Review by Peter Brown

The organisation of Canadian Armoured Corps Regiments, Armoured Brigades and Armoured Divisions is described, then details of the Sherman in use from initial issues to units in the United Kingdom through action in the Sicilian, Italian and NW European campaigns. This includes details of where their vehicles came from, introduction and use of the 17-pounder armed Firefly and accounts of how different units approached the matters of field camouflage, extra armour made from timber and spare track links and how antiaircraft guns were employed. Anyone not familiar with Canadian regimental names will find the final section very useful as it is a full list of those Regiments which used Shermans giving their Regimental numbers as well as their usual names, following their service by Brigade, Division and campaign.

Complementing this account is a selection of photos from Canadian archives depicting Shermans "in action". As well as giving the original negative number which is a good starting point for anyone wanting more photos in the same series, the captions state which unit is shown, where the photo was taken - would that all books did this! - and also unusual features of the tanks themselves. These are all black and white but there is a full-colour shot on the cover, while the centre spread uses a four-view scale plan by Chris Johnson to show a Sherman V in "typical" markings for a tank of the Ontario Regiment in Italy.

The size of the book means it has a fairly limited format so there will be those who will want more detail, but as a reasonably-priced single-volume study of Canadian Shermans this will be very useful for any modeller or researcher wanting to increase their knowledge either of Canada’s often understated part in WW2 or to add to the wider Sherman story.

Anyone wanting more detail could do worse than look at the author’s website Milifax.

Highly recommended.

Page created 21 December 2002