Wwii usa vehicle markings

[Lang]

Tony,

I have just looked at the marking instructions for the desert period and see that if you did everything they said the vehicle would be covered in signs. This obviously did not happen from the photos so I will set out below what should be a good balanced group of markings that conscientious commanders might have put on your vehicle.

The bonnet sign is in white if a dark coloured vehicle or in "contrasting" colour if it is light. Looks like the desert vehicles had black numbers.

You should have 3 1/2 inches high, simple block letters something like: AIF, then a space, M(vehicle class), then a dash, then numbers.
AIF M-12345 You can choose whatever numbers you like. All the numbers I have seen for the desert period are 4 or 5 digit groups. Whatever number you put on some anal person will tell you it was on a Chev ute not a jeep - that's life.

Vehicles other than staff cars could all have an individual name "Saucy Sue"
This was no larger than 2 inches high in white placed over the windscreen or central on the front bumper (obviously bumper for jeep).

Your markings for the 2/10 infantry battalion would be:

Red background for the senior Brigade with the number 80 for the second senior battalion. 2/10 was in the 9th Division but all divisions had the same markings ie there could have been 3 battalions in the Middle East with a red background and number 80.

This confusion is solved by carrying the division sign as well. Later on with trucks the division sign is on the top half of a 9 inch high plate with the unit sign on the bottom half. During your period trucks carried two large signs - the division on the left and unit on the right like in the photo of my Chev above. Obviously a huge plate is not going to fit on the jeep so the signs on the jeep will go at the bottom of the windscreen.

On the right hand side a red square of approximately 6" with the number 80 in white. On the left hand side a black square of approximately 6" with the division sign in white. In your case this is the platypus over a boomerang. These can be on removable plates but 99% I have seen in photos are painted straight onto the screen panel.

That is enough. You could have bridge weight signs which almost no light vehicles carried plus numerous other stripes and twirls but nobody seems to have done anything about these from the photos. Keep it simple.

Lang