When and why did tank crews cover their tank markings in WWII?
score:4
According to this document.
Painted Out Stars
In the dust and confusion of battle the US star could be mistaken for a German Cross at long range (greater then 1000 yards). Tank ers and armored units began painting out the stars to avoid becoming a casualty of ‘friendly fire’. The addition of the circle around the star helped to resolve this problem, though some of the more experienced units (like the 2nd Armored) stayed with the painted out stars until the Normandy landings. There they painted the vehicle number on the sides of the turret in yellow. This was painted out by D-Day + 14. After Normandy several armored divisions were sent into Europe but kept their stateside markings , except the bar, and that is why one sees so many variations in pictures.
The document lists its sources at the bottom for more detail and verification.
Upvote:2
A book on the Sherman tank mentions a couple things that might account for this.
Some of the tanks that were operating in heavily wooded areas were adding paint over the olive drab to help camouflage the vehicle when in the woodline. Also as the comment above mentions, the tankers 'cleaned up' the star symbol which aided the Allied aircraft in identifying the tanks as friendlies. This may also have resulted in overpainting other info on the tanks.
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