Canadian Military Pattern truck

The Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) truck was a class of military truck made in large quantities in Canada during World War II to British Army specifications for use in the armies of the British Commonwealth allies. CMP trucks were also sent to the Soviet Union, following the Nazi invasion of Russia, as part of Canada's lend-lease program to the Allies. During the War CMP trucks saw service around the world in the North African Campaign, the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Italian Campaign, the Russian Front, the Burma Campaign, the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42), the liberation of Northwest Europe, and the Western Allied invasion of Germany. CMP trucks also saw service in post-war conflicts in Indonesia, French Indochina, and the Portuguese colonies in Africa.

History

While the Dunkirk evacuation in the spring of 1940 succeeded in rescuing close to 340,000 Allied soldiers who had been encircled by the invading German army, the British Expeditionary Force had been required to abandon most of its military vehicles in France. It then became a pressing need to replace those losses and to provide new vehicles to equip the rapidly expanding armed forces of the Commonwealth. Canada was in a good position to help due to the presence of a relatively large and modern automobile industry. Close collaboration between the Canadian and British military establishments had already begun before the outbreak of the war, and specifications for possible Canadian-manufactured military vehicles had already been developed. Production of military vehicles, based both on modified civilian designs and on the CMP specification, was rapidly ramped up in the first years of the conflict.

Most CMP trucks were manufactured by the Chevrolet division of General Motors of Canada Ltd and by the Ford Motor Company of Canada. [Ironically, in Germany the facilities of the Opel subsidiary of General Motors and Ford-Werke AG were pressed into service to make military vehicles for the Nazi war effort. Also, in Austrialia the CMP trucks acquired the nickname "blitz trucks", perhaps a wry nod to the Opel Blitz that was the standard wheeled transport in the German Wehrmacht.] The Canadian subsidiaries of the two largest American vehicle manufacturers were able to rapidly ramp up their production because of an unusual degree of inter-company collaboration, the use of interchangeable parts, and because of the large amount of idle production capacity that was a lingering result of the Great Depression. A smaller number of CMP trucks were assembled from Canadian-made chassis and parts in Australia, New Zealand, India, Egypt and Britain. Following the British convention, CMP trucks had right-hand drive even though most of them were built in Canada, which used left-hand drive at the time. The CMP specification proved to be a versatile one and it formed the basis of a wide variety of different truck types and armoured vehicles.

Just over 400,000 CMP trucks were manufactured in Canada, accounting for roughly half of the 815,729 [Granatstein, Jack L., "Arming the Nation: Canada's Industrial War Effort 1939-1945", Canadian Council of Chief Executives, May 27, 2005.] military vehicles made in Canada during World War II . The most numerous CMP type was the 4x4 60-cwt (3-ton) truck (including models C-60S, C-60L, F-60S and F-60L), with just over 209,000 vehicles made. In addition, roughly 9500 4x4 CMP chassis were made, mainly to be used to build armoured cars and other vehicles in Allied countries.

Newly manufactured or modified war surplus CMP trucks were used after 1945 in the armies of several countries in Europe (e.g. the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Spain) and around the world (e.g. South Africa, Jordan, South Vietnam, Federation of Malaya).

Major Canadian-built Types

The Ford-built CMP trucks had a 239 cu. in. (3.92 litre), 95-HP V8 engine while the Chevrolet-built CMP trucks had a 215 cu. in. (3.52 litre), 85-HP straight-6 overhead-valve engine. In the list below, a drive specification of NxM means that the vehicle has a total of N wheels and that M of those wheels are driven. The British standard load capacities of 8 cwt, 15 cwt, 30 cwt and 60 cwt correspond roughly to the American loads of 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, 1.5 ton and 3 ton, respectively.

*Ford F-8 (4x2, 101" wheelbase, 8 cwt)
*Ford F-15 (4x2, 101" wheelbase, 15 cwt)
*Ford F-15A (4x4, 101" wheelbase, 15 cwt)
*Ford F-30 (4x4 drive, 134.25" wheelbase, 30 cwt)
*Ford F-60S (4x4, 115" wheelbase, 60 cwt)
*Ford F-60L (4x4, 158.25" wheelbase, 60 cwt)
*Ford F-60T tractor unit (4x4, 115" wheelbase, 60 cwt)
*Ford F-60H (6x4, 160.25"+52" wheelbase, 60 cwt)
*Ford F-GT artillery tractor (4x4, 101.25" wheelbase)
*Ford Lynx Scout Car (4x4, 101" wheelbase)
*Chevrolet C-8 (4x2, 101" wheelbase, 8 cwt)
*Chevrolet C-8A, C-8AX (4x4, 101" wheelbase, 8 cwt)
*Chevrolet C-15 (4x2, 101" wheelbase, 15 cwt)
*Chevrolet C-15A (4x4, 101" wheelbase, 15 cwt)
*Chevrolet C15TA Armoured Truck (4x4, unknown wheelbase)
*Chevrolet C-30 (4x4, 134" wheelbase, 30 cwt)
*Chevrolet C-60S (4x4, 134" wheelbase, 60 cwt)
*Chevrolet C-60L (4x4, 158" wheelbase, 60 cwt)
*Chevrolet C-60X (6x6, 160"+52" wheelbase, 60 cwt)
*Chevrolet C-GT Field Artillery tractor (FAT) (4x4, 101" wheelbase)
*General Motors Fox armoured car (4x4, 101" wheelbase)
*General Motors Otter Light Reconnaissance Car (4x4, 101" wheelbase)

CMP-based Vehicles Made in Other Countries

To meet the pressing demand for military vehicles during World War II, several Commonwealth countries designed light armoured vehicles based on CMP chassis made in Canada.

*Ruskin Motor Bodies Pty Ltd and Ford Motor Company of Australia Rover Light Armoured Car (4x4, 134.25" and 158.25" wheelbases)
*General Motors Holden Ltd Rhino Heavy Armoured Car (4x4, 101" wheelbase)
*General Motors Holden Ltd 6x6 Heavy Armoured Car (6x6, 158" wheelbase)
*Indian Railways Armoured Carrier Wheeled Indian Pattern (ACV-IP) (4x4, 101"? wheelbase)
*South African Reconnaissance Car, also called the Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car (4x4, various wheelbases)
*Beaverette NZ, the New Zealand version of the British Beaverette armoured car

Notes

See also

*List of military equipment of the Canadian Army during the Second World War
*Morris C8 Field Artillery Tractor
*Military history of Canada during the Second World War

External Links

* [http://www.mapleleafup.org/vehicles/softskin/index.html Maple Leaf Up's extensive website on CMP Trucks]
* [http://www.oldcmp.net/indexes.html Old CMP.net]