Canadian Military Pattern truck The Canadian Military Pattern ( CMP ) truck was a class of military truck made in large numbers in Canada during World War II to British Army specifications for use in the armies of the British Commonwealth allies . Standard designs were drawn up just before the beginning of the war . CMP trucks were also sent to the Soviet Union following the Nazi invasion of Russia , as part of Canada ' s lend - lease program to the Allies . During the War CMP trucks saw service around the world in the North African Campaign , the Allied invasion of Sicily , the Italian Campaign , the Russian Front , the Burma Campaign , the Battle of the Philippines ( 1941 - 42 ) , the liberation of Northwest Europe , and the Western Allied invasion of Germany . CMP trucks also saw service in post - war conflicts in Indonesia , French Indochina , and the Portuguese colonies in Africa . History . The rise to power in Germany of Hitler and the Nazi party in 1933 led to discussions in the mid - 1930s between the British War Office and the Canadian Army concerning the possible production of military vehicles in Canada . During the First World War Canadian land forces had participated as a corps in the British Army . In any future conflict it was assumed that Canadian forces would again be tightly integrated with those of the Mother Country , and so it would be essential that Canadian - manufactured equipment be compatible with British standards and specifications . Early in 1937 , the Ford Motor Company of Canada and General Motors of Canada Ltd were each invited by the Canadian Department of National Defence to produce a Canadianized prototype of a 15 - hundredweight light infantry truck that had then been recently adopted by the British War Office . By 1938 , Canadian military authorities had shifted their interest to heavier 4x4 and 6x4 designs . In that year , Ford and GM were invited to produce prototypes of a 6x4 medium artillery tractor derived from the British 6x4 Scammell Pioneer . By 1939 , plans had been prepared for the mass production in Canada of a range of military vehicles based on fairly strict British specifications . These trucks were originally designated " Department of National Defence ( DND ) Pattern " ; however , when production volumes increased and it became clear that the Canadian - built vehicles were to serve widely in the forces of other countries , the class of trucks was redesignated " Canadian Military Pattern ( CMP ) " . At the outbreak of World War II , Canada ' s relatively large and modern automobile industry was shifted over to the production of military vehicles . While the Dunkirk evacuation in the spring of 1940 succeeded in rescuing close to 340 , 000 Allied soldiers who had been encircled by the invading German army , the British Expeditionary Force had been required to abandon most of its military vehicles in France . It then became an urgent need to replace those losses and to provide new vehicles to equip the rapidly expanding armed forces of the Commonwealth . Canadian military truck production included both modified civilian designs as well as purely military designs based on the CMP specification , in roughly equal numbers . Truck production was focussed on a broad range of medium - capacity vehicles ; Jeeps and trucks larger than 3 tons in capacity required by the Canadian Army were purchased from U . S . suppliers . Most CMP trucks were manufactured by the Chevrolet division of General Motors of Canada Ltd and by the Ford Motor Company of Canada . The Canadian subsidiaries of the two largest American vehicle manufacturers were able to rapidly ramp up their production because of an unusual degree of inter - company collaboration , the use of interchangeable parts , and because of the large amount of idle production capacity that was a lingering result of the Great Depression . A smaller number of CMP trucks were assembled from Canadian - made chassis and parts in Britain , Australia , New Zealand , South Africa ( 2 , 600 ) , India ( 9 , 500 ) and Egypt . In Germany , the facilities of GM subsidiary Opel and those of Ford - Werke AG were pressed into service to make military vehicles for the Nazi war effort . Following British convention , CMP trucks had right - hand drive even though most of them were built in Canada , which primarily used left - hand drive vehicles . The CMP specification proved versatile , and it formed the basis of a wide variety of different truck types and armoured vehicles . In Australian service ( almost always with the No . 13 cab ) these vehicles were known as the " Chev Blitz " or the " Ford Blitz " . Just over 400 , 000 CMP trucks were manufactured in Canada , accounting for roughly half of the 815 , 729 military vehicles made in Canada during World War II . The most prevalent type was the 4x4 3 - ton truck ( including models C60S , C60L , F60S and F60L ) , with just over 209 , 000 vehicles made . In addition , roughly 9 , 500 4x4 CMP chassis were made , mainly to be used to build armoured cars and other vehicles in Allied countries . CMP truck production in Canada exceeded the total military truck production of Nazi Germany . The British " History of the Second World War " ( the official history of the war ) argues that the production of soft - skinned trucks , including the CMP truck class , was Canada ' s most important contribution to the eventual Allied victory . Newly manufactured , or modified war surplus , CMP trucks were used after 1945 in several European armies ( e . g . , the Netherlands , Belgium , Denmark , Norway , Portugal , Spain ) and around the world ( e . g . , South Africa , Argentina , Jordan , South Vietnam , Malaya ) . CMP trucks were adapted after the war for a variety of civilian roles including forestry , grain transport , fire - fighting trucks , and snowploughs . In Malaysia , after the Malayan Emergency , many CMP truck was converted to log tranporter or off road truck in construction site with upgraded brake system and powerful engines . Major Canadian - built types . The Ford - built CMP trucks had a , V8 engine , while most of the Chevrolet - built CMP trucks had a , straight - 6 overhead - valve engine . An American - made GMC straight - 6 engine powered the C60X 3 - ton truck . The Ford and Chevrolet trucks shared a standard cab design , which evolved over the years of production . The first ( designed at Ford by Sid Swallow ) , second and third cab designs were called No . 11 , 12 and 13 , respectively . The first two type were similar , the main difference being a two - part radiator grille in No . 12 cab ( its upper part was opened with a bonnet , which was known as the " Alligator cab " ) . The final No . 13 cab , an entirely Canadian design made from late 1941 until the end of the war , had the two flat panes of the windscreen angled slightly downward to minimize the glare from the sun and to avoid causing strong reflections that would be observable from aircraft . All the CMP cab designs had a short , " cab forward " configuration that gave CMP trucks their distinctive pug - nosed profile . This design was required to meet the original British specifications for a compact truck design that would be more efficient to transport by ship . The specifications also demanded right - hand drive . Internally the cab had to accommodate the comparatively large North American engines and it was generally cramped . The standard cabs were then matched up with a variety of standard chassis , drive trains and body designs . Chevrolet - built vehicles could be recognised by the radiator grille mesh being of a diamond pattern , whereas Ford - built ones had grilles formed of a square mesh . The production of CMP truck bodies in Canada was subcontracted out to smaller companies in Ontario and Manitoba , organized into the wartime Steel Body Manufacturers Association by the Department of Munitions and Supply . The wide variety of truck body designs included general service ( GS ) , water tanker , fuel tanker , vehicle recovery ( tow truck ) , dental clinic , mobile laundry , wireless house , machinery ( machine shop ) , folding boat transport , and anti - tank gun portee . In the list below , a drive specification of NxM means that the vehicle has a total of N wheels and that M of those wheels are driven . The military specifications did not permit more than two wheels per axle . The British standard load capacities of 8 cwt ( hundredweight ) , 15 cwt , 30 cwt and 60 cwt correspond roughly to the American loads of 1 / 2 short ton , 3 / 4 ton , 1 . 5 ton and 3 ton , respectively . The 60 - cwt CMP trucks were usually called 3 - ton lorries or trucks . Outside Canada . To meet the pressing demand for military vehicles during World War II , several Commonwealth countries designed light armoured vehicles based on CMP chassis made in Canada .