Can anyone tell me what the number 9 marked in the light socket of the truck in the photo means? The guys are with 9th Field Hygiene Section RAMC so I thought it could be that but then I wondered if it could be Corps or Divisional marking
I agree. Units did not carry markings directly indicating their regimental number - I suppose that could give the game away to the enemy. The "Bridge Classification Plate" defined the minimum category of bridge that a vehicle could safely cross. The classification of bridges and vehicles to bridges was based on how much weight a bridge could support. These came in a variety of colour schemes, but black on yellow was one of them, that is what it looks like here.
I found this definition of Bridge rating No 9. Any ideas what truck it might have been? I thought the Americans used 6 wheel 3 ton trucks but British used 4 wheel 3 ton trucks.
That truck is a Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) Cab 13 truck. These came in sizes from 8 cwt 4x2 right up to 3 ton 6x6. I am not sufficiently knowledgable to be able to say which this one is as the cabs were all much the same, but the commonest were probably 15 cwt 4x4 and 3 ton 4x4. I would add that there are numerous pics of the same type of truck bearing one of several different bridge classifications! Specialist trucks (sorry, lorries) such as bridging vehicles and machinery trucks were largely 6x4 in the British Army early in the war and many remained in service throughout the war. Incidentally the Americans had very few 3 ton trucks; theirs were usually 2 1/2 tonners. Chris
Thanks. I found a vehicle list for the FHS units in North Africa which shows them using 3 ton 4x2 trucks but I suppose it might not have been their vehicle in the photo. Alternatively the 9 rating might not have been consistently applied as you mentioned.
I found this image of a 4 wheel CMP truck in North Africa with a 9 Bridge rating plate so that fits with the image that I have.
