The GMC at War

[Chappers]

Can anyone tell me who else used the CCKW during the war apart from the Russians? Americans and British.
I've seen photo's of the british using the CCKW, would the Canadians have used them too??

Regards

Steve

[Karoshi]

The Canadians had an extensive vehicle building program in their own right, and GM Motor Products of Canada Ltd contributed. They manufactured a 6 x 6 of their own, the c60x 3 ton truck. The GMC 216 & 270 engines were used in some Canadian Builds but the bodies were of the CMP design and the trucks differed to the CCKW.

The probable answer is NO, the Canadians didnt use the CCKW.

[armydriver]

Probably the Chinese, as we furnished them aircraft, jeeps and other equipment during the war , however this is supposition on my part. Does anyone have any photos of Chinese used trucks?

[Paul]

During the war many allies used the GMC. After the German occupation a lot of men of different countries fled to England to join the army. After a while there were so many different nationalities that they had the possibility of forming new divisions under the flag of their own country. Even the navy and the air force had this system. I know that the Dutch (Princes Irene Brigade) used mostly British and Canadian equipment but also American. The Polish (except the airborne) used American vehicles. The Australians and New Zealanders used GMC´s , but not a lot.There was (if I’m correct) a division that experimented with GMC CCW´s to transport Bren Gun Carriers. The Magazine Wheels & Tracks published once a picture of such a truck. The CCW was also used by the British as tractor trailer combination. The trucks which were ordered, before the war, by France were sent to England (ACKWX) when the war broke out, and were used by the British (some photos appeared in books).
You can conclude that almost every branch of the army but also nation used the GMC during the war. The Chinese didn’t received the GMC during the war, but after the war with the Marchallplan aid.

Paul

[Chappers]

It's interesting to think how widespread these vehicles were used, I'm almost at the stage of putting a finishing coat of paint on my 1945 GMC353 and was thinking of doing it something different to the normal finish,You don't often see a GMC painted up as a None US vehicle.

Thanks for the info any suggestions welcome

regards

Steve

[Canadian Gunner]

Hi Guys:

I've been off linefor a while... I'm in Nairobi, Kenya wrapping up a militarypeacekeepers course we conducted for the African Union (this continent's equivalent of NATO). I'll be in the UK next week organising the shipping of my CCKW 352 to Canada.

As for Canadian use of the Jimmy, there is evidence we used some in Italy late in the campaign due to a shortage of gun tractors. I have the 'war-stories' of a much admired and now lamented Colonel of my Regiment who was a subaltern in Italy in 43-44 and he insisted that they used Jimmy's as tractors for th 17 pounder Anti-Tank guns.

Post WWII the RCAF used a lot of Jimmy's, mostly specialist vehicles (scissor lifts, fuel bowsers, etc), usually painted yellow!

In Korea, the Canadian Army made a sound decision to use the same vehicles as the US forces (except for specialist equipment mounted on CMPs and some Universal Carriers. As a result, many CCKWs, jeeps, halftracks and Sherman M4A3E8 were purchased from US stocks in Japan and shipped to Korea for the Canadian forces.

My 352 will be painted as a Gun Tractor for 'A' Battery, 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery towing a limber and 25 pounder in Korea circa 1952.

Cheers and Ubique! Mike

[Chappers]

Hi Mike thanks for your input,What colour scheme would you use?? would they have put the maple leaf symbol on to recognise that its Canadian??.

I've just purchased a 1944 Quad Polsten AA unit which in only a few days will be ready for it's final coat of paint. I have photos from the previous owner showing a maple leaf in red on the wings of the trailer. Was this common practise for Canadian units??


Thanks Again

Regards

Steve

[Canadian Gunner]

Hi Chappers:

Sorry to be off line for so long, now home in Canada and awaiting the big tin box with my CCKW in it (leaves Liverpool Sunday and arrives Halifax a week later... should get to Ottawa by train three days after that!)

I can find no evidence of the CCKWs being used by Canada in mainland Europe... we stuck with Canadian made CMP. To tow your quad 20mm Polsten consider a late model LAAT (Light Anti-Aircraft Tractor) from Ford-Canada or Chevrolet. These two Canadian companies had only a working relationship with their US cousins... legally they were stand alone companies and thats why they built the uniquely Canadian trucks called CMP (Canadian Military Pattern). You can find lots of photos of these machines on the Maple Leaf Up forum (http://www.mapleleafup.org).

In Italy they were likely left in plain OD. If a camouflage pattern was applied it would have been the basic large black wavy bands as per British pattern at the time. A good website is the Canadian expert- Barry Beldam at http://www.armouredacorn.com/index.html or British expert Mike Starmer at http://www.mafva.org.uk- look in the 'resources' section. The quad 20mm Polsten never served in Italy.

In Korea the trucks were left in the US OD and had colourful Commonwealth style formation and tactical signs added on.

I too have a quad Polsten and I suspect that the red maple leaf was added before they were shipped to Portugal as a gift in the 1950's. Canadian formation and tactical signs are as complicated as UK ones. A good website for these badges and signs is Mike Deroche's http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/index.htm or Graeme Davidson' at http://home.cogeco.ca/~gdavidson1/home.html.

Good luck with both projects!

Cheers and Ubique! Mike