Hi all - newbie question.
My parents were in northern Holland (Assen, Zuidlaren, Groningen) during WW2. That area was liberated by the 2nd Canadian Infantry.
I normally do planes/jets, but would like to branch out into this area.

My question: what armor/vehicles, etc. did the 2nd Infantry use in their liberation of northern Drenthe and Groningen in April 1945?
If you could list the vehicle/armor and who makes a good version in 1/35, it'd be especially helpful.

Thanks in advance.
Harold

Hi Harold

The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division

Fourth Canadian Infantry Brigade
The Royal Regiment of Canada
The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry
The Essex Scottish Regiment

Fifth Canadian Infantry Brigade
The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
Le Régiment de Maisonneuve
The Calgary Highlanders

Sixth Canadian Infantry Brigade
Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada
The South Saskatchewan Regiment

Divisional Troops
8th Recce Regiment (14th Canadian Hussars)
Royal Canadian Artillery
Headquarters, Second Divisional Artillery, RCA

4th Field Regiment
2nd (Ottawa) Field Battery
14th (Midland) Field Battery
26th (Lambton) Field Battery

5th Field Regiment
5th (Westmount) Field Battery
28th (Newcastle) Field Battery
73rd Field Battery

6th Field Regiment
13th (Winnipeg) Field Battery
21st Field Battery
91st Field Battery

2nd Anti-Tank Regiment
18th Anti-Tank Battery
20th Anti-Tank Battery
23rd Anti-Tank Battery
108th Anti-Tank Battery

3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
16th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery
17th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery
38th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers
Headquarters RCE
1st Field Park Company, RCE
2nd Field Company, RCE
7th Field Company, RCE
11th Field Company, RCE
One bridge platoon

Royal Canadian Corps of Signals

Royal Canadian Army Service Corps

Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps

Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps

Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Machine Gun)
(Second Canadian Division Support Battalion)

Canadian Postal Corps
Canadian Provost Corps

Canadian Intelligence Corps

A lot to pick from, you could have a look at canadiansoldiers.com for info on the Div its weapons and equipment

Good Luck

Not sure about the Infantry units, but the Fort Garry Horse (2nd Armored Brigade, I believe) was in the liberation of Groningen with M4A2 Shermans and M5A1 Stuarts. I built a Sherman based on some pics taken on 15 April 1945 in Groningen. link to Build Feature

Regards,

Tom

Thanks, Tom
That's a start.
This link: http://www.oudzuidlaren.nl/html/kelderwoii.html
This shows several vehicles - particularly toward the bottom - during the liberation of Zuidlaren (my Dad's hometown).
ID-ing these Canadian vehicles is what I'm after.

Well, I can't tell exactly what units they belong to (markings aren't visible in most of the pics) but I can identify:

M4 105mm Sherman (covered in spare tracks and girls) - Tamiya and Dragon both do this

Universal Carrier ("Bren Carrier") - Tamiya do one

Staghound armoured car - Italeri offers this, but the one in the pic has a turret similar to the post-war Ferret

Jeeps - Tamiya or Italeri

6-pounder towed anti-tank gun - Tamiya have an old kit, but I thought somebody recently did a better version?...

Marmon-Herrington armoured cars of several types - no plastic kits that I know of

Can't help with the various trucks...

Tom

Sorry, but this is a Daimler Amoured Car, not a Staghound. There are a couple resin kits of this one.



Actually these are Humber light recce cars. There is at least one resin kit of this.

There are also C15TA armoured trucks which are available in resin from Wespe.

I can also see a Chev No 13 cab CMP 15 cwt truck and what is probably an M14 half track.

Other verylikely vehicles would be White M3A1 Scout Cars and Humber Armoured Cars in the Arty regiments, Chev or Ford CMP FATs with the No 13 cab, many different styles of 30 and 60 cwt Ford & Chev CMP trucks, 25 pdrs, 17 pdrs, 6 pdrs, Humber and Daimler Scout Cars, various motorcycles. There would also be a good chance of seeing a Ram Badger, turretless Ram ammo carrier, turretless Stuart V & VI officers' chargers or ambulances.

If you add the supporting Armoured and Armoured Carrier Regiments you have Shermans (Mks I, II, IV, & V), Stuarts (Mk VI but also Mks V & III in subsidiary roles), Ram Kangaroos, AVREs, Crocodiles, Valentine Bridgelayers, Archers and Staghounds.

How's that for a good start?

Paul

the carrier is a Windsor Carrier, the Canadian version of the universal carrier.I believe both Accurate Armour and Resicast make a resin version of it, a bit spendy though.

Ah. Um. Well...

At least I got the Jeep right!

Tom

Well, to be fair to Tom, there are Universal Carrier's in those photos in addition to the Windsors.

:)

And, to be clear, the Windsor was not the Cdn equivalent of the Universal Carrier, we made Universals as well, almost indistinguishable fro mthe Brit versions. The Windsor was a separate vehicle that was a tad longer, had slightly different suspension and was used more to tow 6 pdrs than as a general infantry carrier (although it was used as such, as well). Think of the Windsor as an upgraded Universal. They never replaced the Universals, being used more to suppliment the Universal in certain roles.

Paul

Thanks for the input, guys.
I've only barely dabbled in armor - been mostly a jet guy.
You've given me enough for several years' worth!
But our family story in Holland was never told - only just rediscovered.
I can't wait to start hunting for kits and learning more.

And thanks to the brave Canadians who liberated my folks' hometown.
Without you, I wouldn't be here.