Scan supplied by Alistair Taylor

The morning mists of mid-winter roll about a column of loaded Kangaroos somewhere in Holland, January 1945. Note that the troops in the lead vehicle are wearing berets, which suggests this might be an administrative move rather than combat assault. The gentleman on his feet looks like a cold and somewhat bored junior infantry officer waiting for orders.

Kangaroo # 14 is a late-production model featuring a hull-mounted Browning .30 calibre machine gun rather than the cupola of the earlier Ram IIs. Most Kangaroos were initially equipped with at least one Browning .50 on an improvised mount on the turret ring, but these mounts were found awkward and unreliable due to the incredible vibration of firing, and were subsequently replaced with one or two additional Browning .30s scrounged from wrecked vehicles or wherever they could be found. Sticking with .30s also eased a logistical problem in that much more of the smaller calibre ammunition could be carried, and no space required for bulky .50 calibre. Generally, responsible infantry were taught to man these extra guns on the run into the debarkation point (it was easier to teach them to use the .30 as well), providing saturating fire all over the objective. A troop of eight Kangaroos would thus have a minimum of sixteen machine guns to cover their advance, not including the Brens of their infantry lift and the support from whatever other armour might be along for the ride.

The Kangaroo's worst enemies in 1945 were mines and artillery. The former usually just blew off tracks and running gear (and shaking up the occupants!), but the latter could prove deadly in or out of the tank. Most Kangaroo casualties were as a result of artillery fire.

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