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| The success of the White M3A1 Scout Car, being used it its role of an armoured lorry, clearly showed the need for such a thing. When in 1943 the Americans decided to phase the M3A1 out of production, the British War Department decided a replacement was needed. They came up with a prototype design: a CMP field artillery tractor, with a fully enclosed armoured body, which was known as the 'Cupola'. | |||||||||||||||||
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The Canadians carried out some drastic re-design and came up with the C15TA, a 15-cwt 4x4 armoured truck based on the Otter LRC. It employed the same GM six cylinder 270 cid engine, but was fitted with a two ratio gearbox. The British placed contracts for 3,000 late in 1943, the remainder going to the Canadian Army. The C15TA was manufactured by General Motors of Canada, with hulls supplied by the Hamilton Bridge Company. During 1943/1944 GM Canada built 3,961 C15TAs at their Oshawa (Ontario, Canada) plant at a price of $4.500 each. These open-topped vehicles were equipped as trucks, eight-seater personnel carriers or ambulances. Extremely popular wherever it served, the C15TA lasted for years after the war, but never succeeded in ousting the White, which at one stage looked like going on for ever. | ||||||||||||||||
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The photo shows an
unidentified troop of C15TA armoured trucks loading an element of Royal
Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI) in late October, 1944. By this time the
RHLI and the rest of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division were deep into
a wet, cold and furious battle for control of South Beveland on the east
side of the Scheldt Estuary.
(Source: Maple Leaf Up) |
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Reportedly, every Canadian Infantry Regiment got at least one C15TA which for the most part was used as the CO's vehicle. The battered example on the left, aptly named 'Aristocrat', shows that the Armoured Truck was a truck in the first place: look at the amount of gear stowed on the front! (Source: C15TA a.k.a. Mosegris) |
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The 1st Canadian Armoured
Carrier Regiment had only one C15TA. The picture, taken in April/May
1945, shows Majors Kaiser and Baldwin standing in front of the L.A.D. HQ's
Armoured Truck.
(Source: Storey, Ed. 'The 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment, 1944-1945'. Militaria Magazine, No.20, October 1995, p.36-41. Storey, 1995, p.41.) |
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C15TA (Z5822489) of
the Czech Independent Armoured Brigade parading through Prague towards
the end of May 1945.
(Source: Wheels & Tracks, no.26) |
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Post-war use After WW2 the C15TA soldiered on
with the British and Canadian Army. One photo shows a C15TA in use as a
17 pdr AT gun tractor with a British Territorial Army Battalion, possibly
The Green Howards, as late as circa 1957. However, it seems most of the
British C15TA's ended up in the areas were the British Army was (or had
been) active like the Middle East,
Korea,
Malaya
and
French Indochina.
The Canadian C15TA's seem to have
all ended up on the vehicle dumps in Holland. Besides Belgium,
Denmark
and Norway,
the
Netherlands was one of the countries that adopted the type for
post-war use.
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The
Netherlands East Indies
Although the C15TA was certainly
not conceived as a 25-pdr field artillery tractor, it apparently served
in this role with a Dutch unit in Indonesia.
(Source: TANKS!) |
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The
Netherlands
After being struck off charge, as with many old warriors, most of the C15TAs were scrapped or ended up on the ranges. During a major clean-up in 1989 half a dozen remaining hulls were removed from a training base at Amersfoort. Being armoured vehicles, they were indiscriminately torched to bits and carted off to the blast furnaces... (Source: Wheels & Tracks No. 28, July 1989, p.7) |
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Denmark: M6 PMV, 4x4, "Mosegris" In use from 1946. It was nicknamed "M6 Otter" because of its familiarity with the Otter Recce vehicle. When the Danish Army Material Command realized that it was too different from the Otter it was named "M6 Mosegris". Used as armoured personnel carrier and communications vehicle. (Note: the photo is linked directly from Danish Army Vehicles Homepage) |
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Norway The Norwegian Army did use a number of C15TAs. Further details are currently unavailable. |
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Spain:
Trumphys
Click here to read more about Spanish Trumpys (Note: the photo is linked directly from PanzerNet-Medios Blindados Españoles) |
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Korean
War
Caption: "Pakchon, Korea. 1950-11-07. Troops of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), ride on the back of an American truck to take up new positions south west of Pakchon. On the back of the truck (far right) is Private Ian Robertson of Sniper Section, who was the Unit photographer." Note: this image (Negative Number: 146969) is linked directly from the Australian War Memorial Photograph Database. It is provided for research purposes only and may not be reproduced or published. |
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to see a photo linked directly from the Hulton Getty Web site. It is captioned: "Units of the Malay armoured car regiment on parade in Kuala Lumpur during the review of the troops by the first King of Malaysia, The Yang Di Pertuan Agong. The ceremony celebrates Malay independence. The ceremony celebrates Malay Independence and took place on 4th September 1957." |
Malaya
(Malaysia)
During the
emergency (communist armed revolt, 1948-60), the Royal Malaysian Police
used dark blue painted C15TAs, providing armoured protection for personnel,
troops, VIPs, etc. The CT15A was the main armoured vehicle used by the
Federation of Malaya Police from 1951 on for patrol and escort duties,
eventually many hundreds were in use.
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Vietnam
War
At the end
of WW2 no French troops were available to occupy Indochina. Until sufficient
forces became available, the Chinese were responsible for Northern Vietnam
while British troops moved into the southern portion. In 1946 they were
replaced by French troops who took over some vehicles, including Universal
Carriers, Coventry ACs, turreted(!) Lynx scout cars, Indian
pattern FAT w/armoured cabs and C15TAs. Many of these were in turn
handed over to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) when the French
pulled out of Indochina. In the 1960s the US Army photographed this C15TA
while it was awaiting repair near Saigon. Note that the hull side armour
has been extended in an effort to improve crew protection.
Simon Dunstan in VIETNAM TRACKS Armour In Battle 1945-75 captioned the picture on the left as follows: "The ARVN employed a wide range of vehicles for convoy escort, including this Canadian 15-cwt GM C15TA Aromored Truck of Second World War vintage. Such elderly equipment was normally used by service support units and 'Ruff-puffs' (RF/PF - Regional and Provincial Forces). (James Loop)" |
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A fair number of C15TAs have survived - click here for an overview of survivors. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Manuals for
the C15TA:
• C15TA-02: GM CANADA, ILLUST. PARTS LIST, TRUCK, ARMOURED , 15 CWT. CWT. 4x4. MOD. C15TA Chassis 8449 (Apr. '45) • TA-C1: 15 CWT. 4x4, CMP, TRUCK ARMOURED, Operation, Maintenance and Repair. (Jun. '44) • CMA-01: CHEV. AND GM ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF MAJOR ASSEMBLIES (Aug. '44) (Engines, transmissions, transfer cases, front & rear axle, steering) Cdn. Military Pattern Vehicles and Armoured Truck, Armoured and Reconnaissance cars and Modified Conventional Vehicles. (50 models) |
Links to C15TA
pages:
Many great pictures of a preserved example in the USA. Note: follow the C15TA Armoured Truck thread on the Maple Leaf Up Forum. Background information and 'official portrait' pictures. Sten Boye Poulsen's site features many pictures of himself serving on a C15TA radio truck in Denmark in the 1960s. Also pictures of preserved examples. |
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Sources:
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Created 10 Jan 2000 Last updated 24 November 2002 Copyright © 2000-2002 H.L. Spoelstra - All Rights Reserved |
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