Splinter camo
Splittertarn , actually colored overprint , is a military camouflage pattern that was introduced to the German Reichswehr in 1931 and is still in use internationally in numerous variants today. The name Splittertarn was coined by the Americans only after the Second World War.
precursor
In 1931 an unusual camouflage pattern was presented to the German Reichswehr, which was given the name "Splittertarn" by the Americans after the Second World War. The origin of this pattern was the colored paint introduced in July 1918 in the imperial army and air force. The painting for military equipment and equipment at that time is closely connected with the structure of the armored weapon by the Entente , which had used camouflaging patterns for its tanks since 1916.
The colored paint of 1918 did not apply to uniforms, but truck tarpaulins and steel helmets were sometimes coated with it. It consisted of sharp spots of camouflage in the colors rust-brown, green and ocher-yellow, which were separated from each other with thick black lines. The spots were painted on; Spray paints did not appear in the German military until the 1930s. Photographs show a multitude of variations in the application of paint. For example, large, irregular shapes in the A7V chariot or honeycomb prints on the coverings of the aircraft.
As of May 16, 1922, the colored paint was adopted in 1918 for the newly founded Reichswehr, although in practice the black borders were mostly dispensed with. In addition, the colors were now applied in wave-shaped patterns. However, the inconsistencies in the manufacturing methods caused difficulties for users of the paints, which had an impact on the quality, durability and uniformity of the paints. In order to meet the maximum of these conditions, the Reich Committee for Delivery Conditions (RAL) was founded in 1925 . The colored paint finish last based on petrol-resistant alkyd resin paint in 1918 remained a regulation for the German military until 1937 and was then replaced by a single-colored dark gray paint.
Reconstructing the original color values of the colored paint is difficult because the RAL has since removed some of the colors from its range, or some military documents on the colors have obviously not been preserved. It is certain that in the almost 20 years in which the colored paint was used, the hues varied. The following colors have been confirmed for this painting, at least for the period between 1935 and 1937, through evidence finds:
- RAL 6002 leaf green (original RAL No. 27)
- RAL 1005 honey yellow (original RAL No. 22)
- RAL 8014 sepia brown (original RAL No. 18g)
The following late variant is also known:
- RAL 6007 moss green (original RAL No. 28)
- RAL 8002 earth yellow (original RAL No. 17)
- RAL 8010 beaver brown (original RAL No. 18)
Splinter camouflage or colored imprint 1931
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For the four-color splinter camouflage pattern presented in 1931 and introduced in 1932, the color scheme of 1918 with its sharp corners and its ocher yellow, rust brown and green color scheme formed the basis. The black borders were omitted. The plan was to print only the triangular tent sheet , which could also be used as a rain and camouflage poncho in the field, with the new pattern. The tent sheet, which, when buttoned together with others, offered shelter to several people, should be designed with a reversible camouflage pattern. Both sides showed the same pattern, but one version was lighter than the other.
Instead of the light ocher yellow, a muted gray beige became the basis of the tent sheet, on which green and brown, irregular, sharp-edged patterns were applied using the screen printing process. As a novelty for the resulting colored print (“Splittertarn”), irregularly distributed, but one-way dashed lines (“blades of grass”) were also printed on, which were supposed to blur the pattern. These lines stand out in a darker shade of green from the one chosen for the spots. Waterproof, rot-resistant and tear-resistant Mako cotton fabric, the fibers of which had previously been dyed with indanthrene dyes, was printed . During the war, for reasons of economy, people began to apply the prints to cheaper textiles using other colorants. In addition, the more cost-intensive two-color reversal option has recently been given up in many cases. Clear color deviations from the original sample were a result of these measures.
Equipment printed in colored colors was issued to the following units:
- Wehrmacht Army
- Wehrmacht Navy
- Wehrmacht Air Force
- SS paratroopers
Color print 41
In 1941, most likely not earlier, the German Air Force introduced a variant of the colored overprint 31, which is also called "Splittertarn B" in the specialist literature. The main difference to the 1931 splitter camo is that the splinter stains have been reduced. The complexity of nesting these spots is also evident. The pattern seems to have been factory-made only for the bone sack and the field jacket. All other items of equipment made with this material, such as helmet camouflage covers, were obviously created on the front lines according to personal needs. The production of the splitter camo B was discontinued in 1944.
Marsh camouflage pattern 43/44
In the war year 1943, the first variant of the colored printing was introduced. After the war it was named Sumpftarnmuster 43. In contrast to this, the basic color of the fabric was now a beige tone and the red-brown and green spots, which were still clearly angular in splinter form, no longer touched each other. In addition, the splinters ran out softer thanks to matching colored dots. Above it was printed the irregular, one-way dashed line pattern in a darker shade of green. Another variant of the pattern introduced in 1943, which differed even further from its predecessor, was the swamp camouflage pattern 44.
The swamp camouflage pattern 43 was issued to snipers and tank grenadiers .
Color print 45
The chromatic imprint 45 was a revised variant of the chromatic imprint 31, which should represent an answer to the Allied night vision devices . For this reason, the previous splinter pattern was overprinted with further light-absorbing angular spots in black color. However, this camouflage scheme could only be introduced in small quantities.
After 1945
Switzerland
As early as 1940, a five-color, full-color overprint with the typical angular spots was introduced in the Swiss army . In addition to the colors, which had been adopted very similarly from the German model, some medium brown spots were also scattered here. In addition, the dashed lines were thicker in some designs than in the case of the colored printing 31. The pattern was used until 1955.
Federal Republic of Germany
Federal Border Guard
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When the BGS was set up in 1951, the chromatic imprint 31 was initially introduced there, but was replaced by a newly developed swamp camouflage pattern as early as 1952. However, equipment in splinter camouflage was still in use until at least 1962. The BGS swamp camo was produced in three different color variants until 1976. Helmet camouflage covers with the BGS swamp camouflage pattern were still in use in the year 2000 for special units of the BGS ( GSG9 ).
The colors used in the first BGS swamp camo I (1952 to 1959) can be defined as follows.
- Basic shade: RAL 1019 gray beige
- Red spots: RAL 8012 red brown
- Dark gray spots: RAL 7006 beige gray
- Lines: RAL 7003 moss gray
Important: In this case, the RAL colors are only intended as approximate values, since the RAL color table is lacquer colors.
armed forces
Even before the establishment of the Bundeswehr and the public discussion of its pros and cons, the federal government had set up the “ Dienststelle Blank ” under the “Special Representative of the Chancellor”, State Secretary Theodor Blank , in October 1950 , which dealt with the contemporary uniforms of future German soldiers. After the formation of the Bundeswehr in 1955, a combat suit in a slightly modified splinter camouflage M31 of the Reichswehr or Wehrmacht was immediately introduced to the troops, but already in 1960 it was replaced by a single-colored olive variant in RAL 6014 (yellow olive) based on NATO partners. In the early splinter camouflage used by the Bundeswehr, the green splinter elements are set off from their surroundings on one side by white lines, creating an effect as if the green templates had been shifted during screen printing.
Another Bundeswehr variant of the colored imprint 31 produced at that time shows not only the green, but also the brown spots “shifted”. In addition, the dashed lines are much more sparsely distributed over the basic camouflage pattern.
Another bright color variant was tested in 1956, but never put into series production. This pattern was a variant of the last mentioned Bundeswehr splitter camouflage, except that the background already appears greener and the line pattern has given way to an irregular leaf pattern in black and semi-transparent olive.
In 1959 the production of the Bundeswehr splitter camouflage M55 was stopped. Helmet camouflage covers with the pattern still held up in the 1960s and old suits with this camouflage scheme were still used by the Air Force in the 1990s. Until 1990, plain yellow olive (RAL 6014) was worn in the Bundeswehr, which was based on the combat suits of the European US armed forces that did not have camouflage clothing . The Americans set the tone for the visual appearance of most Western European armies from 1945 until the late 1980s.
Military historians suspect that the move to abolish the tried and tested camouflage uniform was purely political, as the camouflage used by German soldiers deteriorated considerably and fell back into the period before 1931. It was not until 1990, almost ten years after the US Army had introduced a camouflage scheme derived from the splinter camouflage pattern, that the Bundeswehr was allowed to introduce its camouflage pattern, the flecktarn variant ( Flecktarn B - large ) , which had been tried and tested since 1976 . This flecktarn confirmed the experiments made by Johann Georg Otto Schick from 1935 using computer-aided means. Schick is considered to be the inventor of flecktarn and designed various of these patterns for the "T" (camouflage) department of the Waffen-SS until 1945 .
German Democratic Republic
In the GDR , the National People's Army (NVA) and the Ministry of the Interior (MdI) used a camouflage pattern from 1958 to 1967, which was derived from a flecktarn pattern of the Waffen SS, the oak leaf pattern ("surface camouflage").
From 1965 on, the previous pattern was slowly replaced by a pure streak thread pattern . This camouflage pattern, which had been developed in Poland a few years earlier, took up the lines of the colored print in a radically simplified form. Strichtarn was presented together with a new field suit in the NVA (National People's Army) and was produced in several slightly varying versions.
Hungary
In Hungary , the army was supplied with imported fabrics in German color printing. The pattern remained in use even after World War II.
Bulgaria
Even during the war, Bulgaria's paratroopers were outfitted with the German color print 1941. Its typical angular appearance with the linear dashed lines has remained the national camouflage scheme of Bulgaria for over 65 years and has been continuously developed.
For the paratroopers, a three-color pattern was introduced in 1953, which was derived directly from the colored imprint of the German paratroopers in 1941, but stood out clearly in its execution. The dashed lines were not aligned uniformly in one direction, but could vary within a limited framework. The color scheme, on the other hand, was based on the model, but hit different tones. The Bulgarian splinter camo 53 was later issued to special forces and was worn until 1991.
The Bulgarian split camouflage pattern was further developed in the 1960s and 1970s, with shapes and colors varying. Also the Army In 1979, another Bulgarian variant of the paratrooper colored overprint appeared in 1941 with wavy dashed lines, which in their strict alignment were closer to the German model. In 1991 the production of the sample was stopped. In 1997, the current three-color, full-color overprint was introduced for the entire Bulgarian army , with the dashed lines appearing again in a wobbly wave form.
Poland
In Poland , a splinter camouflage pattern was introduced in 1956, the overall appearance of which was based entirely on the Reichswehr colored imprint of 1931. The difference, however, can be seen in the choice of color. Instead of brown, the Polish splinter camo uses a shade of gray that is slightly mixed with purple, while the green is darker and contains more red components. The gray beige of the German Strichtarn appears more yellow here. As in Germany, this colored print was also intended for year-round use. However, it was retired again around 1960. During this time the Polish streaked camouflage pattern appeared as a successor, which only took up the separated lines of the motley color print. Color variants of the Polish splinter camouflage are possible.
United States of America
As early as 1948 by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratory (ERDL), the American ERDL colored printing was introduced in February 1967 for the US marine infantry and special forces fighting in the Vietnam War and was in use until 1970. The US pattern adopts the gray-beige base and the green tone of the German color print. Instead of brown spots, however, black is used; The Americans do without the dashed lines. In addition, the shape of the spots differs significantly from the colored imprint 31 and uses the body pattern from 1945, which is a variant of the flecktarn , as a model . The four-color "Woodland" camouflage pattern, introduced in September 1981 for the entire US Army, was in turn derived from the ERDL color print. It can therefore be viewed as a distant relative of the Splinter Camo. The woodland pattern is used by many countries today. It has now become obsolete in the US Army and was replaced by the current Army Combat Uniform between 2005 and 2007 .
Sweden
The Swedish armed forces have been wearing a four-color splinter camouflage pattern since 1990 , which is close to the chromatic overprint 31 through the resumption of the sharp, linear spots. The differences arise in the scheme, as the spots are not freely distributed on the surface, but directly abut one another and are not overlaid by the dashed lines of the original pattern, as well as in the coloring. Navy blue, dark and light green spots are distributed on a beige background.
This camouflage pattern was also exported to Latvia in order to equip the SFOR forces for Bosnia and Herzegovina .
See also
- Flecktarn
- Swamp camo
- Strichtarn
- MARPAT (digital camo)
- Camouflage pattern
- Camouflage clothing
literature
- Johannes Denecke: camouflages of the German army 1914 until today. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-5990-5 .
- Laurent Mirouze: Infantrymen of World War II. Karl-Heinz Dissberger, Düsseldorf 1990, ISBN 3-924753-27-X ( Europa-Militaria 2).
- Daniel Peterson: camouflage uniforms of the Wehrmacht and post-war variants. Enforcer Pülz, Ubstadt-Weiher 1996 ISBN 3-939700-31-2 .
- Hans-Jürgen Schmidt: "We wear the federal eagle on our skirt ..." Chronicle of the Federal Border Police 1951–1971. Fiedler-Verlag, Coburg 1993, ISBN 3-923434-17-0 .
- Hans-Jürgen Schmidt: "We wear the federal eagle on our skirt ..." Chronicle of the Federal Border Police 1972–1992. Fiedler-Verlag, Coburg 1994, ISBN 3-923434-21-9 .
- Andrew Steven, Peter Amodio: Uniforms of the Waffen SS. In color. 2nd corrected edition. Karl-Heinz Dissberger, Düsseldorf 1992, ISBN 3-924753-44-X ( Europa-Militaria 6).
- Nigel Thomas, Stephen Andrew: The German Army 1939–45. Volume 5: Western Front 1943-45. Reprinted Edition. Osprey Publishing Limited, London 2003, ISBN 1-85532-797-X ( Men-at-arms Series 336).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johannes Denecke: Camouflage paints of the German army 1914 to today , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-5990-5 , p. 89