Unidentified Tank Transporter Coy RASC

[Mike Jackson]

Can anyone with a better computer and better eye than mine add anything to what I can make of this unit signboard (ignore the dog posing in front!):
The serial 861 does not feature in my records, but both 860 and 862 (on a red/green backing) are 21 Army Group Tank Tptr Coys.
The sign at top right looks to me like a truck tyre enclosing a stylised front or rear end of a tank. At bottom left and right are two probable 21 Army Group signs. At the bottom, centre and partly obscured by the dog is PLAT..N. Did RASC Coys have Platoons in 1945?
The strangest part of the design looks like a psychedelic or dazzle pattern capital letter B. I cannot imagine why it should be in the bizarre pattern. Comments and Observations would be very welcome. Other photos that came with the one illustrated here showed Churchills and at least one RN harbour launch (?) being carried around Germany in 1945.
Unident RASC Tank Transporter Unit signboard.01.jpg

[leigh kitchen]

Closest I can get with the design top right is something like like "C M19"
The dazzle camo. central design - "1B"?

[Mike Jackson]

I see what you mean, but I can see tyre tread around the left side of the C shape. I think the item emerging from the centre of the wheel is a portion of tank hull - as per 451 Coy RASC (Tk Tptr). Mike
451 Coy RASC (Tk Tptr).01.jpg

[leigh kitchen]

I see what you mean re. the tyre..............

[leigh kitchen]

B Platoon, 861 Company, perhaps, but that's as far as pure guess work's got me.

[Rob Miller]

Hi Mike

861 Is in Hodges and Taylor page 107 (1994 edition)

228 Tank Transporter Coy

Rob

[Mike Jackson]

Thank you very much. Mike

[Mike Jackson]

Here are a couple of unit signs for unidentified Tk Tptr Coys - with the same theme. The tanks are recognisable as Shermans. The image were taken from one of a series of small wooden shields with miniature paintings of (mostly) RASC unit signs - the majority of which remain unidentified.
Unident Tk Tptr Coy RASC.01.jpgUnident Tk Tptr Coy RASC.02.jpg

[High Wood]

It seems to be a free standing sign with an integral directional arrow, so it may have stood near their depot. Might the partially obscured word at the bottom indicate a place name?

[badjez]

Mike,

Eastern Command RASC were using Platoon numbers in 1944, but only for units supporting RA functions. They were usually four digit. I cannot speak for 21 Army Group.

Stephen.

[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by High Wood

It seems to be a free standing sign with an integral directional arrow, so it may have stood near their depot. Might the partially obscured word at the bottom indicate a place name?

On close examination the arrow reads OFFICE. Mike

[leigh kitchen]

The wording on the arrow is definitely "OFFICE", but is the word partially obscured by the dog "PLATOON" or as suggested above a location?

[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by leigh kitchen

The wording on the arrow is definitely "OFFICE", but is the word partially obscured by the dog "PLATOON" or as suggested above a location?

Thanks. The big mystery remains what I described as a "psychedelic or dazzle pattern capital letter B". What do you make of that? Mike

[leigh kitchen]

Baffled. There was a Landing Craft (tanks) no. 861 that operated.on the Normandy beaches on D Day & later, I considered whether the sign with its dazzle camo, the men in wellies, one with a very "white" belt, the tank in a tyre / life belt, might be a spoof by the crew, but the Combined Ops insignia would've featured rather than the army type insignia.
But that's pushing it too far.........

[fougasse1940]

Originally Posted by Mike Jackson

Thanks. The big mystery remains what I described as a "psychedelic or dazzle pattern capital letter B". What do you make of that? Mike

The "B" could also be an "R" for recovery perhaps? the image is too compressed to do anything worthwhile with it, do you have a larger file?

Rgds, Thomas.