The Enigmatic Camouflage of the Wehrmacht

A Historian's Headache

For a long time, it was assumed that early German armour was uniform grey - RAL 7021 "Panzergrau". As we don't have 4k HDR images from actual, in-the-field 1941 Panzerkampfwagen, everyone was left assuming. Yes, the colour is grey, but which grey? Is the sun shining, or is it getting dark? That will influence how the colour is seen! And don't mention non-colour-calibrated monitors, all set up slightly different. What is vibrant Kermit green on one, is drab khaki on another screen. But then someone found high-resolution images, and Bovington found an unopened, boxed periscope in Dunkergelb. Finally, we could narrow down the correct colours. But there is still a lot of discussion about the correct shades used or, for example, about what colour the outlines of turret numbers were.

This further examination showed, for example, that these early Panzer were painted in a grey base coat, overlaid with a brown "cloud pattern". It may be that some green was also added on manouvers, but this is by no means certain. And we can't confirm any of this from the official documentation either: the official Wehrmacht guidelines left much room for interpretation and changed constantly. Most factories applied only the base colors during vehicle production, and field units used camouflage paste to adapt the vehicle's camouflage to local conditions. Some factories, however, supplied vehicles with a camo scheme as suggested by the OKH regulations. However, most units often just improvised. This led to a fascinating – yet frustrating for historians – diversity in camouflage styles.

So, can we lay down some guidelines? Yeah, sure we can!

Yes, that's a Chally, I know.

• Before 1937, vehicles were painted in RAL 7021 Panzergrau with RAL 8002 Erdgelb cloud patterns — not the modern "Signalbraun" of the same code, which was redefined in 1953 and is a completely different colour.
• From 1937 to 1940, the cloud pattern was dropped and vehicles were delivered in RAL 7021 Panzergrau only, occasionally with a RAL 7017 Dunkelbraun disruptive pattern.
• In 1940, new vehicles were delivered in only 7021 to save on paint. However, this did not work very well in green fields or on dusty roads.
• So, in February 1943 a dark yellow (Dunkelgelb nach Muster) was issued as a paste to be applied over existing grey. This warm, orange-mustard colour — visibly more yellow than the later registered RAL 7028 — is what early Panthers wore at Kursk.
• RAL formally registered Dunkelgelb on 31 August 1943. This registered shade is noticeably more tan and less orange than the February 1943 paste. A further, greyer-darker variant appeared in late 1944. The trajectory was warm mustard → tan → greyer, not progressively lighter as is sometimes assumed.
• Winter camouflage was just white caulking over the existing paint base, with the pattern left to unit commanders — which led to enormous variation between regiments.
• Additional camouflage was added in the field using RAL 6003 olive green and RAL 8017 chocolate brown. The result was a vast array of two- and three-color schemes, with variations even within the same unit.
• In August 1944, the OKH instructed factories to apply a three-colour scheme (RAL 7028 base, RAL 6003 and RAL 8017 in patches) with small dots or discs over all fields — the Hinterhalt-Tarnung or ambush camouflage, designed to suggest filtered sunlight through foliage. Each factory interpreted the disc/dot instruction differently, creating recognisable "house styles".
• After September 1944, new vehicles were delivered in RAL 8012 red-oxide primer only, leaving camouflage entirely to individual crews. They used whatever was available.
• The final instruction (November 1944, to be implemented by June 1945 — two months after the war ended) called for an RAL 6003 base coat with sharply defined patches of brown and yellow. Some vehicles were delivered in monochrome green.
• Vehicles for North Africa first used RAL 8000 Grünbraun with RAL 7008 Khakigrau patterns, then from March 1942 a more sandy RAL 8020 Sandbraun. Note that modern RAL 8020 chips were redefined in 1953; the wartime value is closer to #B68C6B based on spectrographic work from surviving paint chips.
• Did the Green Tiger of Tunisia actually exist? We don't really know; sPzAbt 501's vehicles were sand brown (8020) out of the factory, but some crews did overspray with Italian air force olive paint because the original scheme stood out too much in the Sicilian landscape.

My colour set

Hex values are derived from RAL 840-HR chip conversions, AK Real Colors reference paints, AMMO MIG product research, and spectrographic work on surviving wartime paint chips. Where the modern RAL chip diverges from the wartime formulation (notably RAL 8002 and RAL 8020, both redefined in 1953), the historically documented value is used. All values are defensible centre-points — wartime batches varied, and no hex is ground truth.

Base colours

Accent colours

Material colours