Lieutenant-Colonel R.H.F. Back
6th Armoured (1st Hussars) Regiment

We’re playing for keeps and we have to be a crack outfit. We know what those German panzers can do and we’ve been training ourselves accordingly. I’ve been to England. I’ve seen the Canadian troops in England and I would say this armored division won’t take second place to any of them.

(Ottawa Citizen, 24 Nov 1941, 24)

Born in London, Ontario on 27 May 1905, Ronald Henry Franklin Back was commissioned in the 1st Hussars in 1927 and promoted to major in 1938. After a six month attachment to the British Armoured Corps for training, he returned to Canada in March 1941. The next month he assumed command of the 6th Armoured Regiment, which had been redesignated from the 1st Hussars. He replaced Lieutenant-Colonel A.C. Spender on his promotion to command the 2nd Army Tank Brigade.

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