Discussion:Signalétique des unités britanniques pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale/Bac à sable

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Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, l'armée britannique a développé un système très élaboré et haut en couleurs, d'un abord parfois abscons, de markings (signalétique d'identification) pour les véhicules de ses divisions, brigades, unités et services parallèlement à leur immatriculation via le WD Number ou aux logos techniques tels que les Bridge classifications. Pour compliquer encore les choses, certaines unités développèrent leur propre système de markings « librement » (sic) inspirés des règles établies. Leur positionnement sur les véhicules, bien que codifié, a donné lieu lui aussi à quelques libertés.

Formation signs were first used by the British Army in WW1 in order to provide an easy method of visual identification of the various units. They were worn on the upper sleeve in pairs, on epaulets, on head gear, painted on unit vehicles, and used on road signs. It was also quickly found that the signs created a morale boosting esprit de corps as each unit became proud of its own symbol. After WW1 the use of formation signs was discontinued, they were reintroduced at the outbreak of WW2.

La mécanisation de l'armée britannique dans l'entre-deux-guerre modifier

Article détaillé : Mécanisation de l'armée britannique 1919-1939.

The British Army invented the tank and pioneered its development during World War I, and produced the leading theorists of Armored warfare, J.F.C. Fuller and B.H. Liddell Hart, during the interwar years.

British armored forces were improperly trained for the type of combat which confronted them in World War II, primarily because « the British Army refused to change its basic strategic doctrines to maximize the potential of a new weapon of war » ^[1]. In the Interwar years, the ratio of armor to Infantry decreased – when it should have logically been increased. Pre-World War I military strategy was based upon the Napoleonic experience of “absolute war” and of the destruction of the opponent’s forces through unrelenting offensive pressure, the application of maximum force in the decisive attack, and “an unswerving determination by both commanders and troops to conquer at any cost.” The victory of Britain and her Allies in the Great War – a war of attrition – vindicated in the minds of the generals their faith in this conception of war, confirming their dependence upon a psychological distortion of Clausewitz. It was this dogmatic rigidity to the army’s traditional strategic doctrine, according to Robert H. Larson, which fettered innovations in British military thought during the interwar period ^[2].

Chenillette Carden-Loyd Mk VI Mortar Carrier tractant un 3.7 inch QF Howitzer Mk I monté sur remorque spéciale, avec plaque d'immatriculation civile.
Char léger Vickers-Armstrong Mk VIA du 3rd King's Own Hussars. en 1937. Il ne présente lui aussi que la plaque d'immatriculation civile pour seul marquage.

La British Expeditionary Force en France en 1940, la Home Defense et la reconstruction de l'armée modifier

Article détaillé : British Expeditionary Force.

Char d'infanterie Matilda I en France pendant l'hiver 1939-40
Chars Covenanter de la Guards Armoured Division pendant sa phase de constitution en Angleterre
Char Churchill

Livrées et camouflage modifier

Les markings modifier

In 1942 Royal Amoured Corps H.Q. standardised the size, colour and location of insignia to be worn on vehicles of British and Commonwealth tank units.

The vehicle numbering system made huge sense for traffic control in the UK and North West Europe. It helped to sort out one convoy from another.

Markings techniques modifier

Identification modifier

Originally white/red/white, the sign of the Tank Corps in World War One, with the formation of the Royal Armoured Corps the colours were reversed.

Markings d'unité et de service modifier

Le WD Number sur le réservoir d'une moto BSA.

Insigne du 21e Groupe d’armées britannique.
Char de commandement M3 Grant du général Bernard Montgomery arborant l'insigne de la 8th Army.
Insigne du XXXth Corps
6th Armoured Division

Les blindés modifier

Squadron Recognition .

Geometric shapes coloured as per unit seniority: Red - Yellow - Blue : Triangle : A Squadron - Carré : B Squadron - Cercle : C Squadron - Losange : Regimental Headquarter and Recce Squadrons

Troop Recognition

Inside the geometric shape, in white, is the Troop number, and for HQ Fighting Troop the letter F. The background colour is that of the turret. They are positioned in the centre of the left and right sides of the turret.

Logos identifiant les Squadrons au sein d'une unité blindée.
Sherman Mk V de la Guards Armoured Division
Idem

La 79th Armoured Division modifier

79th Armoured Division.

L'infanterie modifier

L'artillerie modifier

Les unités de reconnaissance modifier

Autres services et unités indépendantes modifier

Royal Air Force et Royal Navy modifier

Afrique du Nord, Moyen-Orient et Italie modifier

There was not the same pressure to put tactical markings on vehicles is North Africa. A lot of things were improvised and organisation changed either through lack of equipment and/or quickly changing circumstances. Everything used by the fighting troops had to be delivered along a long supply chain and pots of paint were low priority. In battle tanks were knocked out quickly.

Cocarde de la Royal Air Force.

Europe 1944-45 modifier

Pendant la campagne d'Europe, l'armée britannique adopta l'étoile blanche américaine comme signe d'identification visuelle rapide.

Churchill CS de la 6th Guards Tank Brigade préservé en Hollande

Le front asiatique modifier

Unités polonaises et belges libres et troupes du Commonwealth modifier

en:2nd Armoured Brigade (Poland)

6th South-african Armoured Division
1st South-africn Division

Surnoms, graffitis et marquages temporaires modifier

Article connexe modifier

APP-6A, standard de l'OTAN. sur signes conventionnels représentant les systèmes terrestres

Bibliographie modifier

(en) Terence Wise & John Major : World War Two Military Vehicle Markings, Patrick Stephens Limited Publications, 1981 (ISBN 9780850594393).
(en) Peter Hodges & Michael D Taylor : British Military Markings 1939-1945 , Cannon Publications, 1994.
(en) Robert H. Larson : The British Army and the Theory of Armored Warfare, 1918-1940, University of Delaware Press, Newark 1984.