CAC
 

Hi, finally got around to sorting out my Canadian armour, so of course lots of questions. Were there w/m collar badges for the Borden tank badge, or only the bronze ones? Secondly, I have a Roden sterling left hand collar so I assume there is a cap and right hand collar, does anyone have photo's of them. Finally the bottom left hand collar is different from any of the others, does anyone know which cap badge went with this collar, thanks in advance Mike

Hi, sorry forgot photo of final collar, Mike

CAC badges
 

Mike,

I have never found the Borden Tank collars in anything other than OSD bronze.

Attached pics show pairs to your Roden collar (I think). Mine all have a lugged & struck up reverse with no maker mark. I have never seen a matching cap badge.

Both your 'bottom left' collar & the Roden collars are noted in Brooker's Badges of the Canadian Army. Chris describes them as 'Orphan collars for which no matching cap badges are currently reported.'

Hi Doug, thank you for the information, best wishes Mike

The OSD collar badges would be wartime - only officers had collar badges since they wore service dress. ORs wore battledress, thus, no collar badges.

Hi Phillip, the question was raised because the plated set (possibly Gaunt) next to it has plated collars. I've never been sure who wore these badges, the left hand set are usually described as worn at Camp Borden but when were the others worn? and who wore them? The inner workings of the Canadian Army can be quite interesting, especially their reasons for name changing, something I often find baffling. Thank you for the information and apologies for the further questions, best wishes Mike

The CAC was an "umbrella" corps, with responsibility for training, depots and reinforcements. The term "Borden" badges can be misleading. That pattern badge may be the badge issued to staff at Borden, but as the war created more demands for training facilities the personnel wearing the badges were moved to other bases.

Hi Bill, thanks for the clarification, best wishes Mike

Hi Mike,

I’ve got a pair of Gaunt bronze collars and the left facing collar to your right facing.

Mark

Hi Mike,

Is there any significance between the normal shaped tank and the longer one?

Mark.

Hi Mark, that is the one commonly called the Borden tank badge, see above for clarification on it, best wishes and nice badges, Mike

Hi Mark, The correct name for the badge with the longer body is the Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle Training Centre badge. LAC documentation indicates a badge was made for the staff of this school circa 1938-9. The rather awkward name led to it being nick-named the Borden badge. But as indicated above, the staff was dispersed somewhat once the war needs led to an expansion of the training facilities. The Canadian Armoured Corps was not organized until 1940, and the CAC badges followed shortly after.

To put it another way, the CAFVTC badge was for a unit of the CAC.

CAC badge collection
 

Here is my collection/accumulation of 1940-45 CAC badges.

Hi Bill, another fabulous collection. Can you tell me more about the silver maple leaf badge? As I said previously I have one to an unassigned soldier in the armoured corps, if this is for unassigned troops does that mean the tank badge was purely for armoured corps staff? Also if possible could I ask you for clearer images of some of the collar badges as some look very interesting. I see you have a pair of the Rodin collars, are yours marked sterling and hallmarked? Sorry for so many questions but I find the variants very interesting, best wishes Mike