CMP in the Med

[loupie1961]

Hello everybody, new to this forum! I live in Italy and I've been a collector of British/Commonwealth WWII militaria some 28 years... I've posted on canadiansoldiers.com a couple of threads in the past. Recently I've managed to persuade a friend of mine to buy a Chevrolet C 30 (I haven't got the place where to store it) and he's proceeding to restore it. He'd like to finish it with the camouflage or plain color and insignia of a British/Commonwealth truck (rather South African, Indian or NZ vehicle).
He intends to paint it desert yellow, but I don't feel this would be right for a vehicle used on the Italian front 1943/45. Now, the place where he lives and my hometown, Florence, have been liberated by Commonwealth troops: he lives along the Trasimene line, and the zone was liberated by 6th Armoured Division, saw the presence of Indian divisions and some 2nd NZ division troops, Florence was liberated by 6 SA Arm. Div. together with 2nd NZ and British 4th Div. and so on... what we both think is to badge the truck to some British/Commonwealth unit that has fought in the area, but it looks like we couldn't find much evidence about the use of CMPs in British service... Any references? are there books on CMP in British service? they already are on jeeps and Shermans, and I'm wondering whether there's something specific about CMPs... Thanks in advance, Luca

[servicepub (RIP)]

I sent Luca to this forum (from Canuck) with the assurance that his CMP questions could be answered here because this is the centre of expertise and MLUers are the Subject Matter Experts. However, it's been over a week and his question has been totally ignored. Can anyone help?

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

There are two qualifiers here... after some of our new vehicles were lost at sea on the way to Sicily, replacements were found from stocks in North Africa.

Secondly, once we came under command of the 8th Army in Italy, the Brits took over a lot of our newer vehicles, and gave us their old desert stuff. The bottom line is that service vehicles from North Africa WERE used in the Italian theatre.

So in short, Luca, desert yellow is acceptable; at some point, those still running were eventually painted over, but I don't know when (perhaps close the the winter of '43?). I'm sure Bruce Parker has the answer, though.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Luca,

Will reply in more detail later, but first see CMP trucks in Italy: paint schemes and publications by Mike Starmer: camouflage and paint colour - make sure to read Mike's book Sicily and Italy 1943-1945.

Regards,
Hanno