WWII Marine Tank Corps Collar Insignia?

[Old Marine]

I have always identified these insignia with the crossed rifles and the WWI style tank superimposed on top as prewar/early war US Army Armored Infantry Branch Insignia.

 

However, a few weeks ago I saw a print of a 1941Marine Corps insignia poster that identifies these insignia as USMC Tank Corps.

 

last month I posted a bunch of Life Magazine color photos of 1940-41 US military uniforms that appeared in the May 19, 1941 issue of life magazine. The link to that posting is below.

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/231999-1941-life-magazine-color-photos-of-us-military-uniforms/

 

 

SgtPete was kind enough to add a link to my photo posting that takes you to the whole digitized magazine that shows how those photos actually appeared in the magazine's layout. The link to the complete magazine is below.

http://books.google.com/books?id=6U4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA68&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

If you scroll down through the magazine to about page 71-72 you can see the Marine Corps insignia chart as it was printed in the magazine.

 

Below is a photo of insignia in my collection and a cut & paste of the chart from the magazine.

 

What do you guys think? Have any of you ever heard of this insignia being used as an authorized Marine Corps insignia? Has any one ever seen it on a uniform, photo or included in a Marine group? Was this possibly used for only a few months by the Corps then dropped? I think the Army stopped using this pretty early in the war maybe the Marines did adopt it and then just followed the Army lead and dropped it. The chart in the Magazine looks legitimate, like something that might have been supplied to the Magazine from the Navy or Marine Corps.

 

Now I am curious, and I figured you are the guys to ask. I am really looking forward to hearing what you guys think.

 

Thanks

 

Dennis

 

 

 

 

[SgtMaddoxUSMC]

It's interesting that in the magazine, the Tank Corps insignia almost looks like it has both rifles facing the to the right... and they almost appear to be different rifles altogether. Anyone else seeing that or is it just me?

[SgtMaddoxUSMC]

[SgtMaddoxUSMC]

Also, in the absence of any photographic evidence of this actually being worn, perhaps the magazine simply made a mistake? Maybe they saw CORPS and thought that it went with MARINE CORPS or something? Just trying to think of alternate explanations because I do not think that this was ever worn by Marines...