19th Greek Division

[David]

Hi
I came across this picture in Images of war , War in the Balkans.
The colour for the Greek equipment looks the same colour as the British  which came from Egypt ? What three colours would this be ? ( sand, olive green, & brown)?
Did the Greeks paint on Greek markings on the Equipment
Any Help would be great.


Looks like I will have to repaint my Greek tank and Bren carrier
Not sure what other British car and Trucks are in the background and does anybody make them in 15mm or 28mm

[carlos marighela]

To my untrained eye it looks like a couple of Fiat Balilla cars in the background. Remember that the Greeks had captured a lot of Italian kit in 1940.

[Poiter50]

I will follow this with interest as I had always believed thaat only a few went to the NEI forces and the bulk were used for training in Britain by the Brits.

[David]

What I have found so far
the picture show a 6 sided Hex on the Greek Bren carriers, ? not sure on the colour

Good info on Greek army
http://ww2greece.wargaming.info/afvs1.htm

4th Hussars vehicles were repainted at a Greek aircraft factory in Greece and weren't in desert colours. This comes from the war diary (entry for 11/3/1941):
looking at pictures  they were in sand base colour and then patchs of Green ? olive
Australian AFV that went through the same factory are said to have been painted green and brown.
Looking at the Trucks the base colour would be sand.
4th Hussars tanks were also repainted. According to Clive Dunn from "Dad's Army" (autiobiography, page 65) tank repainting was done in North Africa. Photos in Greece show 4th Hussars Mk VIs in a single dark colour with or without a lighter disruptive colour.
Base colour still looks sand.
http://www.rothwell.force9.co.uk/Greece1941.htm

the base colour sand from Egypt ?

[Poiter50]

By the time the British armour arrived in Greece, it was pretty worn out. It had been swanning about the desert and was therefore in need of major overhaul, so track breakages would have been common as were engine overheats causing catastrophic engine failures. The only Aussie armour that might have been present would have been that of the Divisional Cavalry Regiment which probably only contained Universal Carriers instead of those and the Light Tanks that were meant to be part of the org. Australian transport was a mix of anything that could have been provided.

[David]

Diggers and Greeks: The Australian Campaigns in Greece and Crete
This is the only book I have on the Australian
1 Armoured Brigade under command 6 Australian Division the rest you said is true.

C.  6 Australian Infantry Division  
 Artillery
 Antitank Regiments
 2/1st Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery  
 Field Regiments
 2/1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery
 2/2nd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery
 2/3rd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery
 Engineers
 Field Companies
 2/1st Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers
 2/2nd Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers
 2/8th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers  
 Infantry
 Machine Gun
 2/1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion
 Medical
  2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/7th Field Ambulance
Brigades
 16 Australian Infantry Brigade  
 2/1st Australian Battalion
 2/2nd Australian Battalion
 2/3rd Australian Battalion  
 17 Australian Infantry Brigade
 2/5th Australian Battalion
 2/6th Australian Battalion
 2/7th Australian Battalion
 2/11th Australian Battalion attached from 19 Australian Infantry Brigade  
 19 Australian Infantry Brigade  
 2/4th Australian Battalion
 2/8th Australian Battalion
 1 Armoured Brigade under command 6 Australian Division
 3rd Royal Tank Regiment
 4th Hussars
 9th Battalion, The King's Royal Rifle Corps (The Rangers)
 Artillery
 Antitank Regiments
 102nd (Northumberland Hussars) Anti-tank Regiment, RA attached  
 Royal Horse Artillery
 2nd Royal Horse Artillery attached  
 Engineers
 Field Park Companies
 142nd Field Park Squadron, RE attached
 Field Squadrons
 3rd Field Squadron RE attached  

[Poiter50]

As I am travelling I do not have the access to check my books but I believe that 1 Armd Brigade would be a Brit unit under Aussie command. Australia did not form armoured units other than Div Cav until the return to Australia. Ad Hoc units were formed with captured Italian and French tanks but usually they were the Div Cav boys who did that.

[FramFramson]

Those cars definitely look like Fiat Balillas to me as well.

[David]

The 1st Armoured Brigade is British
But the whole point was that the Greek were given ?70 British Bren carriers and 10 MK VIB Tanks
So were they painted before they got to Greece or repainted in Greece by the Greeks ?

[BlackWidowPilot]

Fascinating subject and amazing to see that the VCL "Dutchman" was actually used operationally... I never did fathom why the British Army never fitted the Mk. IV light tank with a 20mm cannon either...