Various sources suggest that the M3 Grants operating in North Africa rarely displayed their AOS and Formation markings. I wonder how common this would have been, as I am unsure whether to include the kit’s decal markings on my forthcoming model.
Paul
Hi Paul,
Whilst certainly not a Western Desert expert, I’d be surprised. The British Army was, or certainly back then, a disciplined and organised beast - it had to be - adapting to total war as it had so to do.
What I’m saying is there would have been prescribed regulations that would have been, by and large, scrupulously followed to the letter. I suspect this would have been particularly so with foreign kit, whereby it would almost be a psychological boost to see such kit now “owned” properly as it were in sporting Brit markings; this would also amplify (hopefully admittedly) unit pride. After all, if say, the badges painted on your tank duplicate the ones on say, your battledress sleeve, then both elements are beginning to gel.
That said, if subsequent to actual contact with the enemy, there may have been say, some discussion over such and such a reason for getting your ass handed to you, (assuming this was the case) although personally, I would not have thought that any unit markings would have been the cause of this; besides, given the dust, sand and other aspects of wear and tear I feel it’s unlikely that any markings would have been visible to anyone!
The only other reason I can think of for markings not being displayed is the actual rush to get the kit into service. I’m not too sure that bears much scrutiny, but certainly for Alamein, I would have thought there was plenty of time to get one’s AFVs up to snuff. Grant use prior to that I’m not so sure about, anyway, that’s my take on things.
In a situation like this one, I look for period pictures of vehicles in the desired configuration. Once I have a few real vehicles to work from, I can extrapolate variations on the theme.