After forming on 11th February 1941, the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade adopted the sign of a ram in white on a khaki ground, officially authorised in a Routine Order (RO) of 22nd June 1941. The ram was worn on the upper left sleeve and a British-style Tank badge on the upper right. These badges appear to have been worn in conjunction with unit shoulder titles. By spring 1942 it seems that plans to replace the ram were being openly discussed, probably in the context of rationalising existing Canadian formation patches with the impending creation of a second Canadian Corps. Around April 1942 the Brigade stated that it wished to dispense with unit shoulder titles for its armoured units in favour of the generic Canadian Armoured Corps shoulder title, but to carry abbreviated numerical unit designations imposed on the Brigade patch. This was contrary to preferred NDHQ wishes but was similar to the style approved for 5th Armoured Division and permission was granted by CMHQ in RO 2305 of 22nd October 1942. Henceforth, Brigade HQ would wear a black diamond patch with red central stripe, with no distinctions superimposed, and the armoured units would have the abbreviations of their official numeric Canadian Armoured Corps titles superimposed over the red central stripe, as in 11CTR, 12CTR and 14CTR (Canadian Tank Regiment). In common with other Canadian formations, the Brigade's corps and services units (ie: Signals, Service Corps, Ordnance, Medical and Chaplains) also wore a distinction superimposed on the central stripe of the new formation patch. This took the form of the initials of the corps in yellow (gold) letters for the RCASC, RCASC and CCS (Canadian Chaplain Service), white letters (RCCS) on a blue tablet for Signals and a cherry tablet with no letters for RCAMC. For additional notes on corps and services distinctions generally, see INS 259. While serving in the Mediterranean, on 26th August 1943 the Brigade was formally re-designated 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. This made the existing CTR abbreviation obsolete, the correct form now being CAR (Canadian Armoured Regiment). Presumably too occupied with the imminent invasion of Italy to deal with changes in insignia, it was not until April 1944 that the Brigade formally sought permission to change to CAR patches. CMHQ's reply was that it was now policy that unit shoulder titles would be used with a plain formation patch. This response did not appear to sanction the requested new patches but there is good evidence that patches bearing 11 CAR and 12 CAR were worn for a short period in early 1945. There is also evidence that at least the Ontarios (11 CAR) at some stage wore the officially preferred style of a unit shoulder title with a plain Brigade patch. The 14th (Calgary) Regiment appears to have been unique in that, at some stage, it wore a unit shoulder title but with the old 14CTR Brigade patch. There appears to be no sound evidence for a 14 CAR patch. At the time of this entry (November 2007), it has not been possible to find firm evidence for when the various changes and combinations were adopted or to what extent the different styles among the regiments overlapped. It is likely that there was disparity between what each unit was wearing from the end of 1944 up to and including re-deployment to North West Europe. It seems reasonable to speculate that the units of the Brigade had ordered their CAR patches in anticipation that approval would be a formality. It was the responsibility of individual units themselves to devise and have manufactured their unit insignia, all of which would take time. It is also the case that wholesale amendments to uniform insignia are likely to require a period when the units concerned are out of the line. Following the exchange of correspondence about the CAR patches, the first time this happened for the Brigade was in November 1944. It is therefore possible that wearing the CAR patches date from around November 1944. This ties in with the otherwise unexplained comment in the official history that the change of title from Tank to Armoured did not become effective in the field until November. To the extent that there was a change to shoulder titles, with plain or embellished patches, this would have had to await the delivery of new manufacture, and orders could not have been initiated until after the exchange of correspondence with CMHQ in April –May 1944. The anomalous Calgary combination may indicate that they were able to stop any action on their CAR patches but it does not explain why they had not exchanged their old embellished patches for plain ones. Note that there was an additional small unit of the Brigade that wore its own patch. The 1st Armoured Brigade Assault Troop (see formation history below) was formed in June 1944 and wore the Brigade patch with '1 ASSAULT' embroidered over. This unit was disbanded on the transfer to North West Europe. It is interesting to note that some signs exist of the 1 Brigade black diamond with the legend 'nn RCAR', presumably for Royal Canadian Armoured Regiment. It has not at the time of this entry (March 2007) been possible definitely to identify the provenance of these badges. It is unlikely that they date from WW2 as the Brigade was disbanded and the constituent regiments demobilized at the beginning of July 1945, one month before the 'Royal' prefix was formally adopted by the Corps on 2 August 1945. However, it is just possible that these patches were made in anticipation of the imminent change. Alternatively, these badges may have been produced for wear in Canada after April 1946 when the regiments were reconstituted in the Reserve, bearing the same titles as they wore at the end of WW2 but with the Royal prefix (thus, eg: 11th Royal Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Ontario Regiment)). They may also, of course, be entirely spurious products of the militaria industry. Formation history. The creation of Canada's first armoured formation had been approved on 13 August 1940, concurrent with the formation of the Canadian Armoured Corps to which all armoured units would belong. The Brigade came fully into existence at Camp Borden in October that year and was designated 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. It comprised at that time a militia cavalry regiment, The Fort Garry Horse (originally designated the divisional cavalry regiment for 2nd Infantry Division but left behind when the Division went to the UK in July 1940), the Ontario Regiment (Tank) and the Three Rivers Regiment (Tank). The latter were two of the seven militia infantry units converted to the tank role in the re-organization of 1936. Initially, the Brigade had a fourth unit, 1st Canadian Cavalry Regiment (Mechanised), a composite unit formed in January 1940 from the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Lord Strathcona's Horse and 1st Hussars. On 11 February 1941 all armoured units of the Canadian Armoured Corps were numbered sequentially within the Corps. Precedence in the corps was originally based first on cavalry and then on infantry seniority, but after 1941 simply according to when the unit joined. The type of regiment was appended to the number (ie: Armoured Car, Army Tank, Armoured, Armoured Reconnaissance, Reconnaissance) and all regiments in addition retained their name titles as parenthetic distinctions. When 1st Armoured Division was formed on 27th February 1941, 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade was assigned to it. However, at some point the decision seems to have been taken that the armoured units of the Division would be found from the cavalry arm and as a result the two converted infantry regiments were transferred out. They were assigned to the newly-formed (11 February 1941) 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade and re-designated as 11th Army Tank Battalion (the Ontario Regiment) and 12th Army Tank Battalion (the Three Rivers Regiment). 1st Armoured Brigade's commander was also transferred to the new Tank Brigade at that time, Brigadier Worthington. At the beginning of March they were joined by the 14th Army Tank Battalion (The Calgary Regiment). In May 1942 the designation 'Tank Battalion' was changed to 'Tank Regiment', abbreviated CTR for Canadian Tank Regiment. On 26th August 1943 Tank Regiments were again re-designated, now as Armoured Regiments, and the Tank Brigades became Armoured Brigades. The Brigade remained throughout the war a de facto infantry support brigade and therefore seldom if ever fought as a formation, individual regiments usually assigned to support other formations. The 1st Army Tank Brigade was the first Canadian Armoured formation to go overseas, arriving in the UK in June - July 1941. Shortly before embarkation the Brigade HQ was brought up to strength by mobilizing a squadron of the New Brunswick Regiment. This was to ensure representation of the Maritime Provinces, something that was seen as politically important. On its arrival, the Brigade received a training scale of Valentine and Churchill tanks, the latter being some of the first to be produced. 11 CTR was the first to be equipped with the Churchill, the other regiments having the Valentine and some Matildas. The Brigade was fully equipped with Churchills by January 1942 and trained on Salisbury Plain, then in Sussex and later Scotland. The Brigade had the dubious double distinction of being the first Canadian armoured formation to fight in an amphibious operation and on the European mainland when it supplied the 14th CTR (Calgary Regiment) for the ill-fated Dieppe Raid on 19th August 1942. In March 1943 the Brigade converted briefly to the Canadian Ram tank. When selected for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, it converted again, this time to Shermans, the standard tank in the Mediterranean. On moving to Scotland for invasion training at the beginning of May 1943 they took over the Shermans of 33rd Army Tank Brigade, the British formation originally designated for the invasion. The Brigade had one regiment, 12th CTR (Three Rivers Regiment) detached for the Sicily assault. 12 CTR was in support of 1st Canadian Division and the first squadron landed on the right, Roger Beach, with the reserve at about 10.00 a.m. on D Day, 10th July 1943. The Regiment was in almost continuous action until it reverted to Brigade command when 1st Division was withdrawn at the beginning of August. The remainder of the Brigade initially came under command of 7th Armoured Division's tactical HQ as part of 8th Army reserve. It landed at Syracuse, the tanks on 13 July 1943 and HQ and B Echelon four days later. Their first deployment was on 23 July in a defensive position on the south Catania plain and on 28 July the Brigade came under command of 13 Corps. On 31 July 11CTR (Ontario Regiment) was detached in support of 13 Brigade in 5th (British) Division. The balance, with additional units under command, remained in defensive positions. The Brigade concentrated on 11 August. On 26 August 1943 the Brigade was officially again re-designated, now as 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, the individual regiments becoming Canadian Armoured Regiments (CAR). This re-designation did not take effect in the field until November. In Operation Baytown, the invasion of Italy on 3 September 1943, the Ontarios again supported the British 5th Division and the Calgaries the 1st Canadian Division. The Three Rivers Regiment moved to Italy on 24 September and on 3 October were placed under command of British 78 Division in 13 Corps and rushed forward to the threatened Commando and divisional beachhead at Termoli. There, on 6 October, they successfully supported attacks that consolidated the area. Thereafter the Brigade's regiments supported various formations, including those under command of 1 Canadian Corps, although it did not come under command of that Corps. It fought in the battles for the Biferno River in October 1943, the Moro River, Ortona and Casa Berardi in December, Cassino, the Gari River and the Liri Valley in May –June 1944, the Trasimene Line and the Appenines. In early June 1944, 1st Canadian Assault Troop was formed. This was a small (around 85 all ranks) Brigade sub-unit similar in function to an infantry battalion's Pioneer Platoon. Formed from Canadian Armoured Corps personnel, they were trained to keep open routes for tanks by means of demolitions and mine-clearing and organized so that one section could be assigned to each armoured regiment in the Brigade. (5th Assault Troop was formed at the same time to work with 5th Armoured Brigade, 5th Armoured Division.) Both these sub-units were disbanded on transfer to North West Europe in the spring of 1945. At the beginning of February 1945 all Canadian troops were transferred to North West Europe for the spring offensive there. This brought all Canadian forces to be concentrated under 1st Canadian Army for the first time. The move was codenamed Operation Goldflake. 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade embarked on 8th March 1945, they were in Belgium one week later and in action before the end of the month in support of British 49th Division on 'the Island' north of Nijmegen. They claimed at the time to have been in action longer than any other Canadian formation in the war. The Brigade ended the war in the same general area, having supported the final operations to break the last German resistance in Holland. The Brigade was disbanded by the beginning of July 1945.
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