21st Infantry Bde, 7th Australian Division markings

[Mike Cecil]

Larry,

Go to the AWM website.

Find 'War Diaries'.
Work your way through the levels to 7 Aust Inf Division.
Look at the month(s) you are interested in, and look for the LOC STATS (Location Statements) in the appendices for that month.

Ascertain which engineer unit was co-located with the Infantry Bn you are interested in. Bingo!

With regard to the use of fractions to represent the Unit sign, these came in to effect in August 1944, and for 7th Infantry Division, were promulgated by Divisional HQ in early September. The official Divisional sign was indeed a simplified white Kookaburra sitting on a white boomerang, on a black background. By this stage, there was only one officially sanctioned version, the governing principle being that it could be easily stencilled in the field - unlike the early 1940s when it was two coloured (Brown and White) on a black background. There are references to boots and flying Kookaburra versions, but these were local abberrations and were certainly not adopted officially.

Mike C

[Private_collector]

The unit sign would look similar to this.
TAC Plate - Unit side.jpg
The pic shows plate for 29/46 inf btn.
Check how bright the red background should be. This seemed right to me, but I have seen some darker/lighter red.

[Larry Hayward]

Mike & Tony thanks very much!

[Mike Cecil]

Tony,

Looks much too dark to me - like a maroon colour. I think the colour used was actually 'signal red' - a much brighter red than that.

Mike C

[Tony Mathers]

The Light Aid Detachment AEME was 2/59 Aust LAD

[Larry Hayward]

With the 21st Inf Bde?

[Larry Hayward]

Sorry to ask more on this subject but did Australian army vehicles such as a Dodge Weapons Carrier in July 1945 have a white star on the hood and was it with or without a circle round it?