Perhaps? and this is just a guess that the purpose of marking disabled tanks with such large lettering was to alert advancing allied troops that the tank was knocked out and so to prevent any firing on the vehicle, wasting ammo etc. The only down side of that I suppose is that the Germans could do the same to fool the Allies?. It is an interesting one and I dont see why the lettering would be so large otherwise?. Thinking more about it if my guess was accurate then they would paint all sides with the AFP lettering. I am at a loss with this one,anybody got any ideas of their own?
Thanks for posting the new images of these markings however I have no knowledge of them. I agree with you though that if it was to indicate to advancing troops that the armour was out of action, they would likely have painted 'AFP' all over the tank. It is more likely that they were marked for repair or something like that.
My understanding is that the A.F.P. wasn't meant to be a designator to troops in the field of a disabled tank. It was applied when at a collection point after removal from the field. The tank was then painted with AFP as a common reference for a disabled vehicle, possibly ripe for reparation.
I came on this marking some years ago and found a description for it but for the life of me now, I can't find the info online
...I would have guessed maybe captured by a free liberation army um maybe something like The Liberation Army of the Free Poles??? When a vehicle is marked in large lettering it either means STAY OFF or BOOBYTRAPPED and is usually marked all over however if marked for possible repair I say this,Germans can read English as well!! Just another point of interest they are all marked with the early invasion white cross,except for the top pic it`s out of site!
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