Thread: Canadian T16
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Old 17-01-06, 16:46
Gunner Gunner is offline
T' Guns thank God t' guns
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Near Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 777
Default Markings for Juan's T16

Hola Juan:

As you are discovering, one of the hardest parts of doing a restoration is the decision as to which unit to represent. Many factors come into play such as family history (Uncle Fred served in the XXX Fusiliers), geographical (my home town unit is the XX and YY Rifles), personal preference, what vehicle, model and modifications it has, heck, even "look cool" factor counts to some degree. You seem to have some ability in French so you may even decide to do a French Canadian unit as you hinted in your email.

T16's saw less use in comparison to other carrier types. In the Normandy campaign there were approx 1700 carriers in Canadian service. 1017 were Universal carriers, 300 were T16, 216 were Medium Machine Gun carriers, 281 were Mortar carriers and there would have been some armoured OP's but they were liklely included in the total for UC. I don't have a breakdown of how many of the Mortar carriers were T16.

The T16 was used for reconnaisance, as an artillery tractor (the 6 pounder), a limber (support and ammunition vehicle) to the 6 pounder, as a mortar portee (the 4.2 inch) and as a mortar limber for the 4.2 inch.

As it stands right now you have a T16 but no 6 pounder or 4.2 inch mortar so perhaps the easiest version would be the recce role. There are many photos on this site and on the carrier forum showing recce T16's in all their glory. Many had extemporaneous gun mountings for the .50 caliber machine gun which you seem to be able to get as opposed to the Bren. Should you eventually acquire a mortar or anti-tank gun you can always change the markings.

You could model your T16 after one of these photos and Mike Dorosh's excellent site "Canuck" will give you the order of battle for the Normandy campaign so you can figure out where that unit fit in the order of battle. Mike's site also offers excellent material on vehicle markings as does Barry Beldam's "Armoured Acorn" site.

As a Gunner, I think that the colourful artillery markings are most interesting but all the Canadian markings for WW II were colourful and fun to explain to 'tourists' when you are exhibiting your vehicle. As to your question about uniforms, all Canadian troops wore pretty much the same battle dress and it was the shoulder markings and hatbadges which identified the unit and formation to which a soldier belonged. Mike's site has excellent information on that topic as well.

There are other members of this forum much more knowledgeable about this topic so I'll stick to my area of expertise and point out that artillery soldiers, called "Gunners" in our traditions, wore the normal formation badges as per infantry soldiers. The shoulder titles were worn around the epaulette and were red letters on a dark blue background. Anti-Tank examples would be; 1 A/T RCA or 5 A/T RCA. Examples can be found on Mike's site. The beret was the standard issue khaki beret with a large artillery hatbadge identical to that worn by the Royal Artillery. During that period the badges featured a "King's" crown and examples can be found quite cheaply at militaria shows and shops in Canada and the UK.

Once you decide on a unit, you will have many Canadian friends to help you purchase or acquire the badges you need.

Thank you for your compliments about our little museum. Good luck in your project and keep the questions coming. My Spanish is terrible but I can access translation so, if you are stuck for the correct English, use the Spanish expression and we'll figure out what you need.

Salut, y force au canut!

Mike
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Mike Calnan
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("Everywhere", the sole Battle Honour of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery)
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