Convoy plates

[Mike Cecil]

Gina,

The Formation sign is 3rd Aust Armoured Division, described as a Knight on horseback over a boomerang.

The Unit sign '53' within that division was carried by the 13th Aust Armoured Regiment, part of 2nd Aust Armoured Brigade, in June 1943. They were located at Manumbar, Qld, at that time. As the third Armd Regt within the Brigade, the background colour would be red (not red/brown diagonal). Diagonal red/brown is not a colour combination I am aware of in use within the Aust army, and diagonally divided plates in the Aust army are always lower left to upper right, ie a colour in the upper left half and the lower right half.

Your No.9 artillery tractor could also be marked to 3rd Aust Armoured Division if you so chose: both 21 and 22 Aust Field Regiments formed the field artillery components of the division. In June 1943, these were both based at Gympie, Qld. The unit signs were 76 on a red/blue horizontally divided unit sign for 21 Fd Regt, or 74 on red/blue horizontal for 21 Aust Fd Regt. The formation sign was that of 3rd Armd Div.

Mike C