I remember seeing a black and white photo of a Tiger 1 in Tunisia. There was some speculation from the author that it was painted Olive green or some shade of green. Anybody know about this one? I’m always looking for something “unique”. [?]
I’ve don’t think I’ve ever heard of German vehicles being painted olive green. Did the authour say what information the speculation was based on?
It’s what the unit history says they did when the fighting went into Tunisia. Some think they used captured US supplies of OD, others think they used a German form of oliv, yet others think it’s a mixture of oliv with the Afrika Krops light brown.
Others think they started life in a kind of pea green and got some kind of a khaki coat in Tunisia. It’s actually quite a mystery.
Huh, that’s very interesting. I had no idea, thanks.
Yes, I read that also, while researching about the Tiger I’s. In fact the Tigers were first painted dark yellow, then evolved into an olive green. Accounts of the transformation vary, but I have seen (some in color) pictures of an off OD version of the Tiger coming off the front in Tunisa.
These Tigers went to Tunisia just around the time the Dunkelgelb painting order was issued so they may have been painted in non standard camo to blend in with the terrain in Tunisia which was had more vegetation. It is unlikely they were painted Dunkelgelb to start with, and probably not Panzergray as that color was no longer an effective base color for camo.
They were painted any kind of olivy-green. Anything they could lay their hands on because the wet season caused all kinds of things to grow in Tunisia, which made their (in comparison) bright yellow Tigers be even more difficult to hide…
…or so I’ve been told
Info I have seen mentions an olive green color also. This is not olive drab as the US color. Think this was in one of the Squadron books on Panzer Colors (vol III if I recall).
Those are ancient books. There’s been a lot of study on this sticker of an issue since then. One of the hypo’s, and it’s as good as the next, is that they captured stores of US paint and used it on at least some of the tanks.
Of course, the tank that started the revamping of our ideas about sPzAbts 501 and 504 has remnants of RAL8000 and RAL7008 still on it.
Check this out.
Dang! I was just about to put bovington’s 131 link up too![:D] Yeah, Larry’s link is good, but I’ve found that Tamiya’s Nato green and JA green work great for Tiger 1 green camo. I use mostly the JA green, but if I want it to be faded I pull out the nato green…
I have seen many debates on this subject over the years and there some points worth considering.
- ALL soldiers want to live to go home.
- A person in fear of their life WILL stoop to any level to save said life.
- Germany used about 10 different shades of green throught the war, Luftwaffe included.
The use of captured or otherwise nonstandard paints (mixed, “borrowed” from Luftwaffe supplies etc) is not only possible but likely. If the Germans used green in Tunisia (I believe they did) than any or all of these colors could fit the bill.