British helmet marking

[Lloyd I.]

Can anyone tell me what this helmet marking symbolizes? 1941 dated. I tried looking up tactical symbols for the British units in WW2 but could not find anything online.

Thanks for any assistance.

[pickled frog]

Hi. I think you will find that this is a Greek letter 'Y' and also the number 400. A bit of further research from here may help you. The 400 may be a Rgt or division of a Greek Battalion. Good luck and let me know how you get on. Roy

Upsilon (uppercase Υ, lowercase υ; Greek: Ύψιλον, Úpsilon) is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw. The name of the letter is pronounced [ˈipsilon] in Modern Greek,

[ppp.p]

The helmet is Canadian. Also this sign maybe is also Canadian...
Piotrek

[Lloyd I.]

Thank you both. Im researching the Canadian aspect. The greek path turned up nothing.

[stray_dog]

Hi. I think you will find that this is a Greek letter 'Y' and also the number 400. A bit of further research from here may help you. The 400 may be a Rgt or division of a Greek Battalion. Good luck and let me know how you get on. Roy

Upsilon (uppercase Υ, lowercase υ; Greek: Ύψιλον, Úpsilon) is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw. The name of the letter is pronounced [ˈipsilon] in Modern Greek,

I think that it actually looks more like the zodiac symbol of Aries than the letter Ypsilon.

The helmet is Canadian. Also this sign maybe is also Canadian...
Piotrek

That said, I found some reference about Canadian formations using a ram's head as their formation sign (1st Armored Brigade for example). Maybe it is a simplified way of painting the ram's head? Just a guess, as I haven't found any exact reference. Maybe someone of the more knowledgeable members will have the answer!

Best regards,
Giorgos

PS: I can confirm that to the best of my knowledge, it has no connection to the Greek army of the period.

[Gary Jucha]

p

Possibly a "stylised" rams head .... if so the Canadian connection might be ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Service_Battalion

(WW2 being the RCASC)

Gary J.