German Camo Views

Clothing & Accessories

Camouflage was uncommon in the early days of the First World War, as military traditions concentrating on the ideal fighting spirit considered the idea of hiding from the enemy somewhat shameful.[citation needed] Some units actually entered the war in 1914 still clad in attention-grabbing colours, such as the French who initially wore bright red (garance) trousers and blue Greatcoats as part of the standard uniform.[2] However, the first concessions were quickly made, such as the German 'Pickelhaube' helmets being covered with cloth covers designed to prevent them from glinting in the sun, and the red French kepi hats in turn also being covered with cloths.[2][3] The Belgian Army started using khaki uniforms in 1915.

Other countries soon saw the advantage of camouflage and establihed their own units of Camoufleurs who were also artists, designers and architects. For example the United Kingdom (Camouflage Section established in late 1916 at Wimereux) and the U.S. (New York Camouflage Society, established in April 1917; official Company A, 40th Engineers, set up in January 1918; and the Women's Reserve Camouflage Corps) and to a lesser extent by Germany (from 1917, see, for example, lozenge camouflage covering Central Powers aircraft, possibly the earliest printed camouflage), Italy (Laboratorio di mascheramento, established in 1917), Belgium and Russia. The word camouflage entered the English language in 1917.

Camouflage added to helmets was unofficially popular, but these were not mass-produced until the Germans began in 1916 to issue Stahlhelm (steel helmets) in green, brown, or ochre. Mass-produced patterned, reversible, cloth covers were also issued shortly before the end of the war. Net covering was also examined, fitted with natural vegetation or with coloured fabric strips called scrim.

bill_c SAID Mark, this is a review about pre-war German camo paint. Your comments are valued and I acknowledged as much, but you have hijacked the thread and turned it into something else. It would be nice to get things back on the subject of pre-war camo and whether this is a good set of paints or not. As to whether the Wehrmacht followed directives or not, I prefer to follow the evidence and not conjecture about what might or might not have happened in individual divisional motor pools. Switching fro...