Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Badge

The ‘Canadian Armoured Corps’ was raised on 13 August 1940. It received the prefix ‘Royal’ from King George VI on 2 August 1945 in recognition of it services during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The heraldic description of the Corps badge is:

A dexter hand in armour Argent charged with a maple leaf Gules above a billet fesswise Sable edged and inscribed CANADA in letters Or, the whole set on a double-headed arrows forming two concentric circles Or and ensigned by the Royal Crown proper.

This translates as “A right hand in silver armour with a red Maple leaf above CANADA in gold, surrounded by two double headed golden arrows in concentric circles and the Royal Crown above.”

The concentric circles symbolize the pincer operations of armoured forces. The mailed gauntlet symbolizes armour.

The original badge of the Canadian Armoured Corps had been based on that of the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR). It showed a Great War tank on a laurel wreath. In place of the RTR motto ‘Fear Naught’, was the word ‘CANADA’. This badge would be used throughout the Second World War.

The Royal Armoured Corps, raised in 1937, had adopted its own badge in 1940; the letters ‘RAC’ on a laurel wreath topped with the Imperial State Crown. The Corps had found the design uninspiring and so chose a new badge in 1942. The new insignia had an armoured gauntlet with the letters ‘RAC’ on a plaque on the wrist. Concentric circles emanated from the wrist rising above the clenched fist. Above all was the Imperial State Crown (frequently referred to the ‘King’s Crown’).

In July 1949 the RCAC, after examining a number of possible designs for a new Corps badge, chose the British design with the plaque reading ‘RCAC’ in place of ‘RAC’. This was in keeping with all other Commonwealth Armies who had adopted the same basic design. After Queen Elizabeth II ascended the Throne in 1952 the Imperial State Crown was replaced on the badge with Saint Edward’s Crown (frequently referred to the ‘Queen’s Crown’).

With unification of the armed forces in 1968 all of the former Army Corps lost their distinctive badges. These were replaced with a generic oval surrounded by maple leaves with a new branch insignia placed in the oval. The badge frame had been the basic design of the badge of the Royal Canadian Navy. All Corps, that is, except for the armour, artillery, infantry and engineers. The combat arms were permitted to keep their original badge shapes but with changes. In the case of armour the new design replaced ‘RCAC’ on the plaque with ‘Armour’. It was quickly realised that this was not bilingual and so the plaque was changed again to read ‘CANADA’. A maple leaf was also added to the gauntlet above the plaque. This new badge was issued in two colours with the gauntlet in silver and remainder in gold.