1st Cdn Army badges - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

fearnaught · #1 12-08-10, 03:32 PM

Hi, just bought a board of 1st Army badges and cloth which has raised one or two queries. What would be the time frame of wearing these badges? Why did they wear the chopped end titles and why black and not blue?

rockape560 · #2 12-08-10, 04:35 PM

hi,

i stand to be corrected but those look like canadian corps badges on diamonds,think rcoc is the royal canadian ordance corps

philip

Bill A · #3 12-08-10, 04:57 PM

Hi Mike, The patches you have imaged are Second World War First Canadian Army and 1 Canadian Corps patches. The RCOC is, as philip indicates, the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps. RCCS is Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, and CDC is Canadian Dental Corps. These patches were taken into use circa 1941 onwards.They were no longer approved after 1946.
The patches with the bar through the middle continuing to the end of the diamond is the First Canadian Army. The ones with the squared off corps designations are for 1 Cdn Corps. I have not seen the RCOC variety with the white letters on black tablet before.

fearnaught · #4 12-08-10, 05:37 PM

Hi, thanks for the replies,but that now begs the question when did 1st Corps change between the two styles and did 2nd Corps do the same. The only 2nd Corps badge I have like that is the printed 12D on a maroon oblong. Mike

Bill A · #5 12-08-10, 07:19 PM

Not sure what you are asking Mike?
There were two different formations, a corps and an army. The red patch with the full length blue bar was the standard patch for First Canadian Army, and a plain red lozenge was for 1 Cdn Corps. 1 Cdn Corps had a series of patches done in corps colours (eg Dental, RCAMC, RCAPC, etc), early in the war. These were changed to straight red lozenge with corps abbreviations when 2 Cdn Corps was organized. 2 Cdn Corps was a plain blue patch. There was a change in policy at the time 2 Cdn Corps was organized which was to remove corps abbreviations from the corps patch (in most cases) and to issue shoulder titles with the plain corps patch. So instead of RCE on the red diamond, the Royal Canadian Engineers title was worn with a plain 1 Cdn Corps patch.
1 Cdn Corps existed before First Canadian Army was organized. The colours on the First Canadian Army patch were the red and blue of the two Canadian Corps that existed.

fearnaught · #6 13-08-10, 10:13 AM

Hi Bill, I was asking when the ones with the squared off corps designations were worn and when the ones with the embroidered corps designations on plain red were worn? Mike PS thanks for all the help so far,really great.

Bill A · #7 13-08-10, 11:16 AM

Hi Mike, The type of patch depended on the time period. Until early 1944, 1 Cdn Corps and 2 Cdn Corps wore patterns with the abbreviations on them. The applied tablets (eg: RCOC on a blue/black square sewn on the red diamond), and embroidered patches were worn at the same time. I believe it had more to do with the source of the patches, eg the maker, than with policy. After the spring of 1944, all units were to wear shoulder titles and plain corps patches. However, there was a transition period, where old stocks were to be used up before new ones were issued.
There is an excellent reference for formation patches in the Canadian army, Distinguishing Patches, by Clive Law. It is available through Service Publications.