RE: IFVs

At 14:37 19/11/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
>	Howdy!
>
>On Thu, 19 Nov 1998, Hedglin, Nils A wrote:
>
>> Actually the idea of using tank chassis' for IFVs was used back in
WWII by
>> the Canadians.  They developed the Ram Mark I-II tanks for use in
Europe,
>> but by the time they got over there & the crews got trained, the
tanks were
>> undergunned & couldn't effectively hurt the Germans.  So, they took
the
>> turrets off, stripped out the unnecessary equipment & turned them
into IFVs
>> (called Kangaroos), flamethrowers (called Wasps I think) & SP AA guns
>> (called Beavers I think).
>> Nils
>
>	The wasp was a universal (Bren) gun carrier with a flamethrower.
>I though that the Kangaroos were Australian?  I don't remember.
>
>	A great way to have a "quick and dirty" APC for your SGII game;
>just pop off the turret and call it a converted troop carrier.
>
>	Later!
>
>	Ken

[Engage tank nut mode]

The original Kangaroo-type APCs were the Canadian "unfrocked Priests"
(M7 SP
Howitzer with the 105mm removed and the gap plated over), then came the
Ram
Kangaroos as described by Nils.  I recall there being a Canadian
Armoured
Carrier Regt. and a UK Royal Tank Regiment (I can't remember the number)
operating them in NW Europe.  Sherman Kangaroos appeared in Italy, and
later
Centaur Kangaroos and even (I've read) Churchill Kangaroos in NW Europe.
The Ram flamethrower was the Badger (like a Kangaroo but with a mild
steel
top over the turret ring.  An ammo carrier equivalent of the 'Roo was
called
Wallaby.  Turretless Stuarts (T8s and home converted) were used by recce
units, as were deturreted Daimler armoured cars. The nearest thing to a
sensible explanation of the name Kangaroo is that it was carrying the
infantry in its pouch.	Most of the above is from the HMSO series on UK
armour in the world wars.

Rob

"Rob Paul

Dept of Zoology
Oxford University
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Oxford
(01865) 271124
----------------------------------------------
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