Description
Physical description
A red horizontal diamond printed on "waterproof" cotton with two parallel thin blue zig-zag lines printed along the horizontal axis, the two lines joined at the ends.
Label
The badge.
This badge is the 1st Canadian Corps red diamond on which is printed a red zig-zag outlined in blue. Red and blue are the Artillery colours and a red zig-zag is an Artillery motif. The zig-zag design appears to be a simplified variant of the patch worn by the Canadian Corps Heavy Artillery in WW1.
[Note that the standard reference (Cole) gives 1 Corps Artillery as a single blue zig-zag on red, but this appears to be an error.]
Worn by the Corps Commander RCA and staff and by the Artillery units under direct command of the Corps. Specifically these were 1st Survey Regiment, 7th Anti-Tank Regiment & 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (from March 1945, 1st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Lanark & Renfrew Scottish Regiment)).
The Survey Regiment provided counter-battery information through its survey, flash spotting and sound ranging resources. The Corps anti-tank regiment provided a reserve of heavy anti-tank equipments, eventually all 17 pdr., half SP and half towed by tracked vehicles. The Corps LAA regiment provided point air defence in the Corps area.
Development of the badge.
This badge is the second pattern for 1st Corps Artillery and dates from after October 1943.
1st Canadian Corps Artillery's first badge was a blue diamond with a single red zig-zag. This was identical to the badge later adopted by 2nd Canadian Corps Artillery. This anomalous situation arose because the orders relating to insignia issued in 1940 permitted Corps Troops to wear their own choice of colours appropriate to their corps or service. 1st Corps Artillery chose not to add their distinction to 1st Corps' red diamond but adopted a blue diamond with a single red zig-zag. This was not a problem at the time as there was only one Canadian Corps. This patch was approved around March 1941.
When the 2nd Canadian Corps was in the process of being formed towards the end of 1942 it was decided that it should adopt the diamond shape to be uniform with 1st Corps and the colour blue to be uniform with the colour sequence of relative seniority. If such uniformity was to be preserved across the board then 2nd Corps Artillery would have to impose the red artillery zig-zag onto the Corps' blue diamond, the sign already being used by 1st Corps Artillery. This did not prove to be an immediate problem when 2nd Corps was eventually formed in January 1943 because no Corps Artillery patch was assigned, the only signs approved being plain for HQ and the RCCS white letters over the blue diamond.
In October 1943 NDHQ enquired about the distinctions being carried by the corps and services units of Corps Troops and their relation to the basic Corps patches. Presumably as a result of this, a policy decision seems to have been taken to rationalise the currently somewhat chaotic situation by requiring distinctions to be placed on the basic parent Corps' patch. This required 1st Corps Artillery to adopt a red diamond. The changeover seems to have been effected at the end of 1943 or beginning of 1944.
2nd Corps Artillery adopted the previous 1st Corps badge of red zig-zag on blue. 1st Corps Artillery managed to retain the red artillery zig-zag, making it stand out from the same coloured background by outlining it in blue. In some examples of this badge, particularly the printed cotton versions, the fact that the blue element is an outline to the central motif is fairly clear. In other cases, as with many of the embroidered versions, the impression is given that the badge has two thin blue zig-zags (see INS 310).
These patches stayed in use to the end of the war and were officially exempt from the otherwise general move away from distinctions worn on formation patches to the style of plain patches with unit shoulder titles that was common by summer 1944.
History note
Associated person: John Tiffin Murray Stewart b. 1917, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. d. 6 August 1964, 47 yrs., heart attack. Service record: Gunner M 4044 RCA. 1942: Reg. H2, HQ RCA, 1st Administration Corps. RCA CASF (Canadian Active Service Force) 1st Division. 1943: Reg. H3, 3rd Field Regt. RCA CASF 1st Division. 1944: 1st A Wing. No. 1 CARU (Canadian Artillery Reinforcement Unit).
Family history: 11 December 1942, married Elfreda Joan, nee Knight, at Congregational Church West Wickham, Kent. 15 June 1945, returned Canada. 27 June 1946, joined by family (on board 'Letitia'). August 1948, all family return to UK ('Queen Mary'). Moved to family home, Cavendish Way, West Wickham, Kent. Subsequently bought house, Oak Avenue, Shirley, Croydon.
History note
Bibliographical sources: FORMATION BADGES OF WORLD WAR 2: Britain, Commonwealth and Empire Lt. Col. Howard N. Cole. Arms & Armour Press, 1973, ISBN 85368 078 7. DISTINGUISHING PATCHES: Formation Patches of the Canadian Army. Clive M. Law. (Private) Service Publications, Nepean, Ontario, 1996. THE GUNNERS OF CANADA The History of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. Volume II: 1919 –1967. Colonel G. W. L. Nicholson. McClelland & Stewart, 1972.