Wehrmacht Heer Camouflage Colors
1939-1945

by Tomas Chory

translated by Charles K. Kliment

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Squadron.com

Reviewed by Brett Green

Despite the undoubted popularity of WWII German military vehicle models, there has been a noticeable shortage of reference books dedicated to Wehrmacht colour research. The excellent “Panzer Colors” series had almost exclusive coverage of this area until recently joined by a similarly focused range of soft-cover books from Eastern Europe.

“Wehrmacht Heer Camouflage Colors 1939-1945” is a new book by Tomas Chory that concentrates on this fascinating area of research. This book is spiral bound with 72 pages in heavy quality, glossy paper. Production qualities are very high.

The book takes a logical approach to the subject. Its primary focus is the colours and their application. The text commences with a description of the role of the RAL institute as the organisation behind standardisation of camouflage colours, followed by a breakdown of the different types of paints and their designation. The bulk of the text refers to paint application to different categories of vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, armoured vehicles, tanks, tank hunters and self-propelled guns.

The next section discusses the application of colours in various theatres. This is helpfully supported by translated extracts from Wehrmacht colour instructions. The original orders in German are also supplied as an Appendix.

“Wehrmacht Heer Camouflage Colors 1939-1945” is peppered with photos of vehicles and equipment. These are a combination of wartime photos and pictures of restored vehicles. 16 pages of full-colour photos include some really wild late-war schemes.

However, in my opinion, the greatest value of the book lies in the “Table of Color Hues”. This is a single page that displays actual colour chips for all the standard colours used on Wehrmacht vehicles in WWII, plus three pages describing each of the colours and their application. Interestingly, the table provides four variations of the ubiquitous Dark Yellow colour used from April 1943 until the end of the war. Colour chips are provided for each, and the text differentiates the usage of the different shades. The oft-misunderstood colours used in North Africa are also logically covered.

My only complaint is that, at 25mm x 25mm, the colour chips are too small to fully appreciate the subtleties of the various paint finishes. Even so, they will be a fantastic reference tool for modellers.

At only 57 pages, it would be unreasonable to expect this book to provide a totally comprehensive coverage of WWII Wehrmacht colors..

However, considering this space limitation, Tomas Chory has assembled a very useful reference that clarifies many of the common questions and misconceptions relating to German military vehicle colours. The colour chips and their descriptions are a terrific modelling asset and are almost worth the price of the book alone.

I expect that this book will frequently be open on the modelling table as a helpful reference for my future Panzer projects!

Highly Recommended for all modellers of German military vehicles.

Thanks to Jamin Janetzki at Scale Effect for the review sample.

Wehrmacht Heer Camouflage Colors 1939-1945 is available by mail order from Scale Effect
by email at scalefx@austarnet.com.au
or by Phone/Fax on (07) 4635 7663 (for Australian callers)
or +61 7 4635 7663 (for international callers)