APPENDIX 3
During the invasion of Poland, the Low Countries, France and the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, virtually all German equipment was painted in dark grey. During the invasion there were literally thousands of vehicles distributed between the Panzer divisions.
For the first four months of operation Barbarossa the vehicles painted in their overall dark-grey camouflage scheme blended well against the local terrain. However, with the drastic onset of winter and the first snow showers at the end of October 1941, Panzer crews would soon be filled with anxiety, as their vehicles were not camouflaged for winter warfare. With the worrying prospects of fighting in Russia in the snow the Wehrmacht reluctantly issued washable, white winter camouflage paint in November 1941. The paint was specially designed to be thinned with water and applied to all vehicles and equipment when snow was on the ground. This new winter whitewash paint could easily be washed off by the crews in the spring, exposing the dark grey base colour underneath. Unfortunately for the crews the order came too late and distribution to the front lines was delayed by weeks. Consequently, the crews had to adapt and find various crude substitutes to camouflage their vehicles. Some hastily applied their vehicles with a rough coat of limewash, others used lumps of chalk, white cloth strips and sheets, or even hand-packed snow, in drastic attempts to conceal conspicuous dark grey parts. Other vehicles, however, roamed the white arctic wilderness with no camouflage at all.
Following the harsh winter of 1941, the spring of 1942 saw the return of the dark grey base colour on most vehicles, while others returned to pre-war dark brown and dark green camouflage schemes. Crews had learnt from the previous year the lessons of camouflage. Survival for these young men was paramount. Many crews began adding to their camouflage schemes by finding various substitutes and applying them to the surface of their vehicles, such as foliage and bundles of grass and hay. This was a particularly effective method as it would break up the distinctive shapes of vehicles and allow them to blend into the local terrain. Mud, too, was used as an effective form of camouflage but was never universally adopted by the crews.
For the first time in southern Russia, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, where the summer weather was similar to that in North Africa, many vehicles were given an application of tropical camouflage, with the widespread use of sand colour schemes, almost identical to those used in the Afrika-Korps, or the tropical colours of yellow-brown RAL 8000, grey-green RAL 7008, or plain brown RAL 8017.
By 1943, olive green was being used on vehicles, weapons, and large pieces of equipment. A red-brown colour RAL 8012 also had been introduced at the same time. These two colours, along with a new colour base of dark yellow RAL 7028, were issued to crews in the form of a concentrated paste. Pastes arrived in 2kg and 20kg cans, and units were ordered to apply them over the entire surfaces of their vehicles. The paste was specially adapted so that it could be thinned with water or even fuel, and could be applied by spray, brush or mop.
The dark yellow paste was issued primarily to cover unwanted colours or areas of camouflage, especially during changes in seasons. These new variations of colours gave the crews the widest possible choices in schemes so as to blend in as much as possible to the local terrain. The pastes were also used to colour canvas tops and tarpaulins on the vehicles.
The new three-colour paint scheme worked very well on the front lines and allowed each unit to camouflage in many different landscapes. However, within months there were frequent problems with supply. Support vehicles carrying the new paste had to travel so far to various scattered units, even from railheads, that frequently Panzer units never received any new application of camouflage. Another problem was that many Panzer units were already heavily embroiled in bitter fighting and had neither the vehicles to spare nor manpower to pull them out for a repaint. Even rear area ordnance workshops were returning vehicles to action at such speed that parts might be replaced, but repainting omitted. A great number of vehicles never received any paste colours at all, and those that fought on remained in dark yellow, sometimes with crews adapting and enhancing colour schemes with the application of foliage and mud.
However, of all the failings, the greatest of them all was the actual paints themselves. These proved to be unstable when mixed with water, and even the lightest rain could cause colours to run or wash off vehicles. Even fuel, which was used to give the paste a durable finish, was at such a premium during the later stages of the war, that units were compelled to use water, waste oil and mixed or other paints. All this caused wide variations in the appearance of the paint schemes and as a consequence there were unusual colours like brick red, chocolate brown and light green. In spite of these variations in colour, and the fact that there had become little standardization in the camouflage schemes, occasionally there were complete units that appeared on the front lines properly painted and marked. But this was a rare occurrence.