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WW1 Tank Corps vehicle nicknames

t_j_s

Crow
Hi,

My grandfather served in the Tank Corps until his demob in 1922. He was last posted to 6 Armoured Car Company, Bareilly, India.

I'm trying to clarify a part of his reference letter from his CO. It reads...

'...has qualified as 1st Class driver on most large cars, including Kill Kryee, he has also a sound...'

Can anyone tell me what the 'Kill Kryee' refers to?

Thanks
 
A few ideas from the armoured farmers

Well, a 'Large car' implies that the unit had more than one variety of Armoured car. Google brought up nothing on either unit or location but, my assumption is that his CO is refering to a 'named' vehicle rather than a series or make of Armoured car, presumably during the North West Frontier operations betwixt the wars. I guess this as, in those days Hoocificers may not have known nor addressed vehicles by mark so much as by an individual 'personality'. I guess the Coy may have been organised such as recce with a vehicle such as an old version of say...Saladin versus....FSC? 'Kill Kryee' must be the name of the vehicle and, when you google it, it seems to be popular among the 'wargaming' future fantasy/ space war fraternity so probably has some really deep history to it.
Probably crap what I've wrote but, that's my take on it. 8O :?

soprano54 said:
elovabloke said:
Can any of you clever types help with this one>

t_j_s said:
Hi,

My grandfather served in the Tank Corps until his demob in 1922. He was last posted to 6 Armoured Car Company, Bareilly, India.

I'm trying to clarify a part of his reference letter from his CO. It reads...

'...has qualified as 1st Class driver on most large cars, including Kill Kryee, he has also a sound...'

Can anyone tell me what the 'Kill Kryee' refers to?

Thanks

Sorry Elova, like Arfur I've also drawn a blank! Tas to be said though that Bareilly or 'Kill Kryee' doesn't sound very Indian, more Oirish IMHO! :) The 6th ACC were based at Razmak, India from 1921.

Have to agree with some of the comments already made. I do not think Kill Kryee is a type of vehicle but an individual name that was given to a vehicle in much the same way as we gave names to our tanks/vehicles down the years.

The Kill part is self explanatory were as the Kryee part is much more interesting.

Kryee is defined as a species of intelligent wolf- like creatures, growing to about the size of large ponies.

The second definition which I thought typified the way soldiers minds have worked since time immemorial was that Kyree is defined as someone with a huge penis.

No I am definitely going for it being the name given to a particular vehicle in much the same way as we named our vehicles in later years.

Not much but a starting point.
 
Thanks to all for your replies - I too had 'googled' but found nothing of relevence. If I could ask one more thing..

I downloaded a chart that showed the history of the RTR. This chart explained that in July 1918, the battalions were renamed from alphabetical to numerical. The chart lists A - O battalions (1 - 15) but, by March 1919 there was a 17 Armoured Car Battalion. Presumably, this was a new battalion - would it be reasonable to assume that 6 Armoured Car Coy was part of this battalion?

Thanks
 
Could "Kill Kryee" be either a transcription of a mis-heard or mis-interpreted Irish name such as "Kilkerry"?
Probably the name of an individual vehicle.

W
 
From Liddell-Hart's 'The Tanks Vol.1':
A total of 12 Armd Car Coys were raised by July 1921, predominantly from Tank Corps personnel, for internal security throughout the Empire for which tanks were overkill.
6th Armoured Car Coy was formed in Baghdad in 1921 from spare personnel of 1st & 2nd Armd Car Coys (themselves ex-4th Bn Tank Corps). They took over the Austin armoured cars and personnel of 7th Light Armoured Motor Battery, Machine Gun Corps until they got new Rolls-Royces. At the end of 1921 the 6th went to India to join the 7th-11th Coys.
17th Bn Tank Corps dwindled into 5th Armd Car Coy in Ireland.

Unfortunately, the book doesn't say 'a Kill Kryee was ...' so I can't help much there. Kegresse, Karrier & Killen-Strait are the only WWI K's that spring to mind. There was a Karrier K3 (KIII Karrier?) 3-tonner but not until the 1930s; presumably there were earlier K1s & K2s. Certainly, using a car's 'pet name' doesn't make sense in a reference intended for someone outside the unit. If the reference is handwritten and 'Kill Kryee' is open to interpretation, is it possible to post a scan?
 
Talking of WWI tanks.From next weeks TV guide,BoneKickers...tues 5th aug..BBC1 at 9pmThe Lines Of War(quote)A British WWI tank containing the remains of six soldiers is uncovered in France.As evidence of a war crime emerges,tensions grow between Gillian and her German counterpart - but its soon apparent that someone is determined to put an end to the dig.

Might be worth a look...............or maybe not
 
TJS,

Bareilly is a city in Northern India, see here. It was a garrison town in the days of the Raj. I suggest that you pose this question on The Great War Forum, you will have to register to ask but there is no charge. I would be very surprised if someone on there does not know, the expertise is vast. Alternatively, you could try the Tank Museum at Bovington.

Good luck!

Boots DMS, having seen the blurb for 'Bonekickers' it would appear that this British tank was found on the battlefield at Verdun. At this point I made a mental note not to watch it! Shades of a Mel Gibson approach to 'Braveheart' and 'The Patriot' methinks! Or put another way, somewhat flexible in its approach to historical accuracy!

Berlin

Edited: once
 
BootsDMS said:
Talking of WWI tanks.From next weeks TV guide,BoneKickers...tues 5th aug..BBC1 at 9pmThe Lines Of War(quote)A British WWI tank containing the remains of six soldiers is uncovered in France.As evidence of a war crime emerges,tensions grow between Gillian and her German counterpart - but its soon apparent that someone is determined to put an end to the dig.

Might be worth a look...............or maybe not

Sounds like utter shit.
 
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