"British Motor Battalion" Topic

I've put together a web page with some info and organisation details for a late war British Motor Battalion

link

Any feedback welcome!

Hi Fred,

You could also add the Polish 10th Dragoons (1st Polish Armoured Division) and the Canadian Lake Superior Regiment (4th Canadian Armoured Division), as both had the same organisation and markings ('54'). The Lake Superiors however, replaced their halftracks with C15TA armoured trucks from October 1945 and added a platoon of 4x Ram Badger flame tanks in 1945.

Cheers,

Mark

October 1944 for the C15TA I think Mark.

G

Did the Canadians definitely replace their halftracks with armoured trucks during the NWE campaign? I know they were supposed to have armoured trucks officially, but as none had been delivered by June 1944 they adopted halftracks, same as the British. I'm sure I've read in a Canadian online report that there still wasn't any change in the policy for using halftracks in lieu of armoured trucks by December 1944, and that there was a recognition that wheeled vehicles were unsutable for the role.

Any pics/accounts of Canadian infantry in armoured trucks that would convince me?!

Gary

Cheers Mark -- I will add the Canadians and Poles.

I think I will just have a note about armoured trucks especially if you and Gary can't agree :-)

Did the Poles predominately have Cromwells and the Canadians Shermans?

I always stand ready to be corrected, just every now and then my suspicions prove correct!

There was a thread a while ago about who had Shermans and Cromwells if you feel like a search through the archives; quick answer all Shermans for the Canadians, mostly Shermans for the Poles (except Cromwells and Challengers with their single Armd Recce Regt) and mostly Cromwells plus varying numbers of Sherman Fireflies for the Czechs.

Gary

Thanks Gary, I must have been thinking about the Czechs re Cromwells.

A quick Google reveals that the Czechs also had a motor battalion -- link

Is there any manufacturers of the armoured truck (in 15mm, maybe 10/12mm) ?

I've been agotating for one in 15mm, but none yet!

There's a photo on Maple Leaf Up of the C15TA with the RHLI in Oct '44 (scroll down):

link

Allen

More pics and usage info (Czechs!):

link

Allen

Nice pics – anyone have an idea on the unit the trucks belonged to based on the serial number shown on the lead vehicle? (Not my specialist area along with paint, medals and tartan types).

If my books are right, the Lake Superior Regiment was the only Cdn Motor Bn in NWE in October 1944, and the RHLI were part of 2nd Cdn Inf Div, which still leaves me wondering about the C15 replacing the Motor Bns halftracks.

Hi Gary,

The info re the C15TA came from a number of gents on the Maple Leaf Up website, who had access to the Lake Sups' histories and diaries. I bowed to their superior wisdom at the time. As I recall, it was a gradual replacement programme (starting with the few White Scout Cars operated by the Canadians) rather than a replacement en masse.

I've not found many photos of them in action and it's often difficulat to identify units when you do, however, I have found two photos positively identified as the Lake Sups in December 1944, showing a full platoon of C15TAs (loaded with infantry) in each photo. I have also seen photographs of a 'car park' in 1945 where they had all been left, awaiting collection by their new Dutch and Danish owners – and there were HUNDREDS of them all lined up.

Yes, I meant October 1944 – sorry.

The '41' marking would normally indicate the Recce Regiment of an Infantry Division, which is somewhat baffling with reference to the Czechs, as they didn't have such a unit. They did however, have a Recce Squadron for a while, but that had been disbanded by 1945 – perhaps they never changed the marking? The Dutch Recce Squadron used '41' and that's actually shown on one of these photographs (note the orange Lion of Nassau badge).

I've never understood why the RHLI would have access to a full platoon of C15TAs, unless a. They 'acquired' unofficially them from somwhere. b. The borrowed them from another unit for a specific task (e.g. halftracks were loaned in this way for Op 'Totalize'). c. The photo caption is wrong (a very common occurrence).

I'd forgotten about the Czech Motor Battalion – they only had two companies (and only two-thirds of the Support Company) until January 1945, when the missing third was added during the Siege of Dunkirk.

Mark, do you know if the Czech Motor Bttn had a regiment name? Or what serial it had?

Thanks Mark, looks like I'll have to change my website again!

The designation was simply 1st Czechoslovak Motor Battalion (in English… I don't recall what it was in Czech!). The markings are listed in a recent article on British tanks markings on the Flames of War site (unfortunately I can't access it from this (work) computer, because we're not allowed to access any 'game' sites).

C15TA trucks were also issued to RASC Transport companies at Corps level.

I mean RCASC!