Chevrolet CGT FAT at Royal Artillery Museum

[Larry Hayward]

Recently the Royal Artillery 'Firepower' Museum in Woolwich SE London put on show a Chevrolet CGT that has been restored to running order, with the support of Legal & General Insurance. It is used on occasions to tow the museum's 25pdr & limber.

However I can't help thinking that the desert scheme they have adopted for this vehicle is inaccurate in that I have never seen a Chev CGT (or Ford version) with Number 13 style cab in the desert. I thought the No 13 Cab CGT was produced from early 1943, by which time it would have been too late to see action in the desert or even Tunisia. The first use in action I can find of this type of vehicle is with 1st Canadian Division which landed in Sicily but their vehicles were painted in 'olive drab' not sand. (The 1st Canadian Div vehicles looked quite neat compared to the very battered 8th Army vehicles that had come all the way from El Alamain!)

As there were plenty of No 12 Cab style CGT's & FGT's in use by the British well after Sicily, it surely would have looked better if the RA Museum had used a NW Europe colour scheme.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Larry Hayward
Recently the Royal Artillery 'Firepower' Museum in Woolwich SE London put on show a Chevrolet CGT that has been restored to running order,

However I can't help thinking that the desert scheme they have adopted for this vehicle is inaccurate in that I have never seen a Chev CGT (or Ford version) with Number 13 style cab in the desert.

it surely would have looked better if the RA Museum had used a NW Europe colour scheme.

Larry,

About 11 years ago, this Chev CGT arrived at the REME workshops where I worked. It was undertaken as an apprentice project. Details on it are not neccessarily authentic, but the aim was to get it in running order. As an enthusiast on all things old and green, I was asked about colour and markings at the time and it was finished in Olive Drab. It then resided at the Rotunda museum in the open for some years, until the Firepower museum opened, then for some reason it was repainted in desert colour. It may of course have been done to depict post war use in Egypt area.

Richard

[Maurice Donckers]

Another question about this Quad: Wy is the back cut open , and covered with canvas?
Maurice

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Maurice Donckers
Another question about this Quad: Wy is the back cut open , and covered with canvas?

Maurice,

This again I can answer. When the vehicle arrived at the workshops, it was apparant that it had probably been a garage breakdown truck in later life, the rear sloping roof being cut away. Those involved with the work decided that is how it should be. with a canvas cover. Other parts that are not entirely correct is the radiator grille and door tops which have been made in a similar look to the original.

My only contribution was lending a workshop manual.

Richard

[cmperry4]

As a sidenote, in Italy, the Canadian and British divisions were ordered by Monty to switch fronts, east to west and vice versa over the mountains - rather than ship all the vehicles, they swapped - the Brits got all the nice nearly-new CMPs, the Canadians got stuck with all the clapped-out 7th AD leftovers from N. Africa.

And the Canadian 1Div had already lost half its trucks before it even got to Sicily thanks to German U-boats.

I'd look up a citation for this, but it's late, I'm tired. Set me right if I'm wrong.

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

My father,who was RCASC landed in Sicily with a brand new Ford 30CWT V8 that his unit received before sailing from the UK. .He drove this vehicle thru Sicily,Italy,then onto the continent when the 1st Div joined up with the other three Div's in Europe.He always said that the saddest thing he ever had to do before coming home after the war was turning in his CMP that he babied throughout the war.Perhaps his unit was an exception to the rule over trading vehicles.

[John McGillivray]

The swap was between the 5th Canadian Armoured Division and the British 7th Armoured Division in late 1943. The Canadians left all of their vehicles behind in England and took over the old vehicles of the Desert Rats in Italy. To make things worst the Brits traded away all of their good vehicles with other British units, before they left for England. With the result that 5CAD was stuck with all of 8th Army’s junk. Most of the vehicles were only rear wheel drive, and many were non-runners.

In July, 1943, 1st Canadian Infantry Division lost 500 vehicles and 40 guns on their way to Sicily, when three ships of the slow assault convoy were sunk by U-Boats.

[cmperry4]

Thanks John for the clarification and details - I was about to pull some books off the shelves and look this stuff up, but you sorted it nicely.