Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 83 The ‘Kangaroo Regiment’ was unique in the history of the Canadian Army, in that they were formed on foreign soil and disbanded on foreign soil. One of its members was Francis Nelson Whynot from Mahone Bay, NS. Francis Nelson Whynot joined the 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment in November 1944; a few weeks before the unit was renamed as the 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment (1st CACR). In December 1944 the 1st CACR was transferred to the 79th Armoured Division of the 2 Corps of the British Army. The regiment was formed in the Netherlands in November 1944 and was disbanded in the same country in July 1945. Why Kangaroos? 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 inAugust 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 concept was to carry infantry into battle much like a mother kangaroo carried her young. 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). By November the ‘kangaroos’ were primarily converted Canadian Ram tanks. Francis Nelson Whynot, MM Story by Gary Silliker RAM Kangaroo continued ...
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==