Armour in Canada (4) Manitoba

Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles in Manitoba

The data and photos found on this page has been compiled by the author, unless otherwise credited.  Any additions, corrections or amendments to the lists of Armoured Fighting Vehicles in Canada found on these pages would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at hskaarup@rogers.com.

Brandon, Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (CATPM)

Minnedosa

(IPMS Winnipeg Photo)

Canadian M4A2 (76)W HVSS Sherman "Easy 8" tank (Serial No. 65019), built by Fisher, Reg. No. 3022998.  Brought to the town in 1970 from CFB Shilo, 12th Manitoba Dragoons.)

Shilo

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)

Afghanistan War Memorial LAV 3, June 2018.

Shilo, CFB Shilo, Royal Canadian Artillery Museum

Inside Museum display

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)

Canadian Military Pattern Field Artillery Tractor “Quad” 4x4 (CMP FAT).

M7B2 Priest 105-mm SP Gun, Gothic Line, Italy, Sep 1944.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3512556)

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

105-mm M7B2 Priest SP Gun, “Zulu Warrior”.

 (Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

155-mm M109A4 SP Howitzer.

Outside Museum display

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)

Canadian Military Pattern Field Artillery Tractor “Quad” 4x4 (CMP FAT) with Limber and QF 25-pounder Gun.

(DND Photos via Clive Law)

Skink 20-mm Quad Anti-Aircraft Tank.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)

Skink 20-mm Quad SP AA Gun Turret.

Centaur Mk. II anti-aircraft vehicle, Canadian Grenadier Guards, Elbeuf, France, 28 August 1944,  None are preserved in Canada.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3593377)

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

Lynx Scout Car Mk II, (Serial No.  CF161179).

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607603)

Otter Light Reconnaissance Car, Italy, c1943.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

Otter Light Reconnaissance Car (Serial No. CM4647096).

Fox Armoured Car, F73339, June 1943.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196710)

Fox Armoured Car, MGen Worthington, Parliament Hill.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4232408)

Fox Armoured Car Mk 1, (Serial No. CF160417).

Staghound T17E1, 12th Manitoba Dragoons, UK, 30 Dec 1943.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3224498)

Staghound T17E1, A Sqn, 12th Manitoba Dragoons, Hochwald, Germany, March 1945.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3202099)

Canadian Staghounds on parade in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 28 June 1945.  (Netherlands Nationall Archief Photo)

T17E1 Staghound Armoured Car Mk III, (Serial No.  CF225539).

GMC C15TA Armoured Trucks with RHLI, Krabbendijke, NE, 27 Oct 1944.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205115)

The General Motors of Canada (GMC) C15TA Armoured Truck was based on the GMC Otter Light Armoured Reconnaissance Car which married the Chevrolet C15A Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) four-wheel-drive chassis, the GM 270-cubic-inch engine, and an armoured body built by the Hamilton bBidge Company.  From the front the vehicle resembled the Otter, while the rear was similar to the White Scout Car.  Its armour was only shoulder high, with weather protection provided by a canvas cover.  It came with run-flat tires and could hold an eight-man crew and their equipment.  The cab seating had two men facing outwards on each side, two faced the rear and two sat in the driver's compartment.  With some modification it could serve as an eight-man APC or as an armoured ambulance or load carrier.  From late 1943 to June 1945, GMC Oshawa built a total 3,961 C15TAs for British and Canadian contracts.  A number of these vehicles remained in military service in Canada after the war until July 1953.

GMC C15TA Armoured Truck, 13 Feb 1945.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607686)

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)

GMC C15TA Armoured Truck.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

M38 A1 CAN 2¼ -ton 4 X 4 Jeep.

Ferret Scout Car Mk 1.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

Iltis ¼- ton Truck.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

M113 C & R Lynx, 62G, CR-2-88, CFR 65-35897.South Gate (Main Entrance).

(J. Hazard Photo)

AVGP Grizzly, CFR 78-37144.

(Hugh Llewelyn Photo)

British FV433 Abbot 105-mm SP Gun, North Cornwall Tank Collection, Dinscott, UK.

British FV433 Abbot 105-mm SP Gun.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

German Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank prototype, 105-mm Gun, Canoe River Memorial.

M101 Museum Workshop

Sexton 25-pounder SP Gun, NW Europe, Nov 1944.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3197576)

Sexton 25-pounder SP Gun Mk II.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607600)

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

Sexton 25-pounder SP Gun, (Serial No. CS172740), part of the Dr. William Gregg Collection donated to the RCA Museum.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3191555)

Sherman V and Stuart tanks, 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division - 29th Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (The South Alberta Regiment) in the village square, Bergen-op-Zoom, Netherlands, 31 Oct 1944.

(CATPM Photo)

M5A1 Stuart Light Tank “Simitar;” (Serial No. WD CT271540), 5232, part of the Dr.  William Gregg Collection donated to the RCA Museum.  On loan to the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba.

M5A1 Stuart tank in service, ca. 1941.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607530)

M5A1 Stuart Light Tank “Simitar;” (Serial No. WD CT271540), 5232, part of the Dr.  William Gregg Collection donated to the RCA Museum.  On loan to the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba.

M3A3 Stuart V light tanks of Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) taking part in an inspection and marchpast of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division, Eelde, Netherlands, 23 May 1945.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524784)

M4A1 Grizzly Cruiser Tank, 47, 33, Shop No. 51, part of the Dr. William Gregg Collection donated to the RCA Museum.

M109A4 155-mm SP Howitzer.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

Honest John Rocket mounted on launch truck.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

Czech RM-70 Multiple Rocket Launcher.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photo)

Russian/Czech 2P25 SA-6 Gainful Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL).

(Author Photo)

Sturmgeschütz III, CFB Shilo, Manitoba, 1973. According to documentation compiled May -Oct 1945 and filed by Captain Farley Mowat with the Historical Section in Ottawa, registered in the Archives 10 Sep 1946, this vehicle is identified as Item 4 on Page 12 as a 7.5-cm StuG 40 (L-43) Assault Gun mounted on a Mk. III tank chassis.  This "specimen had been assigned to the defence of Amsterdam but did not come into action there.  It was recovered from the Germans after their surrender, by the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada."  Specimen Data: 1. Identity: Fahrgestall (Engine) No. 96105, Gun No. R540.  This vehicle was in running order when shipped to Canada.

(Photos courtesy of David Ridd)

This StuG III was one of two located at CFB Shilo up through the 1970s.  It was loaned to a museum in Calgary, but later sold to an American collector who restored it to running condition using an engine from a firetruck.  It was recently shipped to England, where it is shown here undergoing restoration for a Museum in Belgium.

(David Ridd Photos)

The restored StuG III.  A second StuG had been out in the range area at CFB Shilo as a location marker, identity unknown.  It appears to have gone back to Germany in exchange for the German Jagdpanzer Kanone 90-mm Tank Destroyer shown on this website.

Trooper M.E. Lucy of The South Alberta Regiment examining a German 75mm. self-propelled gun near Xanten, Germany, 7 March 1945.  (Ken Bell, Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3401784)

Corporal C. Robichaud of Le Régiment de Maisonneuve examining a disabled German Sturmhaubitz 42 105mm. self-propelled gun, Woensdrecht, Netherlands, 27 October 1944.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205117)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3231053)

Lance-Corporal J.A. Thrasher of The Westminster Regiment (Motor), who holds the PIAT anti-tank weapon with which he disabled this Nashorn (Rhinoceros), initially known as Hornisse (hornet) German Panzerjager (tank hunter) armed with an 88-mm Pak 43 anti-tank gun.  Although it was lightly armoured, its anti-tank rounds could penetrate an Allied tank at long range.  This one was knocked out by Canadian troops of the Westminster Regiment, 5th Canadian Armoured Brigade armed with a portable Infantry anti-tank launcher (PIAT) at Pontecorvo, Italy, 26 May 1946.  on which he is sitting, near Pontecorvo, Italy, 26 May 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3391742)

Nashorn (Rhinoceros), initially known as Hornisse (hornet) was a German Panzerjager (tank hunter) armed with an 88-mm Pak 43 anti-tank gun.  Although it was lightly armoured, its anti-tank rounds could penetrate an Allied tank at long range.  This one was knocked out by Canadian troops of the Westminster Regiment, 5th Canadian Armoured Brigade armed with a portable Infantry anti-tank launcher (PIAT) at Pontecorvo, Italy, 26 May 1946.

(Clive Prothero-Brooks Photos)

German Jagdpanzer Kanone 90-mm Tank Destroyer, outside the Range Control Building.

2 PPCLI, CFB Shilo

Universal Carrier Mk. II (Serial No.  WD CT200441).

Steinbach

(IPMS Winnipeg Photo)

Canadian M4A2(76)W HVSS Sherman "Easy 8" tank (Serial No. 69287), built by Fisher, Reg. No. 30129766.  This tank is in running condition and belongs to a private collector.

Ferret Scout Car.

British FV432 Armoured Personnel Carrier, (Serial No. 06EA 50).

Winnipeg

(Gord Crossley Photo)

M4A2(76)W HVSS Sherman "Easy 8" tank (Serial No. 69041), built by Fisher, Reg. No. 30129520, DND 78-864, dedicated to the Fort Garry Horse, McGregor Armoury, 551 Machray Ave.  

 (Gord Crossley Photo)

M113 C & R Lynx (Serial No. unknown), McGregor Armoury, 551 Machray Ave.

Information on the correct CFR number for this vehicle would be most welcome.  The hull number on the Lynx is on the upper right corner of the glacis plate (vehicle's right) in a rectangle deliberately left bare of grip tread paint, also on the rear door about 3" above the handle pivot and on the observer's hatch between the 2 hinge arm brackets.

(Gord Crossley Photos)

(Keith Drybrough Photos)

Canadian M4A2(76)W HVSS Sherman "Easy 8" tank (Serial No. 69139), built by Fisher, Reg. No. 30129618, DND 78-863, Royal Canadian Legion, Charleswood Branch No. 100, 6003 Roblin Ave.

Major Hal Skaarup has woven together an informative and detailed synopsis of the carefully preserved and restored armoured fighting vehicles on display in Canada. He highlights the importance of these upon key turning points in history when these AFVs were in use as tools of war at home and overseas. We often associate the evolution of military prowess with the advancement of sophisticated technology. Major Skaarup's descriptions of Canadian armour as it evolved to the level it has today reveals that military planners have had to be continuously creative in adapting to the changes in modern combat. They had to devise many intricate techniques, tactics and procedures to overcome the insurgents and opposition forces faced in Afghanistan and future overseas missions where Canadian armour will be brought into play. This guide book will show the interested reader where to find examples of the historical armour preserved in Canada, and perhaps serve as a window on how Canada's military contribution to safety and security in the world has evolved.

Lieutenant-General Steven S. Bowes

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