5th Armoured Brigade

Brig. J.D.B. Smith

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Brigadier Des Smith
Royal Canadian Dragoons
4th & 5th Armoured Brigades
DesSmith

As you all know, the majority of my soldering during this war has been spent with armour and when my appointment came through to comd 5 Cdn Armd Bde it was the happiest thing that had happened to me during this war … it has been my good fortune to be with the Bde when it went into action for the first time as a Bde. That first action, which has just been completed, is one of the finest battles that Cdn tps have fought in this war.

(J.D.B. Smith to 5th Armd Bde, 4 Jun 1944)

Born in Ottawa on 2 October 1911, James Desmond Blaise Smith, graduated from RMC in 1933 and took a commission with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. He served as a staff officer with 1st Canadian Division in 1940 and brigade major of 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade from May 1941 to February 1942, when he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel W.E. Gillespie as commanding officer of the 1st Canadian Armoured Car Regiment (RCD).

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Brig. I.H. Cumberland

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Brigadier I.H. Cumberland
Governor General’s Horse Guards
5th Armoured Brigade
Cumberland

Swotty is one of those quiet unassuming lads who always seem to get there–where? oh, always near the top when exam results come out … It seems that Swotty was born with a rifle in his hands, for he is an excellent shot.

(RMC Yearbook, 1927, 34)

Born on 10 July 1906 in Port Hope, Ontario, Ian Hugh Cumberland (Wotherspoon) was an RMC graduate, businessman, and member of the Governor General’s Horse Guards since 1927. He had his name legally changed in the 1930s, dropping his father’s surname Wotherspoon. Following mobilization, he first served as adjutant with the GGHG and then second-in-command when the now redesignated 3rd Armoured Regiment when overseas in October 1941.

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Brig. G.R. Bradbrooke

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

 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.”

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Lt-Col. W.K. Jull

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Lieutenant-Colonel W.K. Jull
Calgary Highlanders
Jull

He went forward under heavy fire to reconnoitre the enemy’s dispositions. He succeeded in reaching his objective and brought back valuable information. Later, when the company on the left flank was held up by an enemy machine-gun nest, he rushed forward and succeeded in killing three of the crew and capturing the remainder, thus allowing the company to continue its advance.

(M.C. citation, 4 Oct 1919)

Born on 20 October 1891 in Rosen, Manitoba, Walter Kingsley Jull was a Calgary barrister and commanding officer of the Calgary Regiment since May 1938. As a law student he had enlisted with 31st Battalion in November 1914. He was three times wounded in action, earned a commission in February 1917, and received the Military Cross for “marked courage” in October 1918. Following the reorganization of the postwar Canadian militia, he became a captain in the Calgary Regiment in 1923 and second-in-command in 1931.

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