Camouflage pattern
Camouflage are by various colors and shapes induced patterns which are suitable, the contours of an animal , object or people in front of a background visually dissolve and thus camouflage cause.
Camouflage pattern in the animal kingdom
Camouflage is widespread in the animal kingdom . Camouflage patterns can on the one hand protect carnivorous animals (carnivores, predators and insects) from premature detection by their prey, and on the other hand make a hunted animal “invisible” to the predator or at least confuse him. Some animal species are perfectionists when it comes to camouflage and adapt their patterns to the given natural conditions and backgrounds within a very short time (1 ms - different viruses, one to several seconds for vertebrates). These include chameleons and most species of squid . In addition to a natural camouflage pattern, others also have a contour-resolving appearance, e.g. B. some types of exercise .
In contrast to pure mimicry , the imitation of the shape and appearance of inconspicuous objects (see stick insect ) or dangerous animals by harmless species, camouflage patterns are about the purely optical merging of the animal with its environment, which mostly only works when there is no movement and is dissolved by movement becomes. A special feature are patterns that, like the zebra, are mainly designed to irritate. Some camouflage patterns in the animal kingdom also specialize in organs of vision that perceive different light and color frequencies than humans.
Camouflage pattern in humans
Since time immemorial, people naturally used existing camouflage elements to spy out prey or enemies and sneak up on them. The British army first dressed some of their hunter units during the Napoleonic Wars in shades of green, which were supposed to approximate the natural vegetation of the landscape.
Actual camouflage patterns were first in the armies of the Entente in the First World War used. Camouflage patterns could be seen there on the tanks of the British and a short time later on those of the French. These patterns did not follow any standardized specifications, but were individually brushed on with various more or less opaque colors. The aim was to make visual reconnaissance more difficult.
Until 1918 camouflage patterns were improvised in the German military. In July 1918, the first standardized camouflage pattern, the colorful paint , was officially introduced in Germany in the Imperial Army and for the Air Force . This camouflage was only used for large equipment (including tanks, airplanes, cannons) and equipment (including ammunition boxes, helmets, truck tarpaulins). It consisted of sharp camouflage spots in the colors rust brown, green and ocher yellow, which were separated from each other with thick black lines. Soldiers also applied the camouflage pattern to equipment such as helmets.
American, British and partly also German warships were provided with irregular, angular light-dark patterns ("dazzle") during the First World War, which was not intended to prevent discovery as such, but rather to record type, size (and thus also the distance) ), Course and speed by optical instruments. The Royal Navy painted until the war ended in 1918 approximately 4400 ships to protect against submarines with camouflage Dazzle .
The first camouflage pattern printed on fabric, the Telo Mimetico , which, like the German colored paint, used rust brown, green and ocher yellow, was introduced in 1929 by the Italian military for the tarpaulin. Fabrics printed with this pattern were also used for uniforms from 1937: The Italian Air Force equipped their paratroopers with them. From 1943 units of the Waffen-SS were also clad with this pattern. The Telo Mimetico is the camouflage pattern that has been worn for the longest time; in Italy it was abolished in 1992.
In 1931 the Reichswehr introduced its own camouflage pattern ( splitter camouflage ), also only for tarpaulin. This camouflage pattern, which was later widely developed internationally, was also used for other items of equipment by the Federal Border Police until the end of the 1950s . Splittertarn was also u. a. in use in the Wehrmacht , the Federal Armed Forces , the Swiss Army and in some Eastern Bloc countries. Several variants and subspecies of the pattern have been developed over the decades. From 1952, a revised version of the swamp camo introduced by the Wehrmacht in 1943/44 was also worn by the Federal Border Police .
The world's first uniform camouflage pattern produced on a large scale was the flecktarn of the Waffen SS, with which this troop was equipped in 1938. The first of these camouflage pattern, the so-called "plane pattern" was of the director of the 1935 established department "T" ( "camouflage"), Professor Johann Georg Otto Schick been developed, while the then Sturmbannfuehrer Wim Brant the guidelines to the individual in equipment and garments designed. Numerous armies still use flecktarn clothing today, the pattern of which can be traced back to designs at the time. Camouflage patterns quickly became widespread among all troops during World War II. Soon there were detailed regulations regarding the colors used (see RAL colors ) and the camouflage patterns. However, the course of the war and the shortage of material often forced improvisations and the use of captured paint, so that the executing soldiers often had room for artistic and individual design.
The army formed in 1955 led by the since October 1950 preliminary work of the department Blank a battle suit into a slightly different splinter M31 of the army or armed forces. As early as 1960, however, this camouflage pattern was replaced by an olive variant in the color RAL 6014 (yellow olive). The aim now was to visually match the Bundeswehr to the monochrome appearance of the NATO partners.
Some armed forces, however, stayed with older camouflage patterns, but mostly limited to elite and special units. This only changed from the 1970s. New variants have been developed or adapted to local conditions; many experimental samples were presented. Some special features are the use of artificial turf as a camouflage coating in Denmark, British tanks with rectangular white and gray areas for house-to-house warfare in Berlin, and the Australian method of pelting vehicles with a mixture of diesel oil and the local soil.
In the late 1970s, the US Air Force developed "counter-shadowing" camouflage patterns for aircraft, which were intended to reduce visibility by counteracting the usual shadows and also (similar to the historical "dazzle" camouflage) to assess what was seen Should complicate the object.
With the introduction of a camouflage pattern based on the work of Johann Georg Otto Schick, the Bundeswehr introduced a camouflage pattern in 1990 that is widely used today. Following the theft of documents, the Chinese People's Liberation Army , for example, introduced an identical Bundeswehr pattern to its mountain troops , and the Russian army also introduced a pattern of a similar type.
In the meantime, net and "batik" (ME-262) camouflage patterns have disappeared in the military sector, primarily because of the elaborate creation.
The development of camouflage patterns is also being advanced by means of modern mainframes. The USA , Canada and other countries are equipping their armed forces with digitally pixelated patterns, so-called digital camouflage patterns . The company " Hyperstealth ", which specializes in digital camouflage patterns, developed camouflage patterns of this type for equipping the Jordanian armed forces and police units.
The Italian army also used computer programs to create their “Vegetato” pattern; but the pattern is not digitized.
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).
- 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
- Photo comparison test with over 40 different camouflage patterns
- Huge selection of camouflage patterns + information about them from all over the world (in English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ernst Aicher (ed.): Steel helmets from the First World War to the present (= publications of the Bavarian Army Museum, Volume 8 ). Bavarian Army Museum, Ingolstadt 1984, p. 50-53 .
- ↑ einestages.spiegel.de