1. NICKNAMES
In units equipped with standard Battle Tanks (MK I-V) the nickname was directly related to the unit. For example: all B-Batallions or B Companies used nicknames starting on "B". (At Flers the individual names followed given themes, like names of spirits etc - see table below. Later the individual names were often given by the commander of the tank, which led to large variations. The connotations were various: some favoured names out of Greek mythology, other Scottish names, many used puns etc.) This was not the rule when it came to units equipped with "Whippets" or Gun Carriers. The only thing that can be said is that Gun Carriers often used names of towns as nick names, and that Whippets were named very freely. On the Mk I-V the nickname was usually put either on the front directly beneath the drivers compartment, or high up on the front sides. (In some rare cases, the nick name was also painted at the back of the tank.) The nickname was for the most time painted in white or possibly yellow, sometimes with a red border. The style varied a lot. On "Whippets" the nickname was in general placed on the front, or sometimes on the sides of the fighting compartment. On supply tanks the word "SUPPLY" was also painted in large letters on their sides. On tanks with Wire Cutting equipment - i.e. wire grapnels - had the letters "WC" painted on the back fuel tank - probably red on white.

4. SERIALS  
While the call signs had tactical use, the serials had not. Instead they were a number given by the manufacturer, issued when the tank was built, and used to identify the tank when it came to administration, overhaul etc. (It was not only painted on the tank. It was also found on embossed plates inside the tank.) They differed between different types of tanks: serials for MK I:s had three digits, serials for Mk IV-V had four. Serials for "Whippets" were three digits always preceded by a "A", etc. The serials were painted on the rear side portion of the Mk I-V, the "Whippets" they were on the sides of the fighting compartment and - in small letters - on the back of the same; sometimes the serial also could be found on the front, but that seems to have been rather unusual. The colour seems in general to have been white, but other colours were sometimes used. (For example, some Gun Carriers used serials in what appears to be red.)

5. NATIONAL MARKINGS  
National markings came in use on British tanks in June 1918, as a direct order from GHQ, and constituted of three stripes of white-red-white on the utmost forward portion of the tracks. (The reason for using these colours, is that they were those of the Cavalry Corps. It can also be mentioned that these were not the first national markings on British AFV:s: Lanchester Armoured Cars employed in Russia sported roundels.) From late summer the top of the drivers compartment often also had these stripes painted on them, in order to make the tanks more easily identifiable from the air - a necessity in the later stages of the war, when the germans used quite a lot of capured Mk IV:s in combat. On the Mk V & Mk V* the back of the cupola was also marked this way on some vehicles. On "Whippets" this national markings was often used on the front of the vehicle: part of it or whole. There are also examples of "Whippets" carrying ID bands on the engine compartment covers.

6. OTHER MARKINGS
A. Playing Cards. Some units, e.g. the 6th and 12th Batallions, had playing cards painted on their tanks, on the sides and sometimes on the back of the tanks. It appears not to have been used in the highly formalized system pioneered by the french, but simply as a sort of unit symbol.
B. Eyes. Tanks of "F" Batallion - and maybe also other units - sported paintings of eyes at the front side of the tank. Allegedly they were put there after some Chinese labourer asked the question "How can the tanks see without eyes?" Another version puts it as a result of a tank being donated by Chinese businessmen in Malay. Anyhow, the joke caught on, and it later became sort of a unofficial symbol of the Royal Tank Regiment.
C. Slits. Roughly sometimes around the summer of 1917 some units started to paint extra "vision slits" in black paint on their tanks, sometimes only extending the existing ones, all to confuse enemy gunners, who often aimed at these vulnerable spots.
D. Personal markings. As always the people in the tanks sometimes put their own personal markings on them. Among others you can find caricatures of German soldiers, skulls, maple leafs, small flags, even pin-up-girls, Great War-style of course. For this you just have to check photographs of actual vehicles.
E. Other. At Cambrai at least one tank was marked on the sides with a roughly painted "Z", about 40 cm:s high. The meaning of this is unknown.


In this table examples of authentic British tank markings can be found.