be frank about it, there is disappointment among them that the Nazi invasion did not materialize. The discipline is really excellent though, and our boys are continuing their training in all phases of military art for the day when the British offensive begins. When that starts, British victory is assured and freedom will be carried into the homes and hearts of the German people.

In March 1941, he was appointed to command the newly formed 5th Armoured Division, dubbed “Sansom’s Rough Riders.” He emphasized youth and vigour, claiming that most senior officers would be under 40, all captains younger than 35, and no lieutenants older than 28. In January 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant-general and first commander of II Canadian Corps.

However, after a year, six months before it would deploy to Normandy, Sansom relinquished command to Guy Simonds and returned to Canada due to ill health. He went back overseas in January 1945 to be inspector general for the Canadian Army. After the end of the war in Europe, He unsuccessfully contested the riding of Fredericton for the Progressive Conservatives in the June 1945 federal election. He then lost the 1947 by-election to fellow war veteran Milton Gregg.

Sansom died in Fredericton on 18 October 1982.