The 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade was an

armoured Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or ...

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

of the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases acr ...

that saw active service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The brigade was composed of the 6th, 10th and 27th Canadian Armoured regiments and saw service in northwest Europe, landing in Normandy on D-Day and remaining in combat up to

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade formation sign

History

Soon after the

3rd Canadian Tank Brigade Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * High ...

assumed the designation in summer 1943 of the original 2nd Canadian Tank Brigade, the new 2nd Tank was redesignated and reorganized as 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. Although reorganized as an armoured brigade, no motor battalion served under its command. The brigade was assigned to the British 2nd Army in January 1944 to train for the upcoming

amphibious assault Amphibious warfare is a type of Offensive (military), offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the opera ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. This formation rarely fought as an entity. Its primary role was infantry support and thus its regiments were usually individually tasked out to infantry units to participate in particular operations. One of the occasions when the Brigade did undertake an operation on its own, the Battle of Le Mesnil-Patry on 11 June 1944, ended with only a partial success and severe losses to the Canadians. Following the landing in Normandy, the brigade fought at

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Canadian 1st Army and the British 2nd Army.

Formation

6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse) 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment) The Sherbrooke Hussars is a Primary Reserve armoured regiment of the Canadian Forces and perpetuates the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment of the Second World War. Lineage The Sherbrooke Regiment The Sherbrooke Regiment was initially formed on 21 ...

* "C" Squadron, 25th Armoured Delivery Regiment (The Elgin Regiment) Formed as the 2nd Canadian Army Tank Brigade on 26 January 1942, this formation consisted of the

24th Army Tank Battalion (Les Voltigeurs de Québec) Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sov ...

(replaced in June 1942 by the 20th Army Tank Regiment (16/22 Saskatchewan Horse)), 23rd Army Tank Battalion (The Halifax Rifles), and the 26th Army Tank Battalion (The Grey and Simcoe Foresters). Equipped with Ram II tanks, in the autumn of 1942 the brigade trained at the newly opened Meaford AFV range on

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

where the Halifax Rifles had the honour of conducting the first field exercise.

European deployments

United Kingdom

In June 1943 the brigade was dispatched to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The following month came an intensive inspection of the units of this brigade and of the

3rd Canadian Army Tank Brigade Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Harry Crerar, the commander of

I Canadian Corps I Canadian Corps was one of the two corps fielded by the Canadian Army during the Second World War. History From December 24, 1940, until the formation of the First Canadian Army in April 1942, there was a single unnumbered Canadian Corps (Worl ...

. The purpose of the inspection was to determine which of the two brigades would remain on the order of battle since there was only room for one such formation. The brigade chosen was the 3rd: The

1st Hussars , march = "Bonnie Dundee" , anniversaries = Juno Beach, Le Mesnil-Patry , battles = Fenian RaidsSecond Boer WarFirst World WarSecond World WarWar in Afghanistan , battle_honours ...

, The Fort Garry Horse, and The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment. The 3rd Canadian Army Tank Brigade was raised on 1 January 1943 following a reorganization of the Canadian Armoured Corps in Britain. It adopted the designation 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade (2 CAB) after it was selected by Lieutenant-General Crerar to remain on the order of battle. In August 1943 it was selected to be part of the

D-Day invasion The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

force in support of the units of the

3rd Canadian Infantry Division The 3rd Canadian Division is a formation of the Canadian Army responsible for the command and mobilization of all army units in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, as well as all units extending westwards from th ...

D-Day

The brigade's three regiments landed in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Unlike their peers in the

4th Canadian Armoured Brigade The 4th Canadian Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade of the Canadian Army during World War II. It was part of the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division. Organization As of 1942 the 4th Canadian Armoured Brigade comprised: * 21st Armoured Reg ...

, who were usually paired with their division's

10th Canadian Infantry Brigade The 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade was a formation of the Canadian Army in both World War I and World War II. The brigade fought on the Western Front during World War I, and in Normandy and north-west Europe during World War II. It formed par ...

, the 2nd was paired with any infantry who needed armour support. The Campaign in North-west Europe 1944-45 B14681

On 31 July 1944, following a series of battles with heavy infantry losses, Canadian Lieutenant General Guy Simonds ordered the creation of an armoured carrier regiment and the modification of underused American-made M7 Priest self-propelled guns. The 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Squadron was formed, and administered as a squadron of 25th Armoured Delivery Regiment until October 19, 1944, when the squadron was converted to a regiment. This formation rarely fought as an entity. Its primary role was infantry support and thus its regiments were usually individually tasked out to infantry units to participate in particular operations. One of the occasions when the brigade did undertake an operation on its own, Le Mesnil-Patry / Rots on 11 June 1944, ended with only a partial success and severe losses to the Canadians. 2 CAB fought in the

North West Europe Campaign The North West Europe campaign was a campaign by the British Commonwealth armed forces in North West Europe, including its skies and adjoining waters during World War II. The term Western Front has also sometimes been used informally. The United S ...

, longer than any other armoured formation, from D-Day to

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

, suffering 435 fatal casualties in total. Two of the brigade's tanks, '' Holy Roller'' of the 1st Hussars, and ''Bomb'' of the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, fought continuously from D-Day to the end of the war, the only Canadian tanks to fight unscathed across Northwest Europe. ''Holy Roller'' remains the memorial of the Hussars in London, Ontario, and ''Bomb'' is preserved today at the William Street Armoury of the Sherbrooke Hussars in

Sherbrooke, Quebec Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional count ...

.Sandy MacDonald , “Lieuts Walter White, Ernest Mingo and ''Bomb''”, ''Sunday Daily News'', November 11, 2001
/ref>

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

* Marteinson, J.K. and McNorgan, Michael. (2000). ''The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps: An Illustrated History''. Kitchener: Robin Brass. Canadian World War II brigades Armoured units and formations of Canada Military units and formations disestablished in the 1940s