(Priest Kangaroo image). The history of the RAM Kangaroo began in early August 1944 when Lieut.-General Guy Simonds of 2nd Canadian Corps saw the need to carry his troops in tracked armored vehicles during “Operation Totalize”, the offensive against Falaise. In this operation, six battalions of Canadian infantry had to cross a huge area of open terrain to support an armored attack against the German lines and the permanent lack of half-tracks made the mission truly dangerous. At that time the British and Canadian M-7 Priest self-propelled guns (SPG) were being replaced by Sexton SPGs, so there was a surplus of M-7 Priest. This situation was taken advantage of by Guy Simonds to order the Royal Canadian EME and the British Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) to remove the 105mm gun from all replaced M-7s.(Priest Kangaroo model image). The converted vehicles were initially known among the troops as “Unfrocked Priest” and later as “Priest Kangaroos”. The gun of these M-7 SPGs was disassembled along with the ammunition bins and all the aiming equipment but the 12.7mm machine guns were kept, and additional ones were installed in some vehicles for self-defense. The gun embrasure was covered with an armor plate and the driver station was separated from the rest of the vehicle. This vehicle could carry up to 12 soldiers and although it was not a completely satisfactory vehicle due to its great height, it was much better than sending infantry on foot to cross great distances without any type of armored protection. Finally, 76 M-7 Priest belonging to 3 Artillery Regiments of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division were transformed in just one week. The name “Kangaroo” derives from the fact that these vehicles were converted at the Advanced Workshop Depot in France, which was codenamed “Kangaroo”.(RAM Kangaroo image). The operational life of the Priest Kangaroos was very brief, and in September 1944 a new vehicle with similar characteristics could be seen, but this time developed from the Canadian RAM Mk.II cruiser tank. The RAM cruiser tank was built in Canada and used numerous parts of the American M-3 medium tank, but it was not used in combat because all Canadian armored units were equipped with American M-4 Sherman tanks for greater standardization of combat units in the front. In this way, the RAM tanks were only used in training and crew formation tasks and at that time they were stopped without any purpose, which made them suitable candidates to be transformed.(RAM Kangaroo image). On this occasion, the transformation basically consisted of removing the turret from the vehicle and installing two rows of seats to accommodate up to 10 infantrymen in the space left inside the hull. The turret ring area could not be covered with any type of armor since this is where the transported troops entered and exited (debussing). At first this task was really difficult, since the external curvature of the hull made it very complicated, but climbing rungs and footsteps were soon welded to the sides to facilitate access. The crew consisted of two members, the driver and the commander/wireless operator, and as on the Priest Kangaroo, the driver’s position was separate from the others.(RAM Kangaroo image). The transported infantrymen could not use their weapons once inside the RAM Kangaroo, but at least the vehicle maintained the small front turret armed with a 7.62mm machine gun for self-defense. About 500 RAM Kangaroos were manufactured and deployed with a good number of Canadian units, although in September 1944 a unit fully equipped with these vehicles was formed, the 1st Canadian Armored Carrier Regiment. The first action of the RAM Kangaroo was the assault on Le Havre (Operation Astonia) carried out between September 10 and 12, 1944 and the performance of these vehicles was so good that the British decided to create a specialized Regiment similar to the Canadian. In addition to transporting troops, it was very common to see the Kangaroos carrying ammunition, fuel and all kinds of supplies to the front units.(RAM Kangaroo image). The workshops of a British Armored Brigade transformed 120 RAM tanks into RAM Kangaroos in just one month and these vehicles were included in the 49th Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), which was redesignated as the 49th APC Regiment. These were the first armored personnel carriers (APC) used by British troops throughout WWII, since until then, only some half-tracks had been used in the Armored Divisions. The 1st Canadian Armored Carrier Regiment and the 49th APC Regiment were placed under the command of the British 79th Armored Division, which was also responsible for the deployment of the “bizarre” specialized combat support vehicles popularly known as “Hobart’s Funnies”.(RAM Kangaroo image). The 79th Armored Division operated the RAM Kangaroos from late 1944 until the end of the war in Europe with considerable success and gaining valuable experience in controlling mechanized units. The last action of the British-Canadian RAM Kangaroos took place on May 3, 1945 during the capture of Hamburg with the British 7th Armored Division, the famous “Desert Rats”. On the other hand, the British 8th Army, which was fighting in Italy, took good note of the effectiveness of the RAM Kangaroo and converted a good number of M-7 Priest SPGs and some “war weary” M-4 Sherman medium tanks to carry out similar missions. After the end of WWII, some British RAM Kangaroos remained in service for a few more years, until the Saracen APC entered service.(RAM Kangaroo Badger image). The RAM cruiser tanks were also used to make a few other specialized vehicles in the Kangaroo style, without a turret. Among them stands out a tractor to tow 17-pdr anti-tank guns, the “Wallaby” that was responsible for transporting ammunition for the 25-pdr (87.6mm) Sexton self-propelled guns and the “Badger” that carried a Wasp II flamethrower instead of the hull machine gun. The RAM Kangaroo Badgers appeared in February 1945 and were used with terrible effectiveness by the Lake Superior Regiment of the 4th Canadian Armored Brigade during “Operation Veritable” carried out between February and March 1945 at Klever Reichswald in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
