1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment

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The 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment was unique in the history of the Canadian Army in that it was unit formed on foreign soil and disbanded on foreign soil.

Contents

[edit] Lineage

  • Kangaroo Squadron created 26 Aug 1944
  • renamed 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron 28 Aug 1944
  • 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment created from 1 CAPCS 24 Oct 1944.
  • Renamed 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment 1 Dec 1944.
  • Disbanded 20 Jun 1945.

[edit] History

During the Battle of Normandy the requirement for a tracked armoured fighting vehicle to transport personnel over long distances, protected from enemy small arms fire and shrapnel, made itself apparent. In preparation for Operation Totalize in Aug 1944, Lieutenant General G.G. Simonds, commander of II Canadian Corps, ordered the conversion of US M7 Priest self-propelled guns into the Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier. The vehicles were modified and the crews were trained, and their first use during the Falaise pocket battles was successful. A Kangaroo Squadron was organized on 26 Aug 1944, attached to the 25th Canadian Armoured Delivery Regiment (The Elgin Regiment) for administrative purposes. Both the Elgins and the Kangaroo Squadron were army-level assets of First Canadian Army. The second in command of the Elgins, G.M. Churchill, took command of the squadron in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

The Squadron was employed against Le Havre on 2 September 1944, carrying British soldiers of the 51st Highland Division, followed by actions at Boulogne (17 September) and Calais (25 September). At Le Havre, only one infantry casualty was suffered and these actions were again deemed successful. At Calais, a Canadian Kangaroo driver rammed a German Tiger tank, capturing it and earning a Military Medal for himself.

When the modified M7 Priests were returned to the US Army (they had been on loan for the Normandy Landing, modified Ram tanks were introduced into service. They were issued Rouen, and the squadron organized with 16 Ram Kangaroos for each of its four troops. The Squadron moved to The Netherlands, coming under command of the 2nd British Army. The Squadron went into action at 's-Hertogenbosch on 23 Oct 1944, followed by other actions at Schilburg, St.Michiels-gestel, Boxtel, Esch, Moergestel, Tilburg, Kaatsheuvel, Waspik, Waspik-Boven, Raamsdonk and Laan. In the first two months of its existence the Squadron carried out 30 operational lifts.

[edit] Regimental Status

In the meantime, 21st Army Group had been so impressed by the Kangaroo Squadron's ability to deploy infantry that two entire regiments of Kangaroos were authorized, one for each Army under command. On 24 Oct 1944, First Canadian Army authorized the formation of the 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment, and Kangaroo Squadron at Tilburg was used as a cadre for the expansion. During the operational lull as First Canadian Army wintered in the Nijmegen Salient, the regiment expanded to two squadrons, each with 53 Ram Kangaroos divided into four troops. In Dec 1944, the Regiment was taken from First Canadian Army and, with the British 49th Armoured Carrier Regiment, attached directly to British 79th Armoured Division. The Regiment was also renamed, as Lieutenant Colonel Churchill felt that "Personnel" would imply the regiment was part of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps rather than the Canadian Armoured Corps, and so a new name was approved taking effect 1 Dec 1944: 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment.[1]

The Regiment went into action in Jan 1945 in the province of Limburg, assisting in a variety of assaults on Susteren, Baakenhoven, Dieteren, Oud Roosteren, Echt, Schilberg, Koningsbosch, Steaten, Erpen, and the German towns of Uetterath, Dremmen and Heinsberg.

In February 1945, the Regiment saw action in The Rhineland during Operation Veritable, taking part on attacks on Kranenburg, Frasselt, Schottheide, Bresserberg, Kleve, Moyland, Hasselt, the road to Veen and Xanten. After a short rest, the regiment participated in Operation Plunder in Mar 1945, becoming the first Canadian armoured regiment to cross the River Rhine on 26 March 1945, and participating in attacks on the Dutch towns of Millingen, Megchelen, Landfort, Ruurlo, Borculo, Barchem, Lochem, Haarle, Assen, Hooghalen, Rolde, Balloo, Loon and Groningen. The last lift of the war was made on German soil on 5 May 1945, near Oldenburg.

The Regiment concentrated at Penheim, Germany and at 23:59hrs on 20 Jun 1945 the Regiment disbanded.

During their brief existence, the Regiment lost 17 men killed and 71 wounded, and conveyed soldiers from 38 separate British infantry regiments and 20 Canadian infantry regiments into battle.

[edit] Unit Organization

1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron (Sep 1944)

A table of organization published 24 Aug 1944 listed an establishment of 4 troops of 25 Kangaroos each (100 vehicles total) with 131 personnel of all ranks.

The actual organization consisted of 50 Kangaroos after 1 Sep 1944.

  • No. 1 Troop: 14 Priest Kangaroos
  • No. 2 Troop: 12 Priest Kangaroos
  • No. 3 Troop: 12 Priest Kangaroos
  • No. 4 Troop: 12 Priest Kangaroos
  • Light Aid Detachment, 1st CAPCS, RCEME (attached)
1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron (Oct 1944-Nov 1944)
  • No. 1 Troop (16 vehicles total)
    • Headquarters: 4 Ram Kangaroos
    • No. 1 Section: 4 Ram Kangaroos
    • No. 2 Section: 4 Ram Kangaroos
    • No. 3 Section: 4 Ram Kangaroos
  • No. 2 Troop: as per No. 1 Troop
  • No. 3 Troop: as per No. 1 Troop
  • No. 4 Troop: as per No. 1 Troop
  • Light Aid Detachment, 1st CAPCS, RCEME (attached)
1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment (Dec 1944-May 1945)
  • Regimental Headquarters (9 officers, 10 NCOs, 49 other ranks, 23 vehicles)
    • Signal Troop (1 officer, 5 other ranks of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals)
    • 123rd Light Aid Detachment, Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (60 officers and other ranks)
  • "A" Squadron
    • Squadron Headquarters (3 officers, 2 NCOs, 19 other ranks, 5 Ram Kangaroos, 8 other vehicles)
      • Administrative Troop (3 NCOs, 67 other ranks, 14 vehicles)
      • Number 1 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
      • Number 2 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
      • Number 3 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
      • Number 4 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
  • "B" Squadron
    • Squadron Headquarters (3 officers, 2 NCOs, 19 other ranks, 5 Ram Kangaroos, 8 other vehicles)
      • Administrative Troop (3 NCOs, 67 other ranks, 14 vehicles)
      • Number 1 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
      • Number 2 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
      • Number 3 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
      • Number 4 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs, 24 other ranks)
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
        • Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos

[edit] Battle Honours

Battle Honours were officially granted the unit on 29 Aug 1958, though the regiment had disbanded in 1945. Had a successor unit been formed to the 1 CACR, these honours would have been granted the perpetuating unit as well.[2]

Honours in bold have been selected for emblazonment:

Le Havre
The Lower Maas
The Reichswald
Goch-Calcar Road
Xanten
The Rhine

Boulogne, 1944
The Roer
The Rhineland
Moyland Wood
The Hochwald
Groningen
North-West Europe, 1944-1945

[edit] Uniform Insignia

[edit] Cap Badge

The original badge design depicted a Kangaroo with three babies in its pouch, with the unit's proposed name (1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment (1 CAPCR)) rather than the motto. A drawing was supplied by the badge manufacturer J.R. Gaunt & Son of London.

A letter from the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Churchill, to the Brigadier, Royal Armoured Corps at the headquarters of First Canadian Army dated 16 Nov 44, included four paragraphs pertaining to the cap badge.

The sample badge herewith submitted represents the Kangaroo. This animal is in a sense associated in all minds with Australia, but the term 'Kangaroo' has been applied to this organisation from its inception in July and has been used in official documents relating to the activities of the original squadron and had become widely and favorably known throughout the field formations of the First Cdn Army and Second British Army. The Kangaroos of Canada have been in action successfully at Le Havre, Boulogne, Calais, Schindel, St. Michills Gestel, Hertogenbosch, Geertruindenberg and Tilburg. It is difficult therefore, at this stage, to overlook the use of a term & a symbol that have become so closely associated with the activities of the regiment.
As the designation of the regiment is perhaps not yet firm, consideration has been given to omitting from the badge the inscription as shown & substituting the motto of the regiment "Armatos fundit". This has been taken from Virgil's Aenid Bk II, where reference is made to the first "Kangaroo" recorded in history, namely the Trojan Horse which so successfully transported Greek Warriors right into the midst of the enemy's fortifications. Freely translated the motto read: "It pours forth armed men."
The arguments in favour of adopting the Kangaroo for the cap badge apply with equal force to the use of the word "Kangaroo" on the shoulder flash. The colour scheme makes use of black as used in the beret of the CAC & orange because of the link with Holland (sic), in which country the regiment has been formed.
The officers & other ranks who have served with the original squadron the last four months are unanimously in agreement upon the design of the badge & shoulder flash herewith submitted.

A reply was forthcoming from the BRAC on 21 Nov 1944; the badge was to use the Kangaroo without babies, and use the motto rather than the unit's name. As it turned out, the name of the unit was to be 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment (in other words, without the word "Personnel").

The regiment adopted a bronze cap badge, designed by their commanding officer, worn on the black beret of the Canadian Armoured Corps. The design was an erect Kangaroo above the legend Armatos Fundit (Latin: "Bearing Armed Men").

[edit] Formation Patches

The 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment served with the British 79th Armoured Division and wore the Formation Patches of that formation.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tonner, Mark W. The Kangaroo in Canadian Service (Weapons of War series, Service Publications, Ottawa, ON, Aug 2005.)
  2. ^ 1 CACR Association website, accessed 10 Jun 2006.