"American Yellow Stars on Tanks" Topic

I have seen some WWII US tanks with yellow stars.
When were they used and what do they indicate if anything?

An early war marking.

PDF link

Very nice link 79thPA, thanks!

That's a keeper!

Well I never. Something new, every day….

Yep, only in North Africa.

But Stupid.

YouTube link

Awesome link, 79thPA!

I think I'm going to have some fun with early US gear showing the 3-color star…

There were also blue markings, but those were mostly gone on armor by North Africa.

Thanks for that one!

Duck

Glad I clicked !

Phil

The platoon numbering system by Keennon needs a little tweaking:
In the example of the tank destroyer marked 2^ 702 TD B 14, he says it is Second Armored Division, 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, B Company 14th vehicle, it is actually Second Armored Division, 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, B Company, 1st platoon, 4th vehicle. Also in the HQ companies, the convention was and still is that bumper numbers were assigned according to whose it was in the command structure; 3 was for the ops officer or S3, 5 was for the XO, 6 was for the CO and 7 for the 1st SGT or SGM.

I don't think tank-destroyer battalions were integral parts of an AD, they were only "attached."

Some yellow-stared units from Tunisia, in my US Army forces:

Some M3 "Lee" mediums. Here I did turret-side stars-and-bars, and hull-side stars only on command tanks (Company CO, Company Sgt, Platoon COs, and Platoon Sgts). The Sgts tanks also have stowage on their rear decks. I find this style of selective marking to be very handy in my games … I can easily find the command tanks, but my opponents generally do not figure out the marking differences.

Here is a closer view of the Coy Sgt's tank, placed on a US Quarter Dollar coin for scale.

Here is a company of M3 "Motor Gun Carriages" from the 702 TD Batt in parade formation. In Tunisia the crews took to applying mud with mops and brooms to the sides of their vehicles to fit in better with the bare-dirt terrain they operated in.

The small yellow stars near the rear of the M3 scout cars were the hardest to paint!

My T19 105mm SPGs also got the stars-and-bars treatment for Tunisia.

I find the French North African campaign(s) to be among the most interesting for my WW2 gaming. US, British, French (including local formations), Italian (including local formations) and Germans all available for a tremendous variety of small or large scale actions. A great way to get your favorite odd-ball stuff onto a wargame table!

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

dBerczerk,

You're showing your age!

Worse, you're showing mine!

Very nice!

Very impressive! I recently gave up on trying to paint numbers on my micro-armour. My old eyes and hands are just not up to it. Stars would be even worse.

Thought I might add a quick find here as a reference on the question of yellow stars.

This is a screen capture from a US Army Signal Corps Film titled: "News From the Front in North Africa – 1942".

According to the film it shows US Army tanks that have been loaded onto landing barges at Algiers for shipment to Bone, where they will be off-loaded and driven in to the combat zone in Tunisia.
(Bone was the most easterly port in allied hands in November / December of 1942).

The tanks in question are quite clearly M3 Medium ("Lee") tanks. The turret of the tank in the foreground is painted as I have painted my micros … almost "to a T" !

Nice to get it right from time to time.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Here is that US Army Signal Corps Film titled: "News From the Front in North Africa – 1942".

Some very good stuff on it.

YouTube link