I have always found it strange to see models of late war German AFVs, such as the Kingtiger and Jagdtiger painted in Dark Gray - often called "Panzer Gray". The myth seems to have originated in Japan during the 1960s; the likes of Tamiya and Bandai instructed modellers to paint their Kingtigers and Jagdtigers overall Dark Gray. From then on the myth has grown, even to be included in the excellent Panzer Colours (page 90). No German OKH (Army High Command) memorandum had ever been found directing that AFVs be painted overall Dark Gray after the change over from Dark Gray to Dark Yellow in early 1943 to support this, (up until recently... please read on!) On the other hand, photographic evidence seems to support that Dark Gray was back in vogue at war's end. So what is going on here? New research and a bit of deductive reasoning may settle the matter.

All German AFVs throughout the war were primed overall with a red-oxide primer, which is evident in colour photographs of museum vehicles (check around hatches and areas of high wear). Prior to 1943 the base colour used was Dark Gray, and as we all know, early in February 1943 OKH issued a memorandum outlining a new painting system. This consisted of a factory applied overall base of Dark Yellow and field applied disruptive secondary colour of Dark Green or Red Brown or both. The field application was at the discretion of the field commanders and was to reflect local conditions. Either water or petrol could be used to thin the paints (which were supplied in paste form) and any number of methods could be used for application; everything from hands to air guns in fact. So there has a huge variety in patterns in evidence, (this is one reason that modelling German WW2 AFVs is so interesting).

In efforts to standardize camouflage patterns, OKH issued an order on August 19, 1944, stating that all camouflage painting now be done in-factory. All painting was to be sprayed on, with soft edges and a standard pattern was to be used. This new standardized scheme is known as the "ambush" pattern, which consisted of an overall Dark Yellow base with large disruptive patches of Dark Green and Red Brown. Over these where small spots of Dark Yellow over the Dark Green and Red Brown, with spots of Dark Green and Red Brown over the Dark Yellow. The effect, which simulated sunlight filtering through overhead branches, was very good at hiding Panzers under trees, (it makes me wonder why no one uses a similar pattern today).

In order to conserve paint stocks a new order was issued on October 31, 1944. OKH now directed that new AFVs be left in their overall primer coats as the base coat and that disruptive patterns of Dark Yellow and Dark Green be applied by brush with hard edges. Furthermore if Dark Yellow where not available then field Gray could be used instead.

On November 31, 1944, OKH ordered that Dark Green now be used as the base colour and that Red Brown be used as the predominant secondary colour along with some Dark Yellow too. All secondary colours where to be applied with hard edges.

In late winter of 1945, the base coat was reverted back to Dark Yellow, with secondary camouflage colours of Dark Green and Red Brown, (I am unsure of the exact date of this). It would seem to me that the switching of base colours could have something to to with seasonal changes; but this is purely speculation on my part. Since a base of Dark Yellow with Dark Green/Red Brown camouflage is more suitable to spring time conditions. Furthermore this would explain why the "Ambush" pattern started to show up again right at the end of the war; I would speculate further that this pattern was used again, since it too is more suitable for spring/summer conditions.

Recently (summer 1997) new evidence has come to light, rather interesting evidence that apparently the German High Command issued an order allowing AFV manufacturers to use a base coat of Panzer Gray (RAL 7021) if no other options were available. This is a bit of a shock, especially considering that the main point of this essay if to explain away the myth that late war German AFVs were painted Panzer Gray. Perhaps a few such vehicles were painted Panzer Gray as per this order, in fact this would explain those strange cases as I will mention below, however the use of Dark Green and its confusion in B/W photographs with panzer Gray still can not be dismissed, as I will explain below also.

To better illustrate this rather convoluted history refer to the table below.

Date Base Colour Secondary Method Note(s)
1939 Panzer Gray
RAL 7021 - - -
February 1943 Dark Yellow
RAL 7028 Dark Green / Red Brown
RAL 6003 / 8017 Spray or brush Field applied
August 19 1944 Dark Yellow
RAL 7028 Dark Green / Red Brown
RAL 6003 / 8017 Spray Factory applied, "Ambush pattern"
October 31 1944 Red-Oxide Primer Dark Green / Dark yellow or Field Gray
RAL 6003 / 7028 Hard edged Factory applied
November 31 1944 Dark Green
RAL 6003 Red Brown / Dark yellow
8017 / 7028 Hard Edged Factory applied
Late Winter 1945 Dark Yellow
RAL 7028 Dark Green / Red Brown
RAL 6003 / 8017 Hard Edged Factory applied
Near War's End? Panzer Gray
RAL 7021 Dark Green? / Red Brown?
RAL 6003 / 8017 Hard Edged? Factory applied?



Now with this background we can go about investigating the problem of late war German AFVs and Panzer Gray. It is obvious based on these orders that the confusion solely comes from the fact that the vehicles where painted overall Dark Green and photographs of such vehicles have been interpreted as over-all Dark Gray. For example, in Last of the Panzers photograph 83 shows what appears to be a Panther Ausf. G painted overall Panzer Gray. But considering that the photograph is dated January 20, 1945, it must be painted overall Dark Green -- and due to the high contrast of this black and white photograph it appears to Dark Gray. It is easy to see now where this confusion arose - it would seem that many such photographs of late war German AFVs painted Dark Green, but being interpreted as Dark Gray simply because the OKH order of November 31, 1944 was not known at the time, so the logical choice would have been to think Dark Gray was used.

It is very important to understand that; these were the orders that the factories were supposed to have followed when painting the vehicles they built. This means that anything done in the field, temporary paint stock shortages and other situations may have resulted in other paint schemes being applied. There a few odd reports from British and US documents concerning captured German equipment near the end of the war that were painted Dark Gray. For instance, a Hetzer was reported to have been captured painted over-all Dark Gray, with black and white used as secondary camouflage [Recently I found a colour war-time photograph of this vehicle... and it is in fact over-all Dark Green, with Red Brown patches and Dark Yellow stripes]; a Mobelwagon was photographed in colour and shown to be over-all Dark Gray with a cross hatch of Red Brown. From the Soviets, reports of Panthers overall Dark Gray with large squares of white were encountered in Berlin. These and other examples, if true, represent evidence that the final OKH order allowing Dark Gray was carried through.

As far as painting your own models goes, now you can come up with some interesting and historically accurate schemes within these official guidelines. Keep in mind that during the last months of the war, German industry was in dire straights indeed; and many vehicles would have left the plant with only their overall base coats and no secondary colours applied. As always, check your reference photographs, and try to figure out what those colours should be using the above table as a guide.

Don't let me stop you painting your Kingtigers and Jagdtigers over-all Dark Gray, if it makes you happy, then do so. All I am saying is that Dark Gray being used on new vehicles at the factory near war's end is a popular myth that can mostly be accounted for by the fact that Dark Green has often been misinterpreted as being Dark Gray in photographs, both B/W and colour.

References
Several new books contain tid bits of newly uncovered information on this interesting topic, most notably those written by Hilary Doyle and Thomas Jentz. While not purpose written as painting references they do make note of changes which affected the vehicles under examination.

Germany's Panther Tank - The Quest For Combat Supremacy, by Hilary Doyle and Tom Jenze. Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1995. ISBN ???

Kingtiger Heavy Tank 1942-1943, by Hilary Doyle and Tom Jenze. Osprey Military Publications, ISBN 185532-282-X.


Article by Paul Owen, © April 14, 1995. [Back] [Top]


that all

Eric

Hola,
Very Interesting, thanks for posting it, took a while to read but worth the time if you are a German armor fan!

Wow!! thanks for putting the article up,a very good read.

You also notice the myth of all German vehicles being gray in many computer games and older movies. Good article.

Nic

Very good read. I'm tempted to paint some of my German armor panzer grey and let someone prove me wrong


Modern camouflage basically disrupts the vehicle's outline and hides it from view from very large distance or the air. The ambush scheme's purpose was to hide it from close up view. Today's optics let the tanks engage from 2-3 km and with thermal sights, the tank could be painted orange and it wouldn't matter.

Very nice article indeed! As a modeler of german armor , i can use this very well.

Dolf

Good research. Luckily, I build very little German armor. But this does beg more reasons why the Germans lost the war! For the last year they were having to repaint their vehicles every two months (provideed they lasted that long)