Call signs

[Perry Kitson]

Does anyone have any official information on how Canadian armoured regiments numbered their tanks, specifically in north-west Europe? There were four shapes to differentiate between HQ and the three squadrons, but how were they numbered?

thanks,

Perry

[Dan Martel]

Perry,

Are you talking about WWII or NATO? Come to think of it, they were both pretty much the same before 1970.

Cheers,
Dan.

[Perry Kitson]

Dan,
Looking for 1944-45 time frame. Most photo's I have seen don't show call signs very well.

Perry

[maple_leaf_eh]

From my picture book, "From DDay to VEDay, The Canadian Soldier" by Jean Bouchery.

Squadrons were lettered A, B, etc which would be Able Baker Charlie Dog etc not Alpha Bravo etc.

Troops were spoken numbers, "Number One", Two, etc.

They did use prowords, like Sunray for the commander. That much is mentioned in "Holding Juno".

Not sure what what each tank would be called.

The number on the bustle of this Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment Tank is 21, and has been suggested to be Tank Bomb. However, that is supposition. In battle, a superior will take over any other tank if theirs is destroyed from underneath them. So, perhaps we need to consider more who was commanding a given tank, not the number of the turret.

[Perry Kitson]

Information I currently have shows RHQ using a diamond shape, "A" squadron using a triangle, "B" using a box, and "C" using a circle. The symbols were coloured differently to denote which regiment in the brigade. Red was the senior regiment, yellow was the intermediate regiment, and blue was the junior regiment. If the above photo is "Bomb", it would supposedly have a blue box on the turret sides and perhaps rear. Would the "21" signify 2nd troop, first vehicle?
I have seen photo's with numbers painted inside the tac signs and painted beside them.
How would the four tanks in each squadron HQ be numbered to tell them from the 3 tanks in each of the five troops the squadron had?

[binglee]

Hi,
Here's a Canadian Grenadier Guards War Diary page from 1944.
It's a waterproofing list.
Looks like HQ tanks had a Z prefix. Rest look like Able XX, Baker XX or something similar.
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oo...27/628?r=0&s=3

Cheers
Bill Inglee

[Rob McCue]

4th Canadian Armoured Division HQ War Diaries had this document showing how they organized their Squadrons & Troops. See attached.

[Ed Storey]

In order to fully understand how the system worked during the SWW, you will need to refer not only to the War Diary entries but also read this 60-page manual which described how the system worked.

[Perry Kitson]

Thank you gentlemen. Things are coming together now.

Rob, did you just pull that image from AC, or did you already have it saved? I have not had much luck with searches on Archives Canada's website.

Perry

[Rob McCue]

Hi,

I had it saved, with the remainder of their war diary, interesting stuff.