C15TA Armoured Truck

During World War II, the C15TA Armoured Truck was an armoured vehicle produced in Canada. It was developed by General Motors Canada. A total of 3,961 units were built between 1943 and 1945. The vehicle used the chassis of the Chevrolet C15 CMP truck while the hulls were supplied by the Hamilton Bridge Company.

The C15TA weighed 4.5 tonnes and measured 4.75 m in length, 2.34 m in width and stood at 2.31 m. It was able to carry a crew of two plus eight other passengers. The armour was 6-14 mm thick and it had no armament. Its engine was a GMC 6 cylinder gasoline with 100 hp (74 kW). The vehicle had a speed of 65 km/h.

The armoured truck never had any armament; it was just utilized as a personnel carrier and ambulance by the British and Canadian units in Northwest Europe. A lot of the units were left in Europe after the end of the hostilities and were then used by the militaries of European countries. Some of the countries include Belgium, Denmark (which called the armoured truck the M6 Mosegris), the Netherlands (received around 396 units) and Norway. There were also around 150 units sold by Canada to Spain.

The French took over the units abandoned by the British forces. The trucks were then used in Indochina and were later on transferred to South Vietnam. The police forces of the Federation of Malaya also used many C15TA units.

In the mid-1950s, Portugal received several units which were known as “Granadeiros”. They were then later used in the African wars. A number of C15TAs were still in service until the 1960s. If you are involved in old army vehicles, a pull up banner stand is a great way to get noticed at events.