Military camouflage

Smaller irregular units of scouts or rangers in the 18th century were the first to adopt unit colours in drab shades of brown and green. Major armies retained their colour until convinced otherwise. The British in India in 1857 were forced by casualties to dye their red tunics to neutral tones, initially a muddy tan called khaki (from the Urdu word for "dusty"). This was only a temporary measure. It became standard in Indian service in the 1880s, but it was not until the Second Boer War that, in 1902, the uniforms of the entire British army were standardised on this dun tone for battledress.

The United States was quick to follow the British, going khaki in the same year. Russia followed, partially, in 1908. The Italian army used grigio-verde ("grey-green") in the Alps from 1906 and across the army from 1909. The Germans adopted feldgrau ("field grey") in 1910.

Other armies retained brighter colours. At the beginning of World War I, the French retained red (garance) trousers as part of their uniform. This was changed in early 1915. The French army also adopted a new "horizon blue" jacket. The Belgian army started using khaki uniforms in 1915.

The French also established a Section de Camouflage (Camouflage Department) in 1915, briefly headed by Eugene Corbin and then by Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola. The camouflage experts were, for the most part, painters, sculptors, theatre-set artists and such. Technological constraints meant that patterned camouflage uniforms were not mass manufactured during WW I. Each patterned uniform was hand-painted, and so restricted to snipers, forward artillery observers, and other exposed individuals. More effort was put into concealing larger pieces of equipment and important structures. By mid-1915 the French section had four workshops (one in Paris and three nearer the front) mainly producing camouflage netting and painted canvas. Netting quickly moved from wire and fabric to use raffia, burlap, and cocoa—the integration of natural materials was always recommended.

Units of Camoufleurs who were artists, designers, or architects in civilian life were also largely used by the forces of the United Kingdom (Camouflage Section established in late 1916 based 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, possibly the earliest printed camouflage), Italy (Laboratorio di mascheramento, established in 1917), Belgium and Russia. The word camouflage first 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, either fitted with natural vegetation or with coloured fabric strips called scrim.

Specialist troops, notably snipers, could be supplied with various items of camouflage, including patterned veils for the head and gun, hand-painted overalls and scrim-covered netting or sacking—an adaptation of the rag camouflage used in Scotland by anti-poaching wardens, gillies, the first ghillie suits.

The first mass-produced military camouflage material was the Italian telo mimetico ("mimetic cloth") pattern of 1929, used to cover a shelter-half (telo tenda), an idea copied by the Germans in 1931. With mass-production of patterned fabrics possible, they became far more common on individual soldiers in WW II. Initially, patterning was uncommon, a sign of elite units, to the extent that captured camouflage uniforms would be often "recycled" by an enemy. The Red Army issued "amoeba" disruptive-pattern suits to snipers from 1937 and all-white ZMK top-garments the following year, but it was not until hostilities began that more patterns were used.

The Germans had experimented before the war, and some army units used "splinter" pattern camouflage. Waffen-SS combat units experimented with various patterns, including palmenmuster ("palm pattern"), sumpfmuster ("swamp pattern"), erbsenmuster ("pea pattern"), and also telo mimetico ("mimetic cloth") using fabric seized from the Italians in 1943 (the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler often wore this pattern).

The British did not use disruptive-pattern uniforms until 1942, with the hand-painted Denison smock for paratroopers, followed in 1943 with a similar style M42 garment.

The U.S. Corps of Engineers began wide-ranging experiments in 1940, but little official notice was taken until 1942 when General MacArthur demanded 150,000 jungle camouflage uniforms. A 1940 design, dubbed "frog-skin", was chosen and issued as a reversible beach/jungle coverall—soon changed to a two-part jacket and trousers. It was first issued to the U.S. Marines fighting on the Solomon Islands. Battlefield experience showed that pattern was unsuitable for moving troops, and production was halted in 1944 with a return to standard single-tone uniforms.

With the return of war, camouflage sections were revived. The British set up the Camouflage Development and Training Centre in 1940 at Farnham Castle, Surrey. Early staff included artists from the Industrial Camouflage Research Unit such as Roland Penrose and Frederick Gore, and the stage magician Jasper Maskelyne (later famous for his camouflage work in the North African campaign).

From 1978 to the early 1980s, the American 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment stationed in Europe used a digital camouflage pattern on its vehicles. During 1979 and 1980, the Australian Army experimented with digital camouflage on helicopters. More recently, battledress in digital camouflage patterns has been adopted by the Canadian Army and Air Force (CADPAT), the United States Marine Corps (MARPAT), and much of the military of Jordan.

Ship camouflage

World War I also saw the advent of ship camouflage. Although most warships were still painted a uniform grey, five schemes were approved in the United States for merchant ship camouflage. Ships without camouflage were required to pay higher war-risk premiums.

Dazzle camouflage was briefly popular for ships in this period. Unlike true camouflage, the "dazzle" scheme used high contrast and confusing shapes to make it difficult for enemy forces to estimate speed and the range to the target ship—critical in the age of "dumb" gunnery and torpedoes. The effectiveness of "dazzle" is not entirely certain, but it continued in use into World War II. By 1918 the British had applied various patterns to over 4,500 vessels—mainly under the direction of Norman Wilkinson (who became Inspector of Airfield Camouflage in WW II).

References

Military camouflage | Maskering

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Ship camouflage

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References