enjoyed more battlefield success and media attention as the general officer commanding (GOC) of 1st Infantry Division and then as 5th Armored Division in Italy than he had. Crerar attempted to sack Simonds because of this incident, writing to Simonds that he felt his "nerves were over-stretched" and complained about the "personal discourtesy" in expelling the captain from his caravan. Crerar took the matter to General Montgomery, the Eighth Army commander, but found little support. On 11 December 1943 Crerar sent a memo to Montgomery declaring he had "serious cause to doubt...the suitability of Simonds for higher command", going on to write that he believed that Simonds was mentally ill, saying that Simonds had "always been high strung...with a tendency to be introspective rather than objective, when faced with acute problems". Montgomery wrote back that he had the "highest opinion of Simonds" and rejected Crerar's claims that he was mentally ill. However, Crerar discussed the event with army psychiatrists, the temporary commander of the Canadian First Army in England, Lieutenant-General Kenneth Stuart, and post-war pushed for Charles Foulkes to be selected as Chief of the General Staff (CGS) over Simonds. Simonds's only battle in command of 5th Division was the so-called "Arielli Show", an offensive launched on 17 January 1944 against the German 1st Parachute Division's strong-points southeast of the Arielli River in central Italy. After being defeated by the 1st Canadian Division in the Battle of Ortona in December 1943, the 1st Parachute Division had retreated back to the Riccio River north of Ortona. The Canadians brought down heavy artillery fire first on the left flank of the Germans to allow the Perth Regiment to advance and then on the right flank to allow the Cape Breton Highlanders to advance. As the 1st Parachute Division was well dug in, the heavy Canadian artillery fire did not have the desired results and the assaults by the Perth Regiment and the Cape Breton Highlanders reached about 200 yards of their objectives before being stopped. Northwest Europe 1944−1945 In January 1944 he was recalled to the United Kingdom and, after being promoted to lieutenant-general on 6 January, was made General Officer Commanding II Canadian Corps, which went on to take part in the Battle of Normandy and the subsequent advance through France. At the age of just forty, Simonds was purported to be the youngest corps commander in the British Empire. Simonds