British and Commonwealth Camouflage Pattern of World War Two 1930–1945

British Matilda Mk.III Infantry Tank in diagonal stripe disruptive pattern used in North Africa in 1940. Wargamers may deploy the Airfix model of the Matilda Tank in the early campaigns in France and North Africa. The painting instruction supplied with the kit were incorrect, the light blue stripes of the desert camouflage pattern should actually be light grey (Humbrol No. 64). Captured Matilda Tanks were converted to self-propelled guns by the German Wehrmacht, who used them for training purposes.

Basic Vehicle Patterns

• U.K. 1930
• France (BEF) 1939
• North Africa 1937, 1939 & 1940
• U.K. 1941, 1942 & 1943
• North Africa 1942 & 12/1942
• North Africa 1943
• Sicily 1943
• Italy 1943
• Syria/Persia/Iraq 1943
• Far East 1942 & 1945
• NW Europe 1944 & 1945

How many olives are in dark green?

There is some controversy among manufacturers of plastic model kits regarding the correct colour used for the basic dark green camouflage pattern of British Army vehicles in World War 2. The old Airfix 25-pounder field gun and Quad tractor kit nicely illustrates the kind of confusion which has persisted for more than 20 years.

• Airfix 25 pdr and Quad ca. 1976: "LIGHT BROWN M5 overall, with irregular patches of OLIVE GREEN M3 on tractor only". This editor still owns a section of 25 pdrs painted light brown according to these faulty instructions.
• Airfix 25 pdr and Quad 1993 re-release: "30 DARK GREEN overall, with irregular patches of 29 DARK EARTH on tractor only". Not correct either, the Quad should be Dark Brown with Patches of Dark Green as before, but the 25 pdr and the ammo trailer need to be painted Dark Green instead of Dark Brown. The text in the instructions is ok, the drawing is incorrect.

Apparently, someone noticed the obviously mistaken painting instructions of the 25 pdr and trailer. Simply reversing the colours in the original instructions is a workable solution, even if it isn’t completely accurate for the Quad. More importantly, notice how colour designations can change from LIGHT BROWN to DARK EARTH and OLIVE GREEN to DARK GREEN. How can there be such confusion about colour? Did the British Army not issue precise specifications regarding the colour schemes to be used on vehicles? Apparently, manufacturers are in doubt and hobbyists are easily frustrated by the problem.

In the case of the 11th Armoured Division Jeep and Morris tractor for the 17 pdr anti-tank gun produced by Matchbox it is not clear if the two colours are to be mixed in order to produce the basic colour or if either colour can be used interchangeably. In any case, the table above clearly shows that five manufacturers recommend no less than six different shades of green to be used on British vehicles.

Until recently, the author had assumed that Airfix M3 LIGHT OLIVE really is the same as Humbrol 30 DARK GREEN, because the Airfix M3 codes disappeared in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s, and Humbrol No. 30 replaced them. The 1993 Airfix re-releases are split on the issue, translating the original M3 code into 30 DARK GREEN and 86 LIGHT OLIVE, the former being used on some tractors and the latter on tanks and the US built DUKW amphibian. Francis Liew, historian and contributing writer for this camouflage article, points out that Humbrol No. 86 Light Olive is actually the matching colour used for modern British vehicles (Olive Green). Revell recommends 48 SEA GREEN to be used in the three-colour Desert War camouflage, the same pattern that Airfix would have had you paint in M3 LIGHT OLIVE, M14 SAND and M25 LIGHT BLUE.

British Standard Colour

The table below lists British Standard Colour information extracted from documents which were de-classified and released to the public in 1984. Field orders issued by the War Office and any documents classified as "secret" were kept secret for 30 years. British Standard shades and matching Humbrol colour codes were compiled and edited by contributing writer Francis Liew.

It is apparent, that British AFV colours changed frequently, adapting to diverse terrain conditions encountered in the theater of operation. Using the above table, wargamers and collectors will be able to select the correct colour schemes for vehicles participating in the campaigns in France 1940 and 1944, Italy 1943-45, Germany 1945 and the Desert War.

Snow Camouflage

In January 1945, 21st Army Group issued a "Snow Camouflage Booklet" with the following guidelines for snow camouflage:

Section 34. "Use of Whitening Agents. In western Germany and in the Low Countries snow conditions are seldom constant. Rapid thaws may be expected and snow cover will not necessarily be continuous over a wide area. Morever, even in deep snow, buildings, woods and other features still provide dark backgrounds. White paint or other whitening agents should not, therefore, be used directly on vehicles and weapons, but only as a means of whitening materials to be put on them."

Section 35. "White paint may be used, when practicable, on the underside of any tarpauline which can be reversed ..." and, as an alternative, "... to provide a temporary effective camouflage material, garnished nets can be dragged in the snow."

Appendix A:
"Calico: supplied in rolls of three foot width. Suitable application, making into patches with strings attached, to be used on artillery or other nets, or for attachment to tank turrets, guns, recce vehicles and for general improvisation.
White Scrim: supplied in rolls of 100 yards length, three inches wide. For garnishing nets, wire netting, helmet covers, wrapping of gun barrels, small arms and for sniper aides."

Appendix C listed methods of preparing limewash from rock lime (24 hours) and slaked lime, using salt or powdered glue to obtain a more permanent type of paint. Please note that, using only limewash, this snow camouflage was not very durable and soon revealed patches of the darker paintwork colours underneath.

Scale Colour

A paint chip taken from an historic armoured vehicle may very well be the same olive drab or panzer grey colour which the hobbyist can purchase from Revell and Humbrol today, but it would be a mistake to paint 1:72 scale models in this way. When viewed from a distance, the actual vehicle exposed to sunlight will appear much lighter than a small model painted in the same colour. Dust settling on the vehicle can highlight the overall colour even further, sometimes completely obliterating the camouflage effect and making it impossible to hide the vehicle against the dark background of a treeline or forest.

The scale colour concept allows the model builder to simulate this effect. The authentic base colour is used as an undercoat, preferably sprayed on, to speed up the painting process. The undercoat should be left to dry before additional paint is applied. Mix the base colour with white to highlight it and then drybrush it onto the vehicle. The raised surfaces of the model will pick up the highlight just like the real vehicle picks up sunlight. Viewed next to eachother, at the appropriate scale distance, of course, both vehicles will appear to be the same size and their overall colour should be similar, depending on the intensity of natural lighting the modeller wishes to recreate. Drybrushing can be done in several layers, using more white each time. A final layer of dust grey can be applied to simulate the cumulative effect which a dusty road march would have on the vehicle and its crew.

Francis Liew

Frequently Asked Questions

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British Miniatures of World War Two

– Published: 1996 – Updated: 04.03.2005
© 1996-2012 by IDL Software GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany. All rights reserved.