Looking Back: Armoured Vehicles in the Canadian Provost Corps

Since 1939, Canadian Provost and Military Police units have generally made do with light, soft-skinned vehicles to provide mobility in support of field operations – the motorcycle, Jeep, Iltis and G-Wagon being the most ubiquitous examples. During ISAF operations in Afghanistan, to help counter the ever-present ballistic and explosive threats, Canadian Military Police units did make limited use of RG-31 armoured patrol vehicles while conducting certain types of tactical operations. Presently, some Military Police field platoons are adopting the Canadian Army’s new TAPV (Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle). 

​Interestingly, the first known use of armoured vehicles by Canadian Military Police was not in Afghanistan, but in Germany at the end of the Second World War. Read more about these CProC armoured vehicles and see more photos here.

Fox armoured car in service with No. 4 Provost Company (3rd Canadian Infantry Division), Aurich Germany, late Aug 1945. Photo: Library and Archives Canada PA-145015.