World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Kangaroo armored personnel carriers (APCs) were not vehicles of a single design; rather, the name collectively referred to any APC that was at one time a tank but was converted into a troop transport. The first Kangaroo APCs were converted by Canadian units (under the order of Canadian General Guy Simonds) at the work shop code named Kangaroo from M7 Priest self-propelled artillery vehicles in late 1944 that they deemed obsolete (as the M7 Priest vehicles were replaced by Sexton successors). They were first used in Operation Totalize south of Caen, France and subsequently in Canadian attacks on the various English Channel ports. Later, Ram cruiser tanks and M4 Sherman tanks were also used to create Kangaroo APCs, and most of them were operated by the Canadian 1st Armored Personnel Carrier Squadron and the Canadian 49th Armored Personnel Carrier Regiment under the British 79th Armored Division (of Hobart's Funnies fame). Compared to the more traditional troop transports at this time such as the Universal Carrier or M3 Halftrack, Kangaroos offered better tactical mobility on the battlefield while providing adequate armor protection against enemy fire, thus allowing troops to advance together with tanks. Kangaroo APCs were considered the forerunner of modern APC designs.

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