- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
In early December 1940 the Commonwealth forces initiated Operation Compass, a plan organised to get the big problem in Italian Libya out of the way, namely a large but poorly motorised mass of over a hundred thousand Italian soldiers and hundreds of aircraft and vehicles. The operation quickly collapsed the front and withdrew Italian units from Cyrenaica, leaving behind modest amounts of equipment ranging from common infantry weapons to rarer medium tanks and heavy artillery.
Given the need to replace losses and worn out equipment, the British forces made various use of equipment captured from the Italian forces. The Australians famously managed to capture some Italian medium tanks of the M13/40 type after the battle for Bardia, which were new vehicles and quite suitable for anti-tank use.
Thus in January 1941, after the Battle of Beda Fomm, the Allied forces put some of the 39 M13/40 tanks captured earlier into service. An unknown number were used during the Battle of Tobruk, but that number was totally lost during the fighting.
On 23 January 1941 James Francis “Frank” Hurley, an Australian war photographer, took a photograph of one of the vehicles captured by the Australians, an M13 tank, while a crew member was intent on personalising the vehicle by painting over the classic kangaroo badges of the 6th Australian Cavalry Regimen. As can be seen from the photograph, the wagon underwent “further” customisation as it was also affectionately nicknamed “Wally” with an inscription on the starboard side plate.
The end of the vehicle and its crew is unknown, but it is likely that it was part of one of those lost in the fighting near Tobruk in the same year.
The decal.
The decal is very simple and is literally an inscription, “WALLY”, made with white paint and written in a simple capital lettering.
Pictures and drawnings.
Spoiler
Sources.
Spoiler
September 2019 – The Crusader Project
Some Italian tankettes and tanks of WW2
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/battle-of-bardia
TOBRUK - AN ITALIAN CARRO ARMATO M13/40 MEDIUM TANK FROM BARDIA IS TAKEN OVER BY THE AIF AND ...
Engines of the Wehrmacht in WW2
Frank Hurley - Wikipedia
Carro Armato M13/40 - Tank Encyclopedia
Operazione Compass - Wikipedia