Thursday 26 September 2013

Defrocked Priest Decals (Strike again)

So after painting my defrocked priests with formation badges from the British 3rd Infantry Division and the 11th Armored Division... I realised these were wrong!

"The first Kangaroos were converted from 102 M7 Priest self-propelled guns of three field artillery regiments of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division who were involved in the initial assault on 6 June 1944. These were no longer needed, as these regiments were re-equipped with towed 25 pounder guns in late July. At a field workshop (codenamed Kangaroo, hence the name) they were stripped of their 105mm guns, the front aperture welded over, then sent into service carrying twelve troops. They were first used on 8 August 1944 during Operation Totalize south of Caen to supplement the half-tracks available." - Wiki

And

"Four Canadian artillery units - the 12th, 13th and 14th Field Regiments of the 3rd Division and the 19th Army Field Regiment - had exchanged their 25-pounders for Priests in the fall of 1943 as part of their equipment for Overlord. The time was now ripe, with the 3rd Division withdrawn from the line for a well deserved rest, for the three divisional regiments to exchange their borrowed guns for towed 25-pounders as part of a program to re-equip the field regiments of 21st Army Group. (The 12th and 13th Field Regiments began to turn in their Priests on 1 August, followed by the 14th Field Regiment on 3 August...."

"On 31 July Crerar had anticipated that the Americans would agree and had directed Brigadier Grant to be prepared to convert the SP guns to armoured infantry carriers by 9 August, although this date was later moved forward to 6 August." - No Holding Back

So my vehicles should have the markings of 12th, 13th and 14th Field Regiments of the Canadian army - part of 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. I found the formation sign here.



Using a scalpel I carefully removed the formation signs from last night and attempted to match the color of the Divisional sign above.


Not a great picture, but I tried to match the color and used German camo beige to do the maple leaf shape.

The sad bit is my realization that the Canadian's used differed WD numbers than the British army. Basically the same numbers, but with the letter C in front of them. So....


Yeah. I may need help....

[linked image]


Exhibition Image One











3 comments:

  1. Hmmm, bit of a head pickled then bro . . . That's a cracking pick with all the troops inside. Loads of potential there. Maybe a bag of brits with bases removed crammed in?

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  2. I've got troops for inside, they come with two strips of three guys. Got them painted and ready to go once they get the final Matt spray. I decided not to put too much stowage on them as they had been newly converted, but the pics make them look a lot messier!

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  3. Wow, that's some great research skills there! Bravo mate.

    And good work on the emblem.

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