British Vehicle Markings - a rough guide

In case anyone is interested, I came across the instruction to add five pointed stars to British vehicles here.

 

Yeah! Now look for the one ordering the removal of the CRUSADER markings!

All the best

Andreas

 

According to this memo, yellow is the preferred colour not white. Hunt is now on for yellow stars. Also, the star is to go on horizontal surfaces only?

When did this change to all white and the addition of vertical surfaces? The Canadians kept good records, maybe the answer to those questions are to be found in the same files? Hopefully!

 

Hi all, sorry to restart an old thread but I have a question.

We have just got a 25 PDR at our museum and I would like to mark it up as 74th Field regiment as a memory of my great grandfather, I have been looking through Frank Tomlinson's photo album from his time in the 74th and it looks like the gun had a Royal Artillery flash marking with 44 in it, would this be correct and why?
I have read the complete thread but I think I am more confused than when I started.

 

The May 1944 marking instructions gave the artillery units of an Infantry Division the following serial numbers, all featured on a square split as red over blue horizontal.

Field Regiment - 42
Field Regiment - 43
Field Regiment - 44
Anti-tank Regiment - 46
LAA Regiment - 47

 

The 74th were transferred to 49 (West Riding) Division on30/11/44 after 50 (Northumbrian) Division was broken up. They were the senior regiment in 50 Div - AoS 42. On transfer to 49 Div they replaced 185 Fd Regt, which was the junior regiment in that Division. There are several cases were replacement regiments took the AoS of the unit they were replacing, regardless of their seniority - which what must of happened to the 74th. The 74th were a Northumbrian TA Regt so you have 2 choices - celebrate his membership of his "own" Division and replace the 44 with a 42 - as of D-Day or keep the 44 and celebrate his service to the end of the war! Hope this makes sense!

 

Thank you!
Do you know what number they would of had during there time in North Africa?

 

I've tried to attach a word .doc attached witha short note on the 74th Field but the system rejected it.
I used Joslen 'Orders of Battle', the regimental history by Brigadier Hogg 'The history of the 3rd Durham Volunteer Artillery...' and the venerable Hodges/Taylor 'British Military Markings'
cheers
74th (Northumbrian) Field Regiment

Under command 50 (Northumbrian) Division – 3/9/1939 to 29/11/1944

Under command 49 (West Riding) Division – 1/12 1944 to 31/8/1945

Joslen also states that the Regiment were under command 7th Armoured Division 13/9/42 to 18/9/1942 (but I’m pretty sure this was a temporary measure as the 7th were trying to gather themselves together after the withdrawal from Gazala)

Busy war.

1940 Ypres-Comines Canal – 26-28 May

1940-41 In Palestine, Cyprus and Iraq

1942 Gazala – 26 May 21 June (where 1 Battery was overrun and lost)

Mersa Matruh 26 – 30 June

Defence of the Alamein Line 1 – 27 July

El Alamein 23 October – 4 November

(The Regiment had 2 Batteries, a total of 16 25pdrs)

1943 Mareth 16-23 March

Akarit 6-7 April

Enfidaville 19 29 April

Landing in Sicily 9-12 July

1944 Normandy Landing 6 June

The Nederrijn 17-27 September

Arm of Service numbers (as far as I can work out!

1940 4 2nd senior regt in an infantry division

1941 71 “ “

1941 75 possible. If the regimental history is correct 151 Bde was formed as an Infantry Brigade Group with the 74th under command. Joslen only shows 150 Bde as being formed as a Bde Group. Usually I would take the regimental history as being right, in this case I can find no evidence either way!

1942 71

1944 43 2nd senior regt in an infantry division

1944 44 actually still the second senior regiment and should be 43 but relaced the junior regiment – 185th. Probably assumed the 185th’s number and changed their AoS as well as the Divisional signs on their vehicles because it was the simplest thing to do at this late stage of the war.

 

Hello World

Apologies for the protracted absence. Real Life has been A Lot for the last year or so, so I've not been able to do much work on the old markings guide.

I have, however, launched a shop to run alongside it: uktankmarkings.redbubble.com
Mainly mugs for now!

 

this chart shows GHQ Home Forces 2nd version Formation Sign - What can you tell me about the first version?

 

I was unaware of multiple versions, so let me have a dig around and see what I can turn up!

 

Hi

See first version attached - 1940 to whenever the 2nd version took over

 

Hi Gus,
For what I found about the 2nd brigade, the HQ was number 87, the 4th Para was number 60 and the 5th Para was number 61. I don't have any picture of a 6th para véhicules but we can tell for sure that it is number 62. Pictures are from 1944 and 1945 so when the unit was independent. My big question is, did they kept the green background like in the 1st airborne division or did they change the colour ?

 

I've always thought this was the (personal) insignia for C.I.G.S. - Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Alanbrooke had already been appointed CIGS when this photo was taken (unless I've got the dates wrong!) and Paget was G.O.C.inC. Home Forces. There's mention of an insignia for all War Office vehicles but I've never seen a description or photo of one.

 

Starting this thread again as I have a query regarding a picture from my grandfather's collection.
The M4 Tractor in the background (I may be wrong about the vehicle type) has D2/257 on the front. My grandfather served in the 54th Super Heavy Regiment RA and this picture was taken in May 1945 (approximately the 31st) near the River Po and was wondering if the markings indicated anything in particular, or whether they just indicate the role of the vehicle??
Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

 

Hi Tom,

Yes. I have a strong feeling that 257 would be the regimental identifying number. It looks from the RA39-45 site that at the time of the photo, the regiment was an 8th Army level asset. There were a multitude of numbers which are not well attested-to, used for regiments commanded by higher level formations.

Then, the D2. That would be the individual marking for the vehicle, as (I would guess) the #2 vehicle in D Troop. The differently-coloured square in the upper right corner indicates that this was within the first battery of 54th Super Heavy Regiment RA, which I take from the RA39-45 site be 11th Battery.

The white stripe underneath D2 is a standard marking to indicate "army-level troops".
Markings Overview

Despite appearances, the lower portion of the background '257' and most of the background of 'D2' should have been dark blue, and the seemingly darker portion red. This sort of thing can happen due to filters placed on cameras.
Royal Artillery Markings

 

Orthochromatic film is enough to show reds as black.

 

That is perfect, thanks very much. Helps narrow down the battery and helps me confirm that my grandfather was probably 11/54!

 

Confirms Hodges/Taylor p118, 54 Hvy allotted by AFHQ to HQ 8 Army Troops as of 11/12/43. Converted to a Super Hvy Regt in February 1945 presumably with 8" Guns and/or 240mm Howitzers (Bellis, p23 & 58). A nice addition to proof of AoS numbers used in Italy!

 

They converted to a Super Heavy Regiment and would end up using both 240mm and 8” and would be the only Super Heavy regiment in Italy of the RA!