I've attached part of a water colour painted in April 1944 at Cerignola (near Foggia airfields), Italy, showing what appears to be a Matador gun tractor (interestingly, with a tented extension). The site of this I know to be BHQ for 236/76th HAA Regt RA. The insignia on the driver's side seems to show an red and blue RA RHQ TAC sign, but above it is a yellow disc, possibly displaying a 'D' above a horizontal line, and with character(s), indistinguishable, below. Any ideas as to what this might signify? View attachment 108927
That will be a bridge classification disc. The figure in the top half is the classification of the Matador plus its usual trailer (the gun); the figure in the lower half is the classification of the Matador on its own (or quite possibly, being rather aged, I have them the wrong way up! Chris
Thanks Chris - very helpful! I've noticed since I posted this that there's an 8th Army badge of the opposite side, as would be expected, as this Regt was part of this Army.
Thanks for the comments. Thought provoking! Difficult to tell what vehicle is, now you raise the possibility, but you may well be right. The thing that is slightly confusing to me is the shape of the cab roof, which looks flat, rather than curved - any thoughts?. If my assumption is right that the RA tac sign is RHQ, (do you think this is correct?) then it's possible, as you suggest, that it's a 3 tonner, as I can't see the need for a Matador for RHQ. The author does talk in documents about 3 tonners and such vehicles being drawn from 'wagon lines'. There's a Jeep in another part of the painting, incidentally, that looks to be bearing a '1 Battery' tac sign.
Frankly, the original painting is so generalised that the vehicle could be almost anything! If I had to make a guess, I would say it might well be a six wheeled (6x4) 3 tonner with a canvas cab roof (of course you can't see how many wheels the thing has). Note also the hefty round maker's badge on the radiator grille, where the Matador, being an AEC, would have a triangle. However, I would have thought it unlikely that such a truck would be in unit use in Italy (though I came across a pic of a Morris CDF recently which was said to be from Italy). The Matador pictured above is much taller than the usual artillery tractor and has strange hard top bodywork. Note too that early Matadors did have a flat topped cab roof. Chris
Thanks Chris! Yes, I agree, it is a bit generalised. And I think it possibly has a canvas roof. The vehicles went out as part of Operation Torch to Algiers, crossed to Sicily, then up through Italy, and were not replaced for the remainder of the war period (this is noted in the painter's diary), so the vehicle here will be of 1942 vintage at the latest. I know they had Matadors as gun tractors, as this is also frequently noted, but there is no mention of the make of any 3 tonners.