I would like to know more about this subject myself.
All I have seen is that from pre-war until 1942, the numbers took the form of
41-1-1234.
The 41 was the year the vehicle was accepted into service, the 1 seemed to always be in the equasion, and the next batch of numbers (could be one, two or three or 4 digits) was the unique number assigned to that vehicle.
From what I could observe looking through some unit history here in Shilo, it appeared the numbers were possibly assigned at the local level, since many of the vehicles seemed to be numerically in close order, and for differing vehicle types.
In 1942 it seems to have changed to a different format such as 68-123. I have no idea what the meaning is to this numbering system. Vehicles already in service with the old numbering system were (usually) painted over to the new numbering system.
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