CANADA: Ginger & Flying Fur

Last week, in the most important shift of Canadian top military brass since World War II, Lieut. General Guy G. Simonds, 47, was named Army Chief of Staff. Simonds, outspoken head of the National Defense and Army Staff Colleges (TIME, Jan. 29), replaces Lieut. General Charles Foulkes, Canada’s chief military spokesman at North Atlantic pact meetings. Foulkes was appointed as full-time chairman of the Chief of Staffs Committee—an assignment comparable to that held in the U.S. by General Omar Bradley.

Getting the understrength Canadian army into something approaching combat readiness will be a tough job, but Simonds was rated Canada’s top field commander in World War II. Tory Leader George Drew called it “the best appointment this government has made in months.” Said the Montreal Gazette’s Arthur Blakeley: “General Simonds is no soldier-politician. He doesn’t understand the art of pussyfooting … The fur (and dust) can be expected to fly.”

It will take fur-flying action to instill the ginger and combat spirit that troops need at a time when the Princess Pats are moving into their first Korean action (see WAR IN ASIA), and plans are under way to fit some 6,000 Canadian soldiers into U.S. formations under General Eisenhower’s command in Germany. Simonds must also continue to speed up the recruiting drive and put some spark into the halfhearted reserve program.

Another urgent problem is to carry out last year’s decision to switch from British to U.S. arms. As fast as her present British-type equipment can be turned over to West European troops, Canada is replacing it with U.S. arms. Five thousand M-1 Garand rifles arrived recently to replace .303 Enfield rifles with which the Canadians helped outfit a Netherlands infantry division in December. Last week, at Eisen hower’s request, a Luxembourg field artillery regiment was being supplied with two dozen 25-pounders; 105-mm. howitzers will take their place. When standardization is complete, Canadian and U.S. armies will be able to draw from a single supply source in the field.