Australian Army camouflage and formation markings

[Mike Kelly]

A friend here recently gave me a photocopy of a Jan 1942 Aust. Mechanisation circular on the painting of soft skin vehicles .

It's a Australian document that has 5 pages of drawings , it also details the colours they recommend for use within Australia .

I have finished posting the whole document at :

http://www.geocities.com/vk3cz/camoausttxt.html


Mike

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Mike,

Great stuff - thanks for putting this on the web!

Regards,
Hanno

P.S.: anyone interested in this subject should also read Australian Army Vehicles and Camouflage in WWII

[Lang]

I can't find reference to this on the Forum but it may be here somewhere - anyhow:

I just bought the definitive standard "Formation Signs and Vehicle Marking of the Australian Army 1903-1983" by Stephen Taubert,
20 Friarbird drive, Narangba Queensland Australia 4504
Was done only as a short run and now out of print but is available from Stephen as a CD (not cheap)

Has "every" instruction ever written by the Army on the subject and is over 500 pages. Many illustrations of formation markings, all the hundreds of vehicle unit and tactical signs and official diagrams of camouflage patterns on dozens of vehicles. The bulk of information is WW2.

Of interest to the British loan/sale/lease debate on another thread is the instruction (March 42) allocating registration number groups to all army vehicles in Australia or leaving for New Guinea, both new and in service. It says that AIF vehicles which have not left Australia are to be renumbered in the new series. AIF vehicles returning from overseas are to retain their numbers eg AIF M8654.

It then goes on to say that "certain returning vehicles" have W.O. numbers and these are to be left on the vehicles concerned.

To me this certainly confirms Australians operated W.O. numbered vehicles but were they a. Australian independently purchased or shipped from Australia vehicles which were given British numbers very early on before the AIF marking system started? b. vehicles purchased from British allocations and delivered to Australians instead of British? c. Vehicles loaned by the British and subsequently kept permanently through purchase or lease? d. Were they still British property with some wishful hope that they would be returned some day?

I tend not to go along with the permanent loan or lease idea. I talked about this to my father who was in Blamey's headquarters in Cairo responsible for 'per capita' payments to the British. The Australian Army paid the British 4 shillings per man per day for supplies and locally sourced goods (fuel etc) Not a bad British deal get people to pay to fight your war!!!!

He also said millions of pounds were paid in theatre to purchase vehicles, aircraft, armoured vehicles and heavy weapons - no bulk discounts. To his knowledge the fudging of the books with various lend/lease deals for Australia did not start until we began direct contact with the Americans in the Pacific. Until then it was strictly business with the British.

This only muddys the water.

Lang