Jim Mesko's latest title for Squadron/Signal is squarely in that vein.  Books on US armour markings are surprisingly few.  While there are a number of monographs on specific vehicle types which have some information on camouflage and markings, the only book devoted to the subject of US vehicle markings as a whole that I can remember is Steve Zaloga's useful US Armour Camouflage and Markings 1917-45 title in the old Osprey Vanguard series (#39), which dates back to 1984.  Charles Lemons of the Patton Museum is in the process of correcting this oversight with a series of beautiful hardcover books, but the first title (which has only recently been published) only covers the period 1918-1941.  Otherwise, one is forced to put together snippets of information from various books and articles to get any sort of overall view of American vehicle markings.

The scope of this book is slightly more than what the cover states - the first section deals with the First World War and the inter-war years.  Following that is a discussion of national markings and stars (including unit markings and registration numbers), then vehicle names and personal markings, and finally looks at US Army armour in the Pacific and US Marine armour (certainly a topic unto itself!).  A lot to cover in 64 pages!

A common myth about American Second World War vehicles is that they were, for want of a better word, "drab." As in Olive Drab and nothing but, compared to the elaborate camouflages seen on many German vehicles.  A quick glance through the photos in this book quickly dispels that myth.  A number of tanks and other vehicles are seen with different winter camouflage schemes ranging from simple whitewashes to more complicated disruptive schemes.  Furthermore, there are quite a few vehicles shown with black or Earth Brown patches applied over the Olive Drab.  This was much more common towards the end of the war than was commonly believed, mainly due to the low contrast between the two colours in black and white photos, as well as the dust and external stowage that often obscured any camouflage pattern.  Finally, US Marine vehicles often had very elaborate camouflage schemes applied, particularly during the assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Of particular interest are photos showing the application of camouflage colours to vehicles in the field.  The first photograph in the book, showing soldiers of the 84th Camouflage Engineer Battalion (except for field applications of dried mud or whitewash, individual crews never painted their vehicles; the US Army had units that specialized in camouflage paint application) spraying a black disruptive pattern on an M5A1 Stuart tank.  What's interesting about the photo is that the black paint is being sprayed directly over the supplemental sandbag armour, tarps, tools, tow cables, spare tracks, suspension, and even mud!  Some of the vehicles, paint schemes, and weathering illustrated in this book would be a real challenge to replicate in model form. 

As is often the case with Squadron books, one of the highlights here are the beautiful colour plates by Don Greer, David Gebhardt, and Darren Glenn.  These illustrations provide plenty of inspiration for modellers.  The photographic selection is good, but many of these photographs have been seen before.  Nevertheless, it is nice to see them in this context, and the captions support the topic of the book well.  There are a few omissions or mistakes in the captions (often a Sherman is not identified by sub-type, for instance, while the "37mm cannon" shown on p. 63 is, I believe, a captured Japanese 47mm antitank gun)., but overall they are well-written.  The text is fairly brief but contains some useful information, particularly the detailed discussion of serial numbers and bumper codes on p. 18.

While not exactly ground-breaking in terms of research or photographs, this is a good book that, given it might be the only book of its type on the shelves of many modellers, should prove very useful.  I would particularly recommend it for people with no books on the subject of US armour markings as a whole, although there is something for everybody here.  As a "one-stop shopping" title for quick reference, it should prove valuable even to those of us who own a pile of US armour books.

January 14, 2006