what exactly was the purpose of german yellow? what significance did yellow have? when you look at all modern camo, there is no yellow in there except for desert areas. germans had ALOT of dark yellow vehicles in woodland areas. the allies and ruskies had green, basic earth tone to blend in with the vegitation. white in teh winter to blend in with the snow. gray, i can understand because its still a dark color, still confusing about the german perspective of camo though . but dark yellow? anybody;s thoughts?
I think it all started with the North African campaign, and was standardized because it was so easily adapted to other fronts, with the other colors in the repertoire. And there was always the grey to fall back on, for built-up urban areas!
Even though the color is called dunkelgelb – “dark yellow” – it was probably closer in life (and after fading and use) to a yellowish sand.
But I’m realy just guessing. I bet someone will retort with documentary proof! I’d be interested to see that myself.
Tigers in Africa were suposed to sprayed in a 2 tone scheme of RAL 8020 and RAL 7027 like the Bovington Tiger. Some were only sprayed in RAL 8020, the reports that some were painted green can not be confirmed.
Dark yellow or dunkelgelb RAL 7028 is quite different from RAL 8020, it has a quite greenish hue.
Answering your question about why they used it is a lot more difficult, because the question also applies to the late war hard edged 3 tone scheme … Why ?? it doesn’t look like good camoflage.
Part of the answer could be that at the time they introduced the dark yellow the germans was fighting a lot in the russian steppe and there are many yellow tones in that invironment.
Considering the timeframe for the change, spring 1943, and where most of the fighting was taking place (Eastern Front), the introduction is most likely attributable to the terrain of the Russian steppes (Ukraine, southern Russia, etc.). Think like the American Mid-west…miles and miles of miles and miles of open terrain. Tall grasslands that turn tawny/dusky yellows and browns in later spring and summer. Not a good environment for a dark gray monotone finish. Crews had the discretion to add red-brown and olive green to fit local conditions over the dunkelgelb to further blend in, so the variation is there for different theaters/locations as well. Many of the N.Africa vehicles weren’t actually finished in Panzer Gray from the factories but instead were finished in RAL 8020 if they were designated specifically for the units there.
As far as hard-edged schemes go, you have to take into consideration that camo serves both the blend in the vehicle to its surroundings but also to visually break up its profile, make it harder to pick out aiming spots, etc.
all of the above sounds logical but as a thought on the “hard edge” camo,most of the armor crews hand painted the red brown and green with whatever they had on hand to thin the paste,(deisel,gasoline,water). i’ve heard that tanks often came equipped with compressor hookups and spray guns IMHO rot braun or dunklegren was probabley not as effective as an mg34 for spraying things.happy modelling.
Very true up until around Oct-November 1944 when factories were ordered to deliver vehicles with camo already applied instead of the previous requirement of delivery basecoated in Dunkelgelb only. Look at late war schemes for Panthers, JagdPanthers, Tiger II, Hetzers, etc. and you’ll see that they are very close to each other in terms of pattern and color distributions. Prior to that timeframe, field applied camo was the rule and the patterns were left up to the individual units and crews. You’re right about being equipped with spraygun equipment although I’m somewhat confused about your statement on MG34s…[%-)]
I think he was making a joke – camo not being as effective a deterent to the enemy as a well-placed machine-gun bullet!
yep thats what i meant, thanks for the cover.[:D]