These are my observations:
1. Note that the Australian Government had advised the Canadian Department of National Defence back in June 1940 that they wished to acquire 1,900 CMPs or rather DND-patterns they were then or War Office types, or Canadian War Office types. Carr seems to have shrugged at this...he had the demand from the British for thousands on his desk and the Brits wanted priority over the Canadian orders, and yet the factories were struggling to cope with the latter!
2. The hypocrisy of elements of the British Ministry of Supply, War Office and Exchange Requirements Committee have to be understood. It was generally and genuinely felt that we had no dollars to pay for North American supplies, that the Canadian forces would be supplied by the British from British production for which the Canadians would pay in dollars or sterling, and that if it came to the crunch the Americans would step in. However that latter point overlooked the fact that dollars and gold had to be expended directly under "Cash and Carry" then applicable.
3. This then changed with the French capitulation, which meant:
a) Diverted French orders for thousands of vehicles could be snapped up for nothing and
b) Resources had to be switched to the Middle East and North and East Africa and
c) The invasion scare required Australian, Canadian and New Zealand troops to be equipped to defend the homeland.
When the invasion was off, the AIF and NZEF could be sent to North Africa, and military transport was sent out to the Mid-East where it was required [as well as subsequently Kenya, Singapore, and then Ceylon and India].
4. By the end of June 1940 and the fall of France it was clear that MT was required for the Mid-East etc on top of the French orders; that British supply was never going to be enough and was going to be be hampered by air raids, and plans had to be considered for the invasion of Europe, possibly in 1942. This was the 'Z + 27' Plan. The Army Z + 27 programme called for a total of 256,748 motor vehicles to be delivered between 1 August 1940 and 30 November 1941, excluding those delivered by 1 August 1940.
5. By the time that the the AIF and NZEF had been shipped from the UK to join the forces already there, they needed transport. The British had ordered vehicles for direct delivery and also arranged to send out vehicles assembled in the UK. It must have been very galling for the AIF top brass to see British-ordered vehicles arriving that were ideal for their requirements and they could not get hold of any. The same no doubt applied to the NZEF, although not the Indian Army.
6. Summarising the financial arrangements, the British Government took over responsibility for ordering and supply for the East. Any Australian supplies were to be paid for by the Ministry of Supply then charged back to the Australian Government through the High Commission in London. At some stage the War Office in London must have acceded to Australian requests, released thousands of vehicles from WO stocks in north Africa, and then arranged for financial settlement in due course. As to when this all kicked in, I would suggest June 1941 at the earliest. However I am sure that local commanders had already arraneged issues/loans of MT to the Dominion forces, and the paperwork may have caught up later.
7. The Australian Government arranged for thousands of Canadian vehicles to be supplied direct, but these were all it seems initially orderdf through London. However requests for details of US Army orders for 4 x 4 Chevrolets from GM were directed to be made through the Australian Government's representative in Washington. Understandable in view of the involvement of the Pentagon in overseas military sales, as this directly impinged on GM production for the Army. It would appear that these US military Chevrolets were outside the Canadian ordering system and thus the British system. I can add here that GM had two offices dealing with war supplies, one in NYC and the other in Washington, and Ronald K Evans, an experienced GM Overseas man was based in Washington and dealt with the NEI orders, as well as the Yugoslav, Afghan, and any other countries' orders that I do not know of, plus possibly sales of trucks for use as ambulances in the UK, or for food and relief work paid for by American citizens. These were often military-spec or similar to but are more lijkely to have been dealt with through the NYC office which handled export sales.
8. As we all now, at the end of the day when the AIF, IA and NZEF were shipped out from the Mid-East, the vehicles went with them. Amongst them were evidently survivors of the first British orders for # 11 Cabs, that arrived perhaps in December 1940.
That concludes this Essay.
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http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...3649#post63649