Apr1945

15^th Army Group AFV Situation Report 7 April 1945

Cruiser Tanks – Sherman

	II	III	V	IIA	IC	VC	IB	V Crab	DD	Ark	B/L	Fascine	Kangaroo Sherman	Kangaroo Priest	Grant Scorpion	Grant T.2 ARV
6 Armd Div	5	60		112	27		17					3				1
6 SA Armd Div			15	126	12		18				2					3
2 Armd Bde			5	98	35		28			4		9				3
7 Armd Bde	6		1	32	12		9					2				2
9 Armd Bde excl 14/20 Hussars		16			5		4		65				52	56		3
4 NZ Armd Bde		122				24	18									2
28 Armd Bde*		118			34		18									3
21 Tank Bde	4		6
14/20 H			18			6	4							40		2
Armd Ops RA	24	64	64
25 Armd Engr Bde		16	6				3	11			8
Tank Replacement Group	126	214	126	170	25	15	48	3	16	1	6	6	4
IN GREECE
23 Armd Bde			69			2	1
311 Fwd Dely Sqn		50	22				1
Total with Formations	165	660	332	538	150	47	169	14	81	5	16	20	56	96	0	20
Total Ordnance Stock Workshops & Training	298	579	417	147	37	40	86	33	0	2	2	0	1	2	26	4
TOTAL AFVs IN N AFRICA AND ITALY	463	1239	749	685	187	87	255	47	81	7	18	20	57	98	26	24
In Transit from UK						15							51
In Transit from US
GRAND TOTALS	463	1239	749	685	187	102	255	47	81	7	18	20	108	98	26	24

28 NZ Assault Sqn held Sherman ARKs and Fascine Carriers, which are not shown, possibly as it was an engineer unit, however this is inconsistent with the inclusion of Churchill AVREs & ARKs elsewhere. Sherman III Dozers (25 Armd Engr Bde) and Sherman V Dozers (Armd Bdes) are not shown seperately, and are probably included in the 75mm gun tank figures.

The Sherman Bridgelayers (B/L) are pairs of vehicles modified to act as pushers and carriers for Plymouth mobile Bailey bridges. DDs are Sherman III, ARKs are Sherman V (those held by 2 Armd Bde are Twaby ARKs). 2 Armd Bde fascine carriers were based on the Sherman IIA, whilst Sherman I (and therefore IBs) and II had been earmarked for conversion for other units in March. Note that there are no Sherman I 75mm gun tanks in the theatre. Crabs held by 25 Armd Engr Bde were Crab II (Contouring Crabs) whilst the balance includes 15 Crab Is used for training. Some of the reserve Crab IIs were transferred to the US 5 Army later in the month, and the transfer of an ARK was also briefly considered.

The 51 Kangaroos shown as ‘in transit’ from the UK are interesting. It is possible that these were in fact Ram Kangaroos rather than Shermans as Canadian records suggest some were sent, although there is no record of either arriving before the end of the war. A few M32 recovery vehicles start to appear in regimental records around this time, but they are not shown on the return, even though T.2 (M31) Grant recovery vehicles are. The Grant Scorpions had been replaced by Sherman V Scorpion V and V* in early 1944, but when the Crabs became available the Sherman Scorpions were converted back to gun tanks.

An original footnote to the return suggests 28 Armd Bde may be a misprint for 26 Armd Bde. It is actually 2 Polish Armd Bde as many have suggested, and which is confirmed by an earlier return. 7 Armd Bde has low numbers of Shermans because after a period training as a DD regiment it was partially converted to Churchills. The few Sherman gun tanks of 9 Armd Bde belonged to one squadron of 4^th Hussars, the other two squadrons operating Kangaroos. This is also the case for 14/20 Hussars who are shown separately. The third regiment of 9^th Armd Bde was 7^th Hussars operating the Sherman IIIDD with a few (turretless?) Valentine XI DD ‘Carriers’.

Infantry Tanks - Churchill

	CS 95mm	CS 3"	6pdr	75mm	75mm Mk.VI	75mm Heavy	VII Croc	ARV	AVRE	B/L	Fascine	II Octopi
7 Armd Bde	24		20	9	24	24		3
21 Tank Bde	27		48	46		36	12	9		3
25 Armd Engr Bde	8						32		31			30
Tank Replacement Group	12		43	8	7	14	9	1	3	6	7	15
Total with Formations	71		119	63	31	74	53	13	34	9	7	45
Total Ordnance Stock Workshops & Training	7	17	180	14	26	29	14	18	9	5	2	19
TOTAL AFVs IN N AFRICA AND ITALY	78	17	299	77	57	103	67	31	43	14	9	64
In Transit from UK
In Transit from US
GRAND TOTALS	78	17	299	77	57	103	67	31	43	14	9	64

The column headed ‘75mm’ probably indicates the NA75 conversion, whilst 75mm Heavy is presumably the Churchill VII. 25Armd Engr Bde does not show any ARVs although they are known to have had several on establishment. The 3 inch CS tanks were originally used for ARK conversions but this was stopped by an order of Dec 1944 which forbade use of these tanks which were worn out. The reference to "II Octopi" is interesting – the Octopus had been renamed the ARK II six months earlier before it came into service.

21 Tank Brigade still retain their Crocodiles, despite criticism of this practice from AAI given that a specialised formation had been created to operate them. The Bridgelayers are the new AVLBs, replacing Churchill ARKs used by the tank regiments up to December 1944.

Other Tanks

	Valentine IX and XI DD	Valentine B/L	Stuart M3	Stuart M5A1	Stuart Recce	M24	AA	Cromwell IV 75mm
6 Armd Div		3			56
6 SA Armd Div					52
2 Armd Bde		2			33
7 Armd Bde					33
9 Armd Bde excl 14/20 Hussars	4	3			34
4 NZ Armd Bde		3			33
28 Armd Bde*		3			32
21 Tank Bde			11		21
14/20 H					11
Armd Ops RA			36
25 Armd Engr Bde					11
Tank Replacement Group	122	2	19		64
IN GREECE
311 Fwd Dely Sqn			4
Total with Formations	126	16	70		380
Total Ordnance Stock Workshops & Training	2	18	374	34	182	2	34	1
TOTAL AFVs IN N AFRICA AND ITALY	128	34	444	34	562	2	34	1
In Transit from UK
In Transit from US
GRAND TOTALS	128	34	444	34	562	2	34	1

The DD Valentines were mainly used for training, the numbers perhaps being accounted for by the original plan for two DD regiments. Immediately noticeable is the small proportion of Stuart gun tanks in formations out of the large number in theatre, and the surprising number of Stuart Recce vehicles. The return does not state what type of the tank the 'AA' tanks were.

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