Infantry
The weather in March had been cold, with snow and heavy frosts, gradually improving through April. Photos show infantry in full battledress or greatcoats. This raises a similar issue to that which I encountered last year, with a lack of early war 15mm figures meeting this description. As a result, I will again compromise and build on the infantry I painted last year from the 'Italy Campaign' range, meaning I already have one platoon banked with one more plus the Company HQ to go.
Armour
Part of my background reading for this project has included "The Gods Were Neutral", an autobiographical account of the campaign by Robert Crisp, a troop commander in C Squadron, 3rd RTR. In the first couple of chapters he describes the various colour permutations that their tanks went through between arriving in Egypt through to deployment to Greece. Starting with "having their camouflage altered from the green and brown of paddocked England to an exotic shade of red and yellow" - the scheme for the Sudan - through "hot yellow" - when it appeared that they would be sent to the Western Desert - to "a more civilised olive-green effect", "broad, deceptive patterns of green".
In his book "The Caunter Scheme", Mike Starmer provides drawings for, and spends quite a bit of time discussing colours for, the average scheme for 3rd RTR. The suggestion there is either Slate over Light Stone, or Silver Grey over Portland Stone, and I will be running with Light Stone/Slate.
While 3rd RTR had their tanks painted in Egypt, the 4th Hussars war diary has their vehicles being recamouflaged on arrival in Greece. The photos I've found appear to be a light base colour with a darker disruptive colour, but I can't discern any consistent pattern. Mike says that a number were deployed in European colours without repainting, and some were in Caunter.
I was confused for a while on the issue of tac signs. With 4th Hussars having a '51' Arm of Service Flash and 3rd RTR having a '52', in theory their tac signs should have been red and yellow respectively. Photos show Mk VIb tanks in Greece having tac signs in both dark and light colours, probably red and yellow. 3rd RTR tac signs are too dark to be yellow and are different to the red divisional symbol, so are possibly blue, although I've read one opinion that they might be in the regimental colour of green. I'm wondering whether the colours have something to do with the King's Dragoon Guards. They were the senior armoured regiment in the brigade until they converted to armoured cars in January 1941 and handed their Mk VIbs over to 4th Hussars. This combined with moving to Greece at short notice might help explain the apparent discrepancy but I have nothing solid to back up this thought.
Transport
The 1st Rangers war diary for 12 and 13 March says "During this period opportunity taken to spray paint carriers and scout cars at Athens aerodrome, all vehicles at this time being camouflaged for the desert." I have taken this to mean that the soft skin transports were either in Caunter or overall Light Stone, but it provides no further clues.
I've been sent a photo of a 2nd Armoured Division Quad in Caunter, and there is one of a 2nd Armoured Division 15cwt CMP (here) that looks like it's in an overall light colour. There is a photo of an abandoned Rangers carrier in the Images of War book "War in the Balkans". It is definitely not in Caunter - it looks like a light base colour with a wavy darker disruptive pattern. It is also a Universal Carrier rather than the Scout Carriers specified in the list, and I will be modelling them as such.
Taking all of this into consideration, for the sake of coherency I'm leaning towards using a base colour of Light Stone on all vehicles, with disruptive patterns in Slate on the carriers.
Guns
I have found nothing for the colour of the Northumberland Hussars' 2pdr portees. There are a couple of relevant photos on the web: an Australian 2pdr in Caunter (here), and a spiked 2pdr claimed to be in Greece (here) that is in the two tone green European scheme. Both options are entirely plausible, as is light base colour with or without a disruptive pattern per the other vehicles. I'm going to paint this platoon last, once I've had a chance to see what works for the rest of the list.
Part of my background reading for this project has included "The Gods Were Neutral", an autobiographical account of the campaign by Robert Crisp, a troop commander in C Squadron, 3rd RTR. In the first couple of chapters he describes the various colour permutations that their tanks went through between arriving in Egypt through to deployment to Greece. Starting with "having their camouflage altered from the green and brown of paddocked England to an exotic shade of red and yellow" - the scheme for the Sudan - through "hot yellow" - when it appeared that they would be sent to the Western Desert - to "a more civilised olive-green effect", "broad, deceptive patterns of green".
In his book "The Caunter Scheme", Mike Starmer provides drawings for, and spends quite a bit of time discussing colours for, the average scheme for 3rd RTR. The suggestion there is either Slate over Light Stone, or Silver Grey over Portland Stone, and I will be running with Light Stone/Slate.
While 3rd RTR had their tanks painted in Egypt, the 4th Hussars war diary has their vehicles being recamouflaged on arrival in Greece. The photos I've found appear to be a light base colour with a darker disruptive colour, but I can't discern any consistent pattern. Mike says that a number were deployed in European colours without repainting, and some were in Caunter.
I was confused for a while on the issue of tac signs. With 4th Hussars having a '51' Arm of Service Flash and 3rd RTR having a '52', in theory their tac signs should have been red and yellow respectively. Photos show Mk VIb tanks in Greece having tac signs in both dark and light colours, probably red and yellow. 3rd RTR tac signs are too dark to be yellow and are different to the red divisional symbol, so are possibly blue, although I've read one opinion that they might be in the regimental colour of green. I'm wondering whether the colours have something to do with the King's Dragoon Guards. They were the senior armoured regiment in the brigade until they converted to armoured cars in January 1941 and handed their Mk VIbs over to 4th Hussars. This combined with moving to Greece at short notice might help explain the apparent discrepancy but I have nothing solid to back up this thought.
Transport
The 1st Rangers war diary for 12 and 13 March says "During this period opportunity taken to spray paint carriers and scout cars at Athens aerodrome, all vehicles at this time being camouflaged for the desert." I have taken this to mean that the soft skin transports were either in Caunter or overall Light Stone, but it provides no further clues.
I've been sent a photo of a 2nd Armoured Division Quad in Caunter, and there is one of a 2nd Armoured Division 15cwt CMP (here) that looks like it's in an overall light colour. There is a photo of an abandoned Rangers carrier in the Images of War book "War in the Balkans". It is definitely not in Caunter - it looks like a light base colour with a wavy darker disruptive pattern. It is also a Universal Carrier rather than the Scout Carriers specified in the list, and I will be modelling them as such.
Taking all of this into consideration, for the sake of coherency I'm leaning towards using a base colour of Light Stone on all vehicles, with disruptive patterns in Slate on the carriers.
Guns
I have found nothing for the colour of the Northumberland Hussars' 2pdr portees. There are a couple of relevant photos on the web: an Australian 2pdr in Caunter (here), and a spiked 2pdr claimed to be in Greece (here) that is in the two tone green European scheme. Both options are entirely plausible, as is light base colour with or without a disruptive pattern per the other vehicles. I'm going to paint this platoon last, once I've had a chance to see what works for the rest of the list.
No comments:
Post a Comment