I found it a convincing book and his use of Allied archival material is very good. On the German side it's weaker, and based on secondary source English language accounts. I think he overestimates the strength of 21Pz a lot of whose armour was French or obsolescent German kit. I can't imagine even a Canadian anti-tank gunner (who on occasion were known to mistake Staghounds for Panthers) could confuse a 9 tonne Lorraine Schlepper with a PaK40 for a 50 tonne Tiger. There is no such thing as an SP 10cm Czech howitzer nor a German 1.8mm mortar (talk about "Neede guns")
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Skagfeld
I wondered why the Canadians landed with American SP Priests, while the Americans landed with Canadian built Sextons?
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You will find the answer to that on page 111 of Canada's Pride, the Ram Tank and its Variants" Service Publications, 2014.
The Sexton would indeed have performed marvelously in this role as landing trials in 1943 showed its superiority to the Priest. However
" As part of the invasion force the field regiments of 3rd Canadian Infantry Division were to be equipped with SPs, but had to start training by 1 October 1943. The CAOS could only expect to have 46 Sextons on hand by then, while the WO could provide 96 M7s 105mm SPs immediately. On 2 August 1943, First Canadian Army decided to accept the M7 as a “reasonably good substitute” for the Ram SP. "
I found it interesting to learn therefore that one British Field Regiment did land with Sextons, but in November 1943 with the dispatch of 5 CAD to Italy and reequipping 19 Field Rgt RCA with Priests, all surplus Canadian Sextons were handed over to the Brits and it was agreed that Future Canadian Sexton support and requirements would be met from the British stocks.