Kangaroo (armoured personnel carrier)

A Kangaroo was a World War II Commonwealth or British armoured personnel carrier (APC), created by conversion of a tank chassis. Created as an expedient measure by the Canadian Army, the Kangaroos were so successful that they were soon being used by British forces as well. Their ability to manoeuvre in the field with the tanks was a major advantage over earlier designs, and led to the dedicated APC designs that were introduced by almost all armies immediately after the war.

History

In July 1944, Harry Crerar's First Canadian Army was concerned by manpower shortages and Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds, commander of the II Canadian Corps, devised Kangaroos as a way of reducing infantry losses.

The first Kangaroos were converted from 102 M7 Priest self-propelled guns of three field artillery regiments of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division who were involved in the initial assault on 6 June 1944. These were no longer needed, as these regiments were re-equipped with towed 25 pounder guns in late July. At a field workshop (codenamed Kangaroo, hence the name) they were stripped of their 105mm guns, the front aperture welded over, then sent into service carrying twelve troops. They were first used on 8 August 1944 during Operation Totalize south of Caen.

The Priests were subsequently returned to US custody and other vehicles used. The majority of vehicles converted were Canadian Ram tanks or other Priests (which were sometimes referred to as "unfrocked" or "defrocked" Priests). The name Kangaroo was applied to any similar conversion. In the fall of 1944 they were used in Canadian attacks on the various Channel ports, operated by the 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron and the 49th Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment under the 79th British Armoured Division (whose specialized vehicles were called "Hobart's Funnies"). Kangaroos were then used throughout the remainder of the campaign in northwest Europe.

Significance

During the Second World War, most mechanized infantry were carried in light vehicles such as the Sd.Kfz. 251 or M3 Halftrack. These vehicles had much better tactical mobility than a truck, but far less armour or mobility than a tank. This presented a tactical problem: if the carriers were needed so that infantry could accompany tanks, they needed to be just as mobile and just as well protected, particularly since the Canadian and British formations had difficulty in replacing losses. After the Mark IX of the First World War, the Kangaroo was one of the first attempts to solve this problem and, though they were expedient conversions, they largely solved the problem. The Kangaroo can be seen as a Second World War forerunner of the modern armoured personnel carrier.

Gallery

See also

• Churchill tank
• Sherman tank
• Operation Totalize

References

• The Battle for the Rhine 1944, 2005, Robin Neillands (chapter 7, "The Battle for the Scheldt")

External links

• Priest Kangaroo at web.inter.nl.net
• Ram Kangaroo at mapleleafup.org
• Canadian Kangaroos.CA, dedicated to 1CACR