H. L. N. Salmon - World War II

World War II

In the Second World War he rose to the level of Major General before his death.

He joined the staff of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division in January 1940, attaining rank of Lt. Col. in February of that year, and commanding the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (colloquially known as the "Hasty P's"). Following the disaster at Dunkirk which culminated on June 4 of that year, Lt. Col. Salmon led the Hasty P's in a June 16 operation to Brest, France to assist in the withdrawal of the Canadian elements of the second British Expeditionary Force. The next day, as word was received that Paris had fallen, and just a week before France herself would fall, Salmon's regiment began a brief expedition to engage the rapidly moving invasion that was sweeping into France. Events moved unpredictably fast, and the unit was soon ordered to return to England along with the British Expeditionary Force. While aboard ship awaiting departure to Plymouth, the regiment engaged with harassing German aircraft. They were later credited with being the first Canadian soldiers to bring down a German aircraft during World War II, as the eager troops fired their first shots at a low flying plane that attempted an opportunistic attack of the harbour.

On September 8, 1942 when Lieutenant-General McNaughton, the commander of the 1st Canadian Army, chose Salmon to take over command of 1st Canadian Division (He was at the time leading the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade). Accounts at the time recorded his reputation as "one of the best trainers of soldiers in any army." These early years of the 1940s were to be long ones as the First Canadian division would spend most of them in training.

In their first overseas deployment since World War I, the role for the overall 1st Cdn Div in England was to develop and execute exercises in preparation to repel a possible Nazi invasion of the south coast of England near Eastbourne.

In 1943 Salmon was appointed to head the Canadian involvement in Operation Husky, the allied invasion of Sicily which would be part of the push that brought about the end of the war. A planning staff was built around General Salmon in Norfolk House, where some of the highest members of the allied staff were situated.

On April 29, 1943, Salmon, along with other important participants in the planning process prepared to embark for a key planning meeting in Cairo, Egypt. The aircraft was scheduled to embark from Hendon Airfield in north London, landing in Portreath and from there making the way around occupied Europe to attend the meeting.

Weather was bad in Portreath, and this was communicated to the RAF 10th squadron at Hendon. It was decided to instead go to RAF Chivenor where the weather was also poor, but manageable. The Hudson IIIA aircraft embarked and was seen approaching for a landing on the East/West runway at Chivenor, when the aircraft stalled and crashed, killing all on board.

Major General Simonds took over command of the 1st Canadian Division and ultimately led the Canadian forces in operation Husky. Simonds had briefly held the command of 2nd Canadian Division and was transferred to 1st Cdn. Div. after Salmon's death.