6th South African armoured division unversal carrier

have recently ran into an image of an universal carrier which intrigued me considerably. It comes from the IWM collections, and depicts a 24th Guards Brigade Universal Carrier, in Bagnoregio, Italy, June 1944:

The Brigade was attached to the 6th SA armoured division, and this carrier bears a rather interesting set of markings: The AoS, (56 of the Scots Guards), what seems to be the insignia of the 13th Corps above the Bren port (very unusual), and the 6th SA division insigna. The latter has caught my attention because, rather than being the usual green and yellow triangle placed on a white rectangle, it seems to me to be placed on a rectagle with a lighter coloured bar over a darker background, which strongly recalls the Guards' flash (a bordeaux horizontal bar on a dark blue rectangle)., for which I have made a very hypothetical reconstruction.





and I underline very hypothetical because my reconstruction doesn't square with the authoritative information published here: https://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.asp ... rt_id=4469 by William Marshall, one of the leading experts of SA camouflage and markings, who attributes this set of insignia to that brigade



On the other hand, it seems clear to me that the divisional triangle is not superimposed on the brigade's wings, but on something else. Can anyone shed some light about this peculiar insignia? Has anyone seen the Brigade Insigna with the wings being used, either on vehicles or uniforms?
thank you, best regards
Niccoló

 

Niccoló,

My later father was in the 5th Battalion Grenadier Guards from late 1943 until early 1945. I came across this photograph a few years ago on the IWM website. There are very few photos of the vehicles of the 5th Bn at this time. I was also intrigued by the markings and the Arms of Service number. When I tried to blow up the Arm of Service number it looked to me like '56', which of course would be the Scots Guards rather than Grenadiers. I think perhaps the photograph was mislabelled and this was a Scots Guards carrier.

The seniority of the regiments should mean that it should read GG '55', CG '56' and SG '57'. However, one theory I have as to why the order is not as expected is that following the ANZIO battles the 1st Bn Irish Guards were removed from the 24th Guards Brigade due to heavy casualties and replaced by 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards. They had come over from 201st Guards Brigade. Possibly to save having to repaint the Arm of Service numbers the Coldstream simply took on '57' from the Irish Guards.

As far as the idea of the Brigade of Guards colours - maroon and blue - a similar idea was used by the Guards battalions in the 1st Guards Brigade of 6th British Armoured Division. The Guards are quite well known for doing this. I will confirm that with my colleague who has an interest in this Div. that this was the case.

RE the diamond marking located above the Bren port, I had thought that perhaps as the carriers were in the Support Company of the Battalion they had assumed the diamond marking used by HQ/Support Sqns used in armoured regiments. Re the 13th Corps idea. I find this might not be an explanation as it is an unusual location for a Corps marking.

There is an error in Marshall's use of 23rd "Armoured" Field Regiment. This should read 23rd Army Field Regiment. This field artillery unit was allocated to the Brigade from 8th Army and as such as not directly part of a division, and was an "Army" controlled unit before being allocated to 24th Guards Brigade i.e. not Corps or Division, hence the name. It was equipped with towed 25-pounders and would not have been 'armoured'.

Kind regards,
Nigel

 

Nigel.

If you ever want to go to Anzio in order to see exactly what happened to 24 Gds Bde and 5 GREN GDS in particular, do get in touch via my website www.cassinobattlefields.co.uk.

5 GREN GDS had a bruising time. During the six weeks that they were in the beachhead, they were engaged for little more than a fortnight – 25 Jan-10 Feb 44, but in that time they lost 29 of their 35 Offrs, nine of whom were killed including a CO, 12 were wounded and 8 taken prisoner. The Bn lost 577 of their 785 ORs: 52 of whom were killed, 222 wounded and 303 were missing. They had four COs in three weeks. This gives some indication of the violence of the opening stages of the Anzio campaign.

However, in that time, Maj Philip Sidney saved the beachhead on the night 7-8 Feb 44 by almost singlehandedly preventing the Germans from reaching the critical Anzio-Albano road. Standing on the spot, it is not difficult to appreciate his courage.

Regards

Frank

 

Niccoló,

Regarding the Bagnoregio photo, and the 'diamond' marking above the Bren port; another possibility, if it is the Scots Guards i.e. AoS '56', is that this is the thistle which is on the Scots Guards cap badge. There is this photograph of the Guards in Tunisia in mid-1943 which shows the same diamond, however, in this case there is a number which indicates vehicle number in the Mortar Platoon.

EXERCISES WITH THE FIRST ARMY IN TUNISIA

Regards,
Nigel