Ghillie suit

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British snipers of the No. 34 Squadron RAF Regiment in Ghillie camouflage suits

The ghillie suit [ ˈɡɪli s (j) uːt ] ( also yowie suit in the Australian Army ) is a camouflage suit that is used in particular by snipers , hunters and nature photographers .

origin

Sniper of the Austrian Armed Forces in Ghillie camouflage suit

The word ghillie refers to Ghillie Dhu ( Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [ˈkʲiʎə ˈt̪u] ), a creature of Scottish mythology clad in leaves and moss.

In the Second Boer War , founded by Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat and the Highlands stationed Lovat Scouts were the first known military unit that the ghillie suit used and formed in the First World War , the first reported sniper unit of the British Army . In their early days, the Lovat Scouts were recruited from professional hunters (called professional stalkers or gamekeepers in British English ) and other service personnel from the large estates of the British nobility in Scotland . Some also came from the area around Gairloch , the place of origin of the story by Ghillie Dhu .

Layout and function

Sniper team of US Marines in the ghillie suit with an M40 rifle on the military training area "Eugen Kvaternik" (2000).

The ghillie suit hides the shape of the human body by breaking up its contours and allowing it to "merge" with its surroundings. As a rule, it consists of net material, either in the form of a throw or as a two-piece design, which makes the suit lighter and reduces the build-up of heat when used in warm areas. Ghillie suits are constructed with different camouflage material depending on the terrain and the season. The basic camouflage material is mostly burlap strips or pluckers, for forest and bush terrain in shades of brown and green, in winter, when there is snow, white linen strips open with green, for urban areas in brown and gray. In order to achieve the best possible camouflage effect, sufficient natural material such as twigs with green and brown leaves, grass and dry stalks from the immediate vicinity must be incorporated into the camouflage suit.

See also

  • Ghillie Dhu , creature of Scottish mythology clad in leaves and moss

literature

  • Kevin Dockery: Stalkers and Shooters: A History of Snipers . Penguin, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4406-2890-0 .
  • Martin Pegler: Out of Nowhere: A History of the Military Sniper . Osprey Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-87364-704-1 .
  • Martin Pegler: Sniping in the Great War . Pen & Sword Books Limited, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4738-9901-8 .
  • John L. Plaster: The Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual for Military and Police Snipers . Paladin Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-58160-494-8 .

Web links

Commons : Ghillie suits  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Amerland: The Sniper Mind: Eliminate Fear, Deal with Uncertainty, and Make Better Decisions . St. Martin's Press, 2017, ISBN 978-1-250-11368-9 , pp. 53 .
  2. ↑ Терновая Л.О .: Высокое искусство военной маскировки . In: Этносоциум . tape 97 , no. 7 , 2016 (The high art of military camouflage).
  3. ^ Pegler (2004), The Lovat Effect
  4. ↑ Plaster (2006), p. 5
  5. ↑ Return of the sniper: How ancient skills are experiencing a modern renaissance in Afghanistan. In: The Independent. July 4, 2009, archived from the original on December 30, 2018 ; accessed on December 30, 2018 (English).
  6. ^ Dockery (2007), Chapter 12 - War 1914 to 1918
  7. ↑ Pegler (2004), p. 129
  8. ↑ Plaster (2006), p. 366 ff.