Battledress is the military uniform worn into combat, as opposed to 'display' dress uniforms worn at parades and functions. They may be either monochrome (often a shade of green or brown) or in camouflage colors.
Canada
Currently Canada uses the four-colour CADPAT design, a computer generated pixelated pattern issued in TW (temperate woodland) and AR (arid region) colours. The pattern was created in 1995, issued as helmet covers and netting in 1997 and as full uniforms from 2001 when the Canadian forces joined the UN peacekeepers in Bosnia-Hercegovina. The Ar version was introduced when Canadian troops were deployed to Afghanistan.
Before CADPAT the army wore a dull four-colour pattern from 1988, dubbed "Garrison" as it was worn only in barracks. Earlier the Canadian forces had flirted with British DPM (used by the CAR from 1975-93) but remained largely in monochrome.
France
France was a late adopter of personal camouflage, not replacing the bright blues and red until early 1915. The Section de camouflage, established the same year was hugely influential.
The first widely used camouflage pattern was the 1951 three-colour over-printed tenue de léopard, usually called "lizard" it was issued in many colour variants (colourways) and saw war service in Africa and Indochina. The last official issue was in 1958 but use continued for some years.
The colonial associations of camouflage kept the French in monochrome olive until 1990, although a number of African and Asian nations used variants on the "lizard."
Research efforts in the 1980s were rejected, one because of the similarity to flecktarn. With the Gulf War a hurried effort produced the 1990 three-colour "Daguet" desert pattern. A four-colour Euro pattern was issued from 1991.
Germany
The German army adopted feldgrau ("field grey") in 1910.
Nazi era
The Nazi regime funded a great deal of research on camouflage uniforms, investigating many patterns including NIR camouflage. The three-colour disruptive "splinter" pattern (splittermuster, designed in 1930) was issued to the army as uniforms from 1942, a year after the Luftwaffe received them. A number of variants on the splinter were also issued, mainly blurry marsh patterns (sumpfmuster).
Other units, notably the Waffen SS, were issued with a far greater range of patterns. Initially camouflage had been a sign of elite troops and the SS continued this differentiation.
In 1938 the basic four-colour "plane tree" pattern (platanenmuster) of Schick and Schmid was issued. During the war variants on this pattern included "palm", "smoke", and "oak leaf". Towards the end of the war the complex "peas" pattern (erbenmuster) was used.
In 1945 a five-colour leibermuster design was introduced. Intended to be used by all the armed forces, it was layered to improve effectiveness at distance, used a new print method to reduce obvious repetition, and included NIR protection. Due to the economic situation it was hardly used.
Post-war
In the 1950s the West used two versions of the wartime "splinter", a four-colour pattern called BV-splittermuster. Following various trials the dots-and-blotches five-colour flecktarn pattern was chosen in 1976 and issued from the 1980s.
The East's first pattern was the 1956 Russischestarnmuster based, as the name suggests, on the Soviet "amoeba" designs. It was soon replaced by the four-colour flachentarnmuster pattern (sometimes called "potato" or "splotch"). In 1965 the dense straight-line two-colour strichmuster pattern was introduced, sometimes called "ein strich - kein strich" it remained in use until reunification.
Flecktarn was made the pattern for the unified country.
Italy
The Italian army used grigio-verde in the Alps from 1906 and across the army from 1909. In 1929 the country was the first to mass-produce camouflage fabric, the three-colour telo mimetico. It was not issued as uniforms until 1942.
The pattern remained in use after the war, moving through several colour variations. The marines adopted a complex five-colour "Mediterranean spray" pattern in the 1980s. In 1990 a new army pattern was introduced, a four-colour design inspired by the popularUS "woodland" pattern, a desert version was issued from 1992.
Japan
The Japanese trialled monochrome green during the 1905 conflict with Russia, but entered WW II with a monochrome tan uniform. Some were fitted with special loops to aid the attachment of natural vegetation.
The SDF did not issued a pattern until the 1980s, choosing a four-colour green-and-brown design, sometimes called "fang". It was succeeded in 1991 by a dot pattern close to flecktarn, while during the Gulf War a six-colour pattern similar to the US choc-chip was used.
Russia and the Soviet Union
The Imperial Russian army fought in white. Duller colours were used unofficially in the 1880s and again in 1905. The whole army began using khaki from 1908.
The Soviet union issued all-white winter camouflage in 1938 and began the limited use of a two-colour disruptive "amoeba" pattern the same year. The "amoeba" remained in use until the 1950s. In WW II other designs were tried, including "leaf" (1940) and the jagged three-colour "TTsMKK" (1944). Most troops remained in a monochrome brown.
Post-war Soviet camouflage remained a sign of elite units. A two-colour "sun-ray" pattern was used by paratroopers from 1969 and two- or three-colour versions were issued to spetsnaz, KGB and MVD troops into the 1980s. More widely used patterns in the 1980s and 1990s were direct cribs or variations of Western designs, notably the US "ERDL" and "woodland" patterns.
After the collapse of the Soviet regime a new pattern was developed as the standard field uniform. Issued from 1993 the three-colour green-brown-tan design is called "flora" or "Schofield" in the West. The 'elites' maintain different patterns, MVD troops began using the four-colour "SMK" pattern in 1992 and other units wear a distictive "reed" pattern. Versions of the "woodland" pattern also remain in use.
United Kingdom
From the late 17th century to the late 19th century, most British soldiers fought in scarlet tunics. Toward the end of the 19th century, however, as the nature of warfare moved away from close formation fighting to more individual fighting, it began to be recognised that this colour stood out too much.
The move towards camouflage began in India, khaki was used during the Indian Mutiny/1st War of Independence. It became standard in India in 1885, for all foreign postings in 1896, and was adopted throughout the army in 1902 during the Second Boer War.
Battledress was the standard working and fighting uniform worn by the British Army and the armies of other Imperial and Commonwealth countries in temperate climes from 1937 to the late 1960s. It was made of khaki-coloured woollen cloth. Blue battledress was often worn by the Royal Air Force, and Royal Navy shore parties wore a navy blue version. Camouflage dress was hand-painted for some specialists. From 1942, the camouflaged Denison Smock , designed for the Parachute Regiment, was issued more widely.
Following work at the APRE, uniforms in the four-colour camouflaged Pattern 1960 DPM ("disruptive pattern material") were issued from 1969. In 1970 Pattern 1968 DPM was first issued and a little later a greener jungle variant. The underlying pattern has remained through four more colour changes (Pattern 1984 DPM, Pattern 1994 DPM, Soldier 95, and Soldier 2000).
During the Gulf War the four-colour desert DPM of browns and tans was found to be used by Iraqi soldiers. After some work a two-colour DPM version (light brown on tan) was issued.
United States
See Battle dress uniform.
See also
Reference
- DPM: Disruptive Pattern Material by Hardy Blechman and Alex Newman, DPM Ltd. (2004) ISBN 0-9543404-0-X
External links
