The cam pattern is an interesting one. It (or rather, a very similarly dimensioned wavy sub-parallel pattern) is also visible on images of late pattern (no side doors) M3 series Lee tanks in Australia.
The combined unit/formation sign was first promulgated in the Middle East as AIF(ME) Staff Instruction No.34 of 12 January 1942. The image from the Anzac Steel website (which incidentally, came from a Mechanisation Experimental Establishment (MEE) test report so is copyright expired - public domain) shows a formation sign that has a white 'image' over a black background. There were four possibilities in the AIF (ME) instructions: 6, 7, 9 Infantry Divisions, and Base and LofC Troops, the last being a howling dingo, with its head thrown back, facing right. The image is indistinct, but the shape 'fits' this last formation sign more than the other three mentioned. I'd suggest that is what the sign plate is of. The other two formation signs (HQ AIF(ME) and 1 Aust Corps) were coloured, ie not black and white, so don't 'fit' what is visible in the Matador image.
I haven't checked the AIF (ME) OOB for Base and LofC units in 1942 to see which may have been equipped with Matadors. Certainly, they were used for hauling 3.7-inch Mobile HAA guns which might provide a clue.
Mike C
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14-02-13, 18:59
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