8th Infantry Brigade

Brig. J.A. Roberts

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Brigadier James Roberts
12th Manitoba Dragoons
8th Infantry Brigade

The commanding officer looks on the patrol not as a sergeant and three men, but as the sons or brothers of men he knows well at home, and he doesn’t want to commit some good boys from his or an adjoining town to a mission which may cost them their lives. While any decent person may sympathize with the commanding officer’s view, it simply won’t work in war. For one thing, a commander must be completely impartial and he must obey, with understanding, his superior’s orders.

(Roberts, Canadian Summer, 103)

Born in Toronto on 19 August 1907, James Alan Roberts was a University of Toronto graduate, hockey player and employee of the Sun Insurance Company. After two years working at the New York branch he returned to Toronto where he took a commission with the Governor General Horse Guards in 1933. By the late 1930s, he worked with his brother to start an ice cream business in Scotland. With this venture derailed by the outbreak of war in Europe, Roberts returned to Canada to volunteer in the army.

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Brig. Gen. Elmsley

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Brigadier General Jim Elmsley
8th Canadian Infantry Brigade
Elmsley

Facial expression slightly nervous, tremulous and changeable. Has been worrying excessively over routine matters, particularly having to meet people. Has been excessively worried over the ordinary conditions arising in the Brigade under his command. Sleep is fair, but there are times when he will be awake for three or four hours.

 (Medical Board Report of Brig. Gen. Elmsley, 4 June 1918)

Born in Toronto on 13 October 1878, James Harold Elmsley was a professional soldier and Boer War veteran. During the South African campaign, he was shot through the chest but somehow survived. On the start of the Great War. he was appointed second-in-command of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, followed by a brief period commanding the Canadian Light Horse. After Brigadier General Victor Williams was captured at the Battle of Mont Sorrel, Elmsley assumed command of the 8th Infantry Brigade in June 1916.

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