page_title: United States military vehicle markings of World War II
section_title: National identification
hierarchical_section_title: United States military vehicle markings of World War II / National identification
caption_attribution_description: English: M3 Lee tank, training exercises, Fort Knox, Kentucky. Français&#160;: Un char de combat M3 Lee. Photo prise à Fort Knox, dans le Kentucky (États-Unis), durant un entrainement en 1942. Русский: Танк М3 "Ли". Военная база Форт Нокс в штате Кентукки, учебные маневры, 1942 год.
context_page_description: Military markings on United States army vehicles were upgraded in August 1942 when specific new rules were adopted. New marks, from the national identification symbol downwards were ordered to be put on "all motor vehicles assigned to tactical units".
context_section_description: Three colored star, circle with blue background and white five pointed star with a red circle, that does not touch the blue background. Used pre-war and is identical to the marking on aircraft.
  Three colored star, as per two color star with a red circle, that does not touch the blue background.
  National flag, used predominately on vehicles in North African landing from November 1942 were painted in the sides of softskins bonnets and on the front and sides of armor.
  Two color star – circle with blue background and white five pointed star used in North Africa from late 1942.
  Star and stripe - bar, five pointed star and bar. Saw service in North Africa, Sicily and to a lesser extent, the SW Pacific. Used on tanks with the bar circling the turret with a star on each side. 22 inch diameter star. From January to August 1942 the star and bar was painted in air corps yellow.
  Army regulation AR-850-5 issued August 1942 ordered a plain white five pointed star, as the national symbol, it was seen in all theatres from 1943 and by 1944 was the most common national identification sign. The star point was supposed to be facing rearwards on flat surfaces, upwards on a glacis.
  In armored units, the white star was often painted out or a circle around the star was added, to avoid looking like a German cross at distance. 2nd Armored painted the vehicle number on the turret side in yellow for the same reason in Normandy, with the numbers being removed by D+14.
  The August 1942 regulations authorised, when camouflage and concealment outweighed recognition requirements, the national insignia could be dulled, painted over with olive drab lacklustre gasoline solvent paint, or covered. 
  note: (l) left, (c) centre (r) right
  March 1944 Army Regulations gave permission for the national sign to be that chosen by the respective service command, allowing USMC and Army Air Forces to create their own.
caption: M3 Medium Tank (Lee) painted with yellow bar circling the turret with a star on each side.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "1800", "Image YResolution": "1800", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:01:18 13:58:24", "Image Artist": "Library of Congress", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "334", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4160", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2200"}