McNaughton, Andrew George Latta “Teddy”.

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McNaughton, Andrew George Latta
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McNaughton, Andrew George Latta, “Teddy”, born 25-02-1887 in Moosomin, Saskatchewann, to Robert Duncan McNaughton (1842–1915) and his wife Christina Mary Ann, born Armour McNaughton (unknown–1913). Both of McNaughton’s parents were immigrants from Scotland, and his youth was a happy one, being brought up by an adventuresome father who had once been a trader in buffalo hides and a kindly, loving mother. His upbringing on a farm instilled in him a life-long love of hard work and self-discipline. McNaughton spent his free time riding horses across the vast expanses of the Prairies while also engaging in hunting and fishing. McNaughton credited his youth on a frontier farm on the Prairies with making him tough and hardy. His parents had both converted to the Church of England, voted Conservative and like many other Anglo-Canadians in the Victorian era strongly identified with the British Empire..

Andrew graduated in physics and engineering from McGill University in Montreal. He enlists in the Militia in 1909, then in 1914, in the 4th Battery of the Canadian Expeditionary Corps.  Applying his scientific knowledge to artillery, he is rapidly promoted and when the war ends, he is at the head of the Canadian Artillery Corps.

After the Great War, he remains with the Canadian Permanent Forces as Chief of the General Staff. He works at mechanizing the armed forces and modernizing the Militia. He returns for a few years to civilian life and from 1935 to 1939 is head of the National Research Council of Canada. Andrew McNaughton was promoted to the rank of Major-General. on 01-01-1929

When World War II breaks out, McNaughton becomes commanding officer of the First Canadian Infantry Division.   Under his leadership, the Division grows and is reorganized as a corps (1940), and then as an army (1942). McNaughton’s contribution to the development of new techniques is outstanding, especially in the field of detection and weaponry, including the discarding sabot projectile. He is however criticized for his poor judgment regarding military strategy especially his approval of the ill-fated operation against Dieppe . His obstinate opposition to the fragmentation of Canadian troops stationed in Great Britain antagonized both the British senior Staff and the Canadian government. Pressured by critics and weakened by health problems, McNaughton resigned his command in December 1943.

The goal was to take Dieppe from German forces, hold a perimeter, and destroy the harbour. It did not go as planned. In nine hours, enemy fighters killed 907 Canadians, wounded 2,460, and captured 1,946.

Prime Minister King’s trust towards McNaughton remains unabated and he is appointed Minister of Defence in 1944, with the specific mandate to solve the conscription issue. He will prove unable to find a solution, and Canadians deny him the support he needs to be elected to the House of Commons.

After WWII, Andrew McNaughton is Canada’s Representative to the United Nations’ Atomic Energy Commission; he chairs the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Commission from 1946 to 1948. He acts as Permanent Representative to the UN from 1948 to 1949, then between 1950 and 1959, he is the President of the Canadian section of the International Joint Commission.

 His son, Brigadier General Edward Murray Dalziel Leslie (born in 1918 as  McNaughton)  was commander of 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery  and served during the Korean War. Leslie died age 61 in 1979. His grandson Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie  was Chief of the Land Staff of the Canadian Forces from 2006 to 2010

Death and burial ground of McNaughton, Andrew George Latta.

   Distinguished visitors at Canadian Corps Headquarters, sometime in 1941. From left to right: Polish Lieutenant-General Władysław Sikorski, Lieutenant-General Andrew McNaughton, the Right Honorable Winston Churchill, Brigadier-General Charles de Gaulle.

McNaughton was awarded the Order of the Companions of Honour and the Order of Leopold in 1946. He passed away on 11-07-1966, age 78. in Montebello, Quebec and is buried at Beechwood Cemetery  Ottawa, Ottawa Municipality, Ontario, Canada, Section 53, grave 21 S.

 

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