Vehcile ID Needed

David Dunlop · #1 05-11-10, 20:05

In the current Nov. - Dec. 2010 issue of LEGION Magazine there is an article entitled 'Murder in Normandy'. The lead photo for the article shows an armoured vehicle moving at speed past a large pile of rubble. The vehicle is an early pattern Sjerman, sans turret assembly.

In lieu of a turret, it appears a vertical ring of steel plate about 6 - 8 inches high was fitted around the hull opening and this was capped with a small horizontal steel plate.

Can anyone ID this vehicle and what units in the Canadian Army used them? It looks as if it could be Recce, Command or APC in design. If it was an APC development, would it have been a logical progression from the Ram Kangaroo, or a completely seperate development? A one-off item, or was it built in significant numbers?

Love to know where they find all these amazing photos!

tomdekruijff · #2 09-11-10, 16:12

I 'm not sure but with your discription i say it's a AVR mkI.
A photo would be nice so we all can see what it looks like.

cheers, Tom

Ed Storey · #3 10-11-10, 15:45

It is a Sherman ARV Mk I and the amazing images are from the Library and Archives Canada.

David Dunlop · #4 10-11-10, 17:15

Thanks for the ID.

Sorry I do not have any photos, Tom. Ran across the image while on a lunch break and made a mental note to inquire here about it. The angle is so low, one cannot tell how the upper hull was reworked as a Recce vehicle. Definitiely not the full closure of the turret opening as one sees in some of the Ram mods, and it would seem to have had more work done to it than one sees on the Grizzly APC mod, where the turret opening looks completely unchanged.

Have any of the Sherman ARV Mk I's survived I wonder.