1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment

The new regiment's purpose was to serve as a specialized armoured unit equipped with modified tanks used to carry infantry safely to their objectives.

The concept of such armoured personnel carriers was an entirely new innovation[dubious – discuss], and it was through the 1CACR's efforts that their effectiveness was proven, revolutionizing the tactical handling of infantry in battle.

The decision to convert redundant tanks into personnel carriers was inspired by Allied experiences during the D-Day landings, where British and Canadian forces experienced much lower casualty rates by leading attacks on German lines with armour than did the Americans, who led with an infantry assault.

[2] To General Guy Simonds, who was ordered to follow up the D-Day attacks with an assault on Falaise, this experience suggested both the usefulness of such armour-first tactics, as well as the further benefits of using armoured vehicles to transport troops, leading him to stress the issue while planning his assault, deeming it essential "...that the infantry must be carried in bullet-proof and splinter-proof vehicles to the actual objectives.

[3] The order to convert 72 Priests into carriers by the commencement of Operation Totalize on August 9 was given on July 31 by Brigadier C. M. Grant, the Deputy Director of Mechanical Engineering at Headquarters.

[6] The drivers for the new vehicles were swiftly and secretly recruited from the Armoured Corps reinforcements, artillery units, and the Elgin Regiment, and were rushed into service with almost no training, first seeing action during the attack on Falaise on the night of August 7–8, 1944.

The guidon shows the battle honours of Le Havre, The Roer, The Rhineland, The Reichswald, Cleve, Goch-Calcar Road, The Hochwald, The Rhine, Groningen and North-West Europe, 1944–45 Modified US 105mm M7 Priest Howitzer Motor Carriage.

[12] The 123 Light Aid Detachment (LAD), Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, under the command of Captain E. Duncan, were initially formed on an ad hoc basis in August 1944 to provide maintenance services to the carriers.