67burwood Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Can anyone please help identify these unit markings and insignia that I uncovered today on my Jeep 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REME 245 Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 The Red over Blue is an RA arm of service indicator. The yellow badge reminds me of the 12th Infrantry Brigade but does not look 100%. Is the red paint over the top of the yellow badge hence a different badge again? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenkinov Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 The Markings are British markings . With as previously commented the arm of service indicator of red over blue being Royal Artillery . The white Li e at the top is called an arm of service flash and were used to indicate units allocated to higher level formations ... The white bar above indicates corps troops So I believe the 88 May denote the 88th heavy anti aircraft regiment ..royal artillery .... There's a lot of information on the unit online but I would suggest contacting the royal artillery museum about your find .... Jenkinov 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenkinov Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 For info on the unit look at ra39-45.co.uk/units/heavy-anti-aircraft-regiments/88-heavy-anti-aircraft-regiment-rata/ Jenkinov 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67burwood Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, REME 245 said: The Red over Blue is an RA arm of service indicator. The yellow badge reminds me of the 12th Infrantry Brigade but does not look 100%. Is the red paint over the top of the yellow badge hence a different badge again? I think I have a match for the insignia, a Jeep forum member mentioned Belgian Piron lions head, so I started digging and found this Belgian 16th Armoured division Edited November 21, 2021 by 67burwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67burwood Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 Question : Did the Belgian army use the same regiment markings as the British?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenkinov Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 Your jeep may have served in multiple units in its lifetime ..I believe my own jeep was in the Pacific theatre .ended up in Japan .was rebuilt for the Korean war ( rebuild plate on its engine ) then given to the Greek army under the Marshall programme and fitted out to carry a recoilless gun .about 35 years of military service and lots of modifications As such you may have multiple wartime and post war markings on your vehicle. ..... Jenkinov 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REME 245 Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 (edited) I would question how many war-time markings would survive post-war British Army rebuilds. If the red is over the other markings it is probably Anti-Aircraft Command. You could have 3 different markings in different layers if the white is the bottom layer. Edited November 21, 2021 by REME 245 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11th Armoured Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 10 hours ago, jenkinov said: The Markings are British markings . With as previously commented the arm of service indicator of red over blue being Royal Artillery . The white Li e at the top is called an arm of service flash and were used to indicate units allocated to higher level formations ... The white bar above indicates corps troops So I believe the 88 May denote the 88th heavy anti aircraft regiment ..royal artillery .... There's a lot of information on the unit online but I would suggest contacting the royal artillery museum about your find .... Jenkinov While I agree with the red/blue being RA & an upper white bar denoting a Corps level formation, the numbering on arm of service signs doesn't usually represent the actual identity of the unit (I think the markings were actually in part designed to preserve the anonymity of units for security purposes). '88' on a red/blue background for example would have been a marking used by a number of different divisional formations, in the same way that '50' on a red square was a ubiquitous marking across many formations. In the case of '88' on red/blue, from this source (produced by a member of the forum, I believe) it appears to denote an RA field regiment in an infantry division in the Middle East between 1941 and 1943 (and potentially into Italy after that):https://uktankmarkings.wordpress.com/tactical-markings/aos-markings-infantry/ That said, there's something 'not right' to the style of the marking on the Jeep to my eye... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67burwood Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 The insignia and regiments markings were under a number of layers of paint, it was by chance I spotted some colour and investigated further From what I’ve worked out so far this Jeep was in Europe and went through the rebuild program, the stencils on the dash, the number stamped in the tub and the blackout light tags all match Esslingen rebuilt Jeeps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67burwood Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 5 hours ago, REME 245 said: I would question how many war-time markings would survive post-war British Army rebuilds. I don’t think it was a British army rebuild, I believe it was part of the US rebuild program in Germany Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11th Armoured Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 Which then brings up a question... if the markings DO indicate a British Jeep, why was it part of a post-war US rebuild programme? If all the other signs point to it being a US Esslingen rebuild, then I'd think that the markings are probably a red-herring & it's a former US vehicle 'prettied-up' by a subsequent owner. OR they are Belgian markings & it's a US Jeep that was passed into Belgian hands (the 'Normal' & 'Occulte' plates on the dash are in French, after all (as well as being French words absorbed into English))... All very intriguing 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67burwood Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, 11th Armoured said: Which then brings up a question... if the markings DO indicate a British Jeep, why was it part of a post-war US rebuild programme? If all the other signs point to it being a US Esslingen rebuild, then I'd think that the markings are probably a red-herring & it's a former US vehicle 'prettied-up' by a subsequent owner. OR they are Belgian markings & it's a US Jeep that was passed into Belgian hands (the 'Normal' & 'Occulte' plates on the dash are in French, after all (as well as being French words absorbed into English))... All very intriguing 😀 It’s definitely a head scratcher!! Hence my question, did the Belgian military use the same regiment markings as the British post war?? I agree the RA markings don’t look quite right but doesn’t mean there not, also I assume it’s a US rebuild program, did the British have any rebuild factories in Germany?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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