Correct Unit Number

Oh I see (said the blind man).  Actually I was already thinking ahead and had already posted a further question on that other forum - that being, if the Tilly would still be found in some sort of regimental artillery markings.  To date no responses yet. 

Since one of the members did say Tillys were used by desk jockeys to "prance about" I'd think it would alright to give it a number representing arty regimental HQ which I believe is 40.  It shows up in both late 1940 army AoS charts and 1944 armour charts. 

Do you have this Fine Archers decals set - apparently it comes with unit histories and complete instructions.  Maybe it will have something useful to shed more light on the subject.

regards,

Jack

Jack -

Thanks for the information, i was tied up with other things for the past couple of days.

I was not thinking of the Tilly as the transporter for the 2pdrs. My idea is for a diorama where the Tilly is escorted in by a Dingo and a Daimler AC. Its the supply vehicle bringing material to an isolated battery (two guns). I know already that the vehicles Dingo and AC would probably have 24 as their unit number.

I hope you can see from where I am coming from, is the Tillya attached to the armored unit, the artillery or to some general supply unit under the division. Or should I just not worry about it.

Mike T.

Mike, how goes it - no response from you on the matter?

Well here is some British humour on the Tilly - " ... would not pull the skin off a rice pudding let alone a two pounder gun! "

I'll link that forum entry if you or anyone else would like to keep tabs on it:

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/north-africa-med/39565-units.html

regards,

Jack

This table is for British Infantry Divisions, but it gives a good idea of how the system works.

http://britmods.freehosting.net/infdiv.htm

As this is a subject that interests me as well, I've taken your question to another forum, WW2talk.com

A lot of British members there, the one response so far:

Tilly is an unlikely towing vehicle for a 2 pdr, except in emergency, as the 2 pdr carriage did not take kindly to being towed; too high I guess and dodgy wheel fastenings. Hence many portee versions.

A suitable AOS number for an AT unit in the desert depends much on type of division and date, as they varied with time quite often. Agreed 77 was the number for an artillery regiment at times, but never as far as I can see for an AT Regt. I would go for (Inf Div) 73, 83, 90 ( from Sep 41), 53, 71, 88 (from May 42 when the AT batteries were within Bde Field Arty units), or 96 from Oct 42. For Armd Divs, 55 from Sep 41 or 64 from Oct 42. HTH

regards,

Jack

After some more net searches, seems 46 is the number for an AT regiment within an infantry division, while 77 would be the one for the  AT regiment of an armoured division.

Lot of info and graphic here: http://www.ra39-45.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/home/page47.html

Again though, that site ignores specifics with the north African campaign, so my suggestion is just an extrapolation of what I can find.

regards,

Jack

Not British, but I am Canadian, eh.  Being of the Commonwealth though is still difficult to give a complete answer.  For your question, it would be a qualified yes.

During the African campaign British armour divisions went through a number of organizational changes.  According to  Osprey's publication Desert Rats British 8th Army in North Africa 1941-43: the period from February to August 1942 had anti-tank units grouped into the artillery regiment of an armoured division. 

Before this date, AT units were a regiment unto themselves and was up to the commander of the (armour) Div. as to how he wanted to deploy them within the division.  In August, after the battle of Gazala, AT units were again found as an individual regiment within the armoured division.  They were also found at company strength within a motorized infantry brigade (attached to the armoured brigade) as well as another three companies with the motorized infantry brigade (AT comapany with each of the three infantry battallions).

I haven't found any desert pics or a chart presentation for the number you are looking for.  A background colour of red top/blue bottom is definitely artillery, but have no official date when this was started.   The tactical number 46 seems to crop up now and then on web searches. 

Above picic is from a UK forum, where an individual was looking for an explanation of the number sign.

Following was a response:

Red & Blue horizontal is RA.
46 is the serial no for RA Light Regiment (as opposed to Field Regt which used 42, 43, 44).
47 is the callsign for FAC

regards.

Jack