26 January 1942. Camp Borden, Ontario, Canada.
The General Order had become effective, and all around the camp the various officers were trying to figure out how to go about putting it into practice.
4th Canadian Infantry Division had been established in May 1940. The three Infantry Brigades had slowly taken shape, and being last in line for equipment, had slowly built themselves up during 1941. General Order 132/42 had reorganised and renamed the Division as the 4th Canadian Armoured Division.
Following the normal organisation for an Armoured Division, there would be an armoured car regiment, two armoured Brigades (each of three Regiments), and a Support group. The Support Group would still have the odd mixture of a field regiment of artillery, along with an anti-tank regiment, a light anti-aircraft regiment and one battalion of infantry.
There was already talk about following the model of British Armoured Divisions in North Africa, who had moved away from the Support Group model. That kind of Division would have its own Artillery (three field regiments) and with two Armoured Brigades and would have an Infantry Brigade (Motor) attached.
At this point however Ottawa were following the same model as 5th Canadian Armoured Division. Alongside the formation of the Armoured Division the 11th Infantry Brigade, would become the basis for 2nd Army Tank Brigade taking with it 26th Army Tank Battalion (The Grey and Simcoe Foresters) and the 20th Army Tank Battalion (16th/22nd Saskatchewan Horse). These would be joined in due course by the 23rd Army Tank Battalion (The Halifax Rifles).
The conversion to an Armoured Division meant that 10th Infantry Brigade was now to be known as 3rd Armoured Brigade, and the three regiments (British Columbia Regiment, The Elgin Regiment and the South Alberta Regiment) would become 28th, 25th and 29th Armoured Regiments, but keeping their traditional names in brackets. The Lake Superior Regiment would be Motorised and stay part of the 3rd Armoured Brigade.
12th Infantry Brigade was now known as 4th Armoured Brigade, and again the three regiments were now called 21st (The Governor General’s Foot Guards) 22nd (The Canadian Grenadier Guards) and 27th Armoured Regiments (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment). The Machine Gun Battalion (The Princess Louise Fusiliers) would become the Motor battalion for 4th Armoured Brigade.
The 18th (Manitoba) Reconnaissance Battalion would become the 18th (Manitoba) Armoured Car Regiment, and the Irish Regiment of Canada would be the motorised battalion in the Support Group.
On paper the creation of an Armoured Division and an Army Tank Brigade required 340 Cruiser and 178 Infantry tanks as the minimum requirement. Production of the Valiant IA* (2-pdr, diesel engine) continued at Canadian Pacific Railway, but would soon be moving to the IIA* as 6-pdr production in Canada progressed. The new CAC1 (Canadian/Australian Cruiser) known as the Ram in Canada was now being built by Montreal Locomotive Works. This tank’s gun was the slimmed down version of the 25pdr gun developed in Australia, with 3-inchs of frontal armour and 2-inches on the side, the 28.5 ton tank was powered by the Cummings diesel engine, and ran on Hotchkiss style suspension.
Since 5th Canadian Armoured Division in England were using the Valiant IA* it had been decided that the 4th Canadian Armoured Division would use the upgraded Valiant IIA*, while the Tank Brigade would use the Ram which was now in full production. Having the 25-pdr as its main armament would mean that its role of supporting infantry would have a good HE punch against enemy fortifications. Its armour wasn’t too much different from the Matilda II Infantry tank, so it was believed it could function effectively in that infantry support role.
It would take months to retrain the men of 4th Canadian Armoured Division from infantry to armoured warfare. General Crerar, before he left his role as Chief of the General Staff, had estimated that the Division and Tank Brigade might be able to be equipped and shipped to the UK before the end of 1942, then, hopefully, be fully trained and operational by mid-1943.