- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
The self-propelled 75/18 on M41 hull is a well-known, if not the best known, vehicle among those used by the Royal Army during World War II. The first examples arrived at the Royal Army in late 1942 and were used mostly in North Africa by the Ariete and Centaur divisions. One particular example, license plate “RE 5633,” had an interesting history. It appears that the vehicle itself was used by the 31st Tank Regiment and was destroyed in the El Guettar area in early 1943, but a vehicle of the same model was in use in mainland Italy and after the war was transferred to the Nettuno range. In the early 2000s the vehicle, which was in a rather pitiful external state, underwent a restoration at Oto Melara, was recolored with the camouflage of the 31st Regiment, and on December 14, 2008, the refurbished vehicle ended up being delivered to the Historical Office Museum in Rome.
The camouflage.
The self-propelled vehicle was painted in the basic classic Saharan khaki color scheme, but given its use in Tunisia, the crew applied additional coloring with patches or stripes of green tending to gray to better camouflage the vehicle in the semi-arid environment of the combat areas. The effectiveness of the camouflage is not known, however, in the original self-propelled vehicle (left intact at El Guettar) the original coloring applied by the crew is still partially visible, while the one applied at Oto Melara is made in its likeness in color but with a slightly different though not dissimilar pattern.
Pictures and drawnings.
Sources.