T16s in service?

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

(1) I know T-16s had a great reputation in early spring 1945 in their ability to cross mud flats during Operation VERITABLE. I cannot, however, give you numbers or specific assignments;

(2) I also have photographic proof that a few of the antitank platoons in Canadian regiments were issued T-16s 'to try out' in the spring of 1945. An example comes to mind - a single T-16 issued to the AT PLT of the 48th Highlanders, tried but rejected in favour of their previously-used 15cwts, primarily because of the lack of crew and storage space. I can imagine this was the stance taken by more than a few of those regiments;

(3) We also have photographic proof of T-16s used by recce units such as the Lake Superior Regiment, generally armed with whatever machine guns which could be scrounged, and most likely accepted because of their cross-country mobility and low profile;

(4) Overall, we have had suggestions that many of the T-16 production run never made it into the front lines, but it's clear many also did... how many in Canadian units vs in British units remains a question to be answered however, although it was a demonstrably better carrier than the standard UC (and maybe even than the vaunted Windsor) due to its extra bogie wheels, differential steering system and Mercury V-8 engine.