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The 1st
Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment was unique in the
history of the Canadian Army in that it was a unit both formed on
foreign soil and disbanded on foreign soil.
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.
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1st
Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment |
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Headquarters:
Overseas
Predecessor:
None
Perpetuates:
None
Raised:
24 Oct 1944
Disbanded:
20 Jun 1945
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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 August 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 Gap
battles were successful. A Kangaroo Squadron was organized on 26
August 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 1st
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 Sep) and Calais (25 Sep). 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 later receiving a Military Medal
for the act.
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| Ram
Kangaroo in British service. |
Priest
Kangaroo in British service. |
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"Joan III",
a Ram commanded by Captain H. Kaiser of "B" Squadron, 1 CACR. |
Priest
Kangaroo, with extra armour on hull sides. |
When the modified M7
Priests were returned to the U.S. Army (they had been on loan for
the Normandy Landing), modified Ram tanks were introduced into
service. They were issued at 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 British 2nd Army. The
Squadron went into action at 's-Hertogenbosch on 23 October 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.
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 October 1944, 1st Canadian Army authorized the
formation of the 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment,
and Kanagaroo Squadron at Tilburg was used as a cadre for the
expansion. During the operational lull as 1st Canadian Army wintered
in the Nijmegen Salient, the regiment expanded to two squadrons,
each with 53 Ram Kangaroos divided into four troops. In December
1944, the Regiment was taken from 1st 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 December 1944: 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment.1
The Regiment went into action in January 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
June 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.
Unit Organization
1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier
Squadron (Sep 1944)
A table of organization published 24 August 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)
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Headquarters: 4 Ram Kangaroos
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No. 1 Section: 4 Ram Kangaroos
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No. 2 Section: 4 Ram Kangaroos
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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)
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Signal Troop (1
officer, 5 other ranks of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals)
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123rd Light Aid
Detachment, Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
(60 officers and other ranks)
"A" Squadron Headquarters (3 officers, 2
NCOs, 19 other ranks, 5 Ram Kangaroos, 8 other vehicles)
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Administrative Troop (3 NCOs, 67
other ranks, 14 vehicles)
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Number 1 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Number 2 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Number 3 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Number 4 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
"B" Squadron Headquarters (3 officers, 2
NCOs, 19 other ranks, 5 Ram Kangaroos, 8 other vehicles)
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Administrative Troop (3 NCOs, 67
other ranks, 14 vehicles)
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Number 1 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Number 2 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Number 3 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Number 4 Troop (10 officers, 4 NCOs,
24 other ranks)
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
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Section - 3 Ram Kangaroos
Vehicle Markings
Vehicle markings for the Regiment following assignment to the 79th
Armoured Division consisted of:
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Unit Sign |
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Formation Sign (79th
Armoured Division) |
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123rd LAD (attached) |
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Signals Troop (attached) |
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"A" Squadron |
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"B" Squadron |
Battle Honours
Battle Honours were officially granted the unit on 29 August 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
Le Havre
The Lower Maas
The Reichswald
Goch-Calcar Road
Xanten
The Rhine |
Boulogne,
1944
The Roer
The Rhineland
Moyland Wood
The Hochwald
Groningen |
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North-West Europe, 1944-1945 |
On September 9, 2011, a replica Colour was presented to 31 Combat
Engineer Regiment (The Elgins), who perpetuate the 25th Canadian
Armoured Delivery Regiment, to whom the 1st CACR were
administratively linked in 1944-45. Veterans of the "Kangaroos" were
present at the ceremony. The name on the Colour includes the word
"Personnel". Both General Order
60/45 and 321/45, promulgated in the last year of the war, were the
official authorities for the creation, and disbandment, of the
regiment. The Directorate of History and Heritage, part of the
Department of National Defence, and the approving authority for the
new Colour, insisted that the correct title must be assumed to be
that outlined in the official documentation. It may be noted that
with only one exception, grave markers of the regiment's war dead
are inscribed "1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment".
No written record of a change of
designation to 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment could be found
to support that wording on the replica Guidon.
Image courtesy Michael Reintjes
In the words of historian Mark W. Tonner:
Within the span of approximately
eight hours, on Saturday 10 September 2011, on the lawns of the
St. Thomas Armouries, home station of 31 Combat Engineer
Regiment (The Elgins), the "Kangaroos" were finally presented
their "Colours," after 66 years. It was both a happy and sad
occasion, as their "Guidon" was officially, consecrated,
presented to 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment, Trooped,
and then paraded through the streets of St. Thomas, in a Freedom
of the City parade, stood for a Mess Dinner, and then sadly was
taken to the Officer's Mess of 31 CER, by the "Kangaroos"
Orderly Officer of the day, Lieutenant Harry "Tatch" Tatchell (a
young 99-year-old), where it was officially retired from service
and turned over to the care and safe keeping of the Commanding
Officer of 31 CER, until such time that it will be laid up,
along with the former Guidon of The Elgin Regiment. Until such
time, it is encased in the Officers Mess, opposite the Guidon of
the Elgin Regiment.
Uniform Insignia
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. Image at right from Mark Tonner's collection.
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 it's 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").
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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"). The badge has
been heavily reproduced since the war, the badge at right is
an original, at left a reproduction.3 |
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Officers' badges were in
bronze. |
Collar Badges
In common with other Canadian armoured regiments, sergeants of 1
CACR wore a cap or collar badge on the 3-bar chevrons on their right
sleeve.4 Photos below posted at the Maple Leaf Up forum
by Bill Miller.
Notes
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.
3. Mazeas Reference Number: C.57
4. Storey, Ed. "The Kangaroos" (Militaria Magazine
No.20, October 1995)
