Winter Camo, historical or not?

[Doug Williams]

Since I now have a non winter mod installed for virtually every vehicle in CM, I thought I would begin on the winter mods. But first I want to know if they are historically accurate. Did the Allies actually paint their vehicles in white camo patterns? How about the Germans?

I have the same questions regarding uniforms. Were either the Allied or German soldiers issued winter (white) uniforms on the Western front? How common were they? Did one side use them more than the other?

-Doug

[tailz]

For the Allies, winter cammo was usually a hit or miss affair. (quick whitewash, bedsheets, shrubbery... very much a field expedient type of thing, depending on the time, inclination and whatever materials were available in the field.)

As for uniforms, probably pretty much the same thing... not nearly so well equipped (camo-wise) as the Germans.

[Guest Mikey D]

The Americans at least were issued a white paint (in paste form?) that used gasoline as a solvent. That way the whitewash could be quickly applied and removed to suite the circumstances. There are photos of it being applied with the aid of long handled mops, so neatness didn't exactly count with winter camou.

[Maximus]

Well as for Winter Shermans, Gordon Molek is just about to release his white-washed Marco Shermans. They look a lot like this hastily mopped-on look.

I just received the final (beta?) this morning. You will probably see these shortly on CM Outpost.

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[Michael Dorosh]

I'm putting the finishing touches on my second book regarding Canadian uniforms in World War Two; British winter whites did exist (see Brian Davis's book) and apparently some units of the Canadian Army were also issued them. There are famous photos of them Queen's Own Rifles and Lincoln & Welland Regiment wearing them. They were not widespread issue - they were apparently used for patrolling in the Nijmegen salient during the winter of 44-45 and for special operations such as the battle at Kapelsche Veer in Jan 45.

Bear in mind there was not much snow in the winter of 44-45 in France and Germany, and even less in Italy. The whites were just not that common.

Brit and Canadian infantry wore either greatcoats, or the leather jerkin you will find both on my site and at Shadow's Canada for CM site. The jerkin was much more popular among infantry, being less restrictive of movement.

Personal camouflage was not practiced to any great extent in WW II, certainly not to the extent it is today.

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CANUCK: Clothing, Equipping and Employing the Canadian Soldier in Combat Mission

[Tiger]

I've been practicing snow effects and am happy with the results. I'm fixing to "winterize" most of my german afv mods and brit tank mods, which should keep me busy for awhile. Here's an example of a winterized sherman I did while practicing:

-Tiger

[Gordon]

While I can't speak to the infantry uniform issue, allied vehicles were a mixed bag as far as winter camouflage was concerned. According to "D-Day to Berlin" by Terence Wise, US Army regulations in 1942 contained specific patterns for application of both white and black paints over the base Olive Drab for winter camouflage. However as the winter snows of '44 - '45 coincided with the Battle of the Bulge, most vehicles were camouflaged (at least at that particular time) with more improvised or hurried techniques using white paints and/or whitewash. My variation of Magua's M3A1 represents the "formal" technique, while my variations of Marco's M4s represent the "hasty" approach.

British regulations specifically prohibited application of whitewash or white paints directly on vehicles (due to the spotty nature of snow cover in NWE), but the photographic evidence clearly shows British units ignoring these orders. I can't say precisely how prevelant it was, however.

Hope this helps.

Gordon