Dithering on the Blurred Origins of SS Cammo

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Rob - wssob2
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Dithering on the Blurred Origins of SS Cammo

#1

Post by Rob - wssob2 » 25 Jul 2014, 06:54

Since the last couple of pages of the “Why the Waffen-SS” thread (see) wandered off into a tangent about SS camouflage, I though I’d spin it off into it’s own thread.

The Waffen-SS camouflage are alleged to be a military “innovation.” I spend a little time researching the subject, but ended up more confused as to what exactly was innovated and its origins due to all the circular references and imprecise accounts.

Hopefully all can agree that the science of camouflage began in the late 19th century, and was further developed by the French, Germans and British during WWI. With the increasing importance of air reconnaissance, armies realized that their troops needed meld with the landscape. Anything that could reflect the sun - buckles, buttons, Pickelhaube helmets, etc. - were painted over or covered in fabric. Items like helmets begin to get pained in earth and vegetation-color patterns similar to what you see on the top and sides of period aircraft.

In the 1920’s, the Italian Army was the first to issue mass-produced telo mimetico (“mimetic cloth”) to its troops as ground sheets and shelter halves. This cloth had a camouflage pattern of several brown/green blobs. In the early 1930’s, the Reichwehr issued a similar “splinter pattern” ground sheet. In the 1930’s, other military forces such as the British and the Red Armies began developing camouflage solutions of their own - hopefully in this thread we won’t get hung up on whether outer garments or sniper (“Ghillie”) suits are “uniforms” like we did in the last one. Although this may be a crazy assertion to fans of the Waffen-SS, the historical record does seem pretty clear that in the 1930’s that the military forces of multiple nations were experimenting with camouflage patterns and how to best apply them to military-issue clothing.

Now this is where the murky origins of the Waffen-SS “innovation” begins. Circa 1935, SS commander Felix Steiner is building up the SSVT (“SS Special Purpose Troops” - precursor of the Waffen-SS). SS-Obersturmführer Günther Ecke suggests to his battalion commander, SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Ing. Wilhelm Brandt, “Hey, we should have smocks and helmet covers!” Brandt, being an engineer by training, decides it’s a great idea.

Now the SS is beholden to the German Army for raw materials (e.g. uniform cloth) and military equipment, but Himmler of course wants to do his own thing. Circa 1935, the SS Main Office supposedly sets up a “Department T” (for “Tarnung” = Camouflage) under a guy named Linnekogel, who unfortunately passes away before he can get the program running. So a guy named Johann Georg Otto Schick supposedly takes over.

Now I can’t find any reference to a “Amt T” in the SS-HA; it is not listed in the 1939 SS department index in Kurt Mehner’s Die Waffen SS und Polizei - it is an exceedingly obscure department.


Now Johann Georg Otto Schick is an obscure dude as well - he’s described as a “Professor from Munich” and an “artist” but I’ll be dammed if I can’t find any biographical references to him other than Waffen-SS fanboi sites and SS military works by guys like Robin Lumdsen. Was he a professor of biology? Military science? Printmaking? Fashion? He seems to have sprung from the Teutonic forests like some mythical dwarf, designed SS cammo patterns, and disappeared back into the verge.

SS-Hauptsturmführer Brandt makes some sort of prototypes of smocks and helmet covers and gives them to Schick, who gets to work on making a pattern, which mimics patterns in nature like dappling and overlaying different sized blobs of color over each other to produce a “dithering” effect - i.e. breaking up the shape and outline of an item. Schick apparently also works with another artist named Adolf Schmid on the project, and the latter apparently had experience designing cammo patterns for the Army.

So the project goes on from 1935-37, with Schick and his troops from the “Ellwagen” Battalion of the SSVT “Germania” Regiment testing out various prototypes. Although too complicated to get into here, basically a lot of the development effort centers not on the pattern itself but the material (for example, it has to be durable and waterproof) and the dye-manufacturing and printmaking process. The first issue has to be block printed by hand until advances in manufacturing could accommodate mass-production

In the summer of 1937, “Germania” Regiment commander Otto Weidinger has the smock and helmet cover issued to his troops, but it isn’t until the 1939 maneuvers at Munster in front of Hitler and various Army generals that the new camouflage kit is officially unveiled.

There are accounts that the new cammo smock was "field tested against the Army's 1932-model zeltbahn camouflaged pattern and proved significantly superior.” (see http://www.waffen-ss.com/uniforms/camo.html) and other accounts that in “1937 maneuvers” the cammo issues would “reduce casualties by 15%” (see the aforementioned thread) although there are some issues with this assertions:

- We don’t know exactly what field tests these were, when they were conducted, which criteria they used, and exactly what the findings were

- We don’t know what specific “1937 maneuvers” these assertions are referring to, and how the 15% reduction in casualties was supposedly estimated. I find this “15% reduction” assertion particularly suspect, because it doesn’t delve into specific of say small arms vs. artillery fire. (Artillery was in WWII as in WWI, the big killer of infantry - and a cammo helmet cover isn’t going to save you from a 105mm shell burst)

The SS goes off to war in 1939, but only the “Germania” Regiment gets the smocks and helmet covers, since at this time the cammo patterns had to be produced by hand.

By June 1940, Oswald Pohl, the SS economics department director, reports that the LAH has received 3,000 smocks, the SSVT roughly 11,000, the SSTK 9,000 and the Police Division 9,500. By 1941, the Regulation Journals of the Waffen-SS (V.Bl.d.WSS) are mentioning the smock, helmet cover and cover snaps as regulation issue.


What about patents? The SS did seem to issue some patents concerning this new issue, but its doubtful that Himmler was worried about international IP rights. It does seem evident that patents were issued, but more to protect the SS from the German Army stealing the design and possibly for the SS to gain monetary value off the IP. The only patent I could find was for the metal clips that attach the cloth cover to the helmet:

http://www.google.com/patents/DE682324C?cl=en


Now there is no question that this new SS-style camouflage, with five-color dapple/dithering pattern, reflected the advanced camouflage theories of the era. If we are to revisit the “innovative” argument again, however, I’d propose that the the real innovations lie in the dye-manufacturing and screen-printing processes used to produce the material. While we crow about this “innovation,” however, we must never forget that SS uniforms, such as these smocks, were produced by concentration-camp labor.

The Waffen-SS ended up producing multiple pattern variants (palm-tree, oak-leaf, smoke, dot, etc). Interestingly enough, the smocks were discontinued circa 1942 - one of their problems I’ve read about was that they covered up rank insignia. If the smock itself (later variants were reversible, with summer/winter patterns printed on opposite sides. So if the smocks were so innovative, our question is then why did they need to be replaced with full-cammo SS M44uniforms in 1944. It is the latter, not the former, that are more akin to modern BDU (battle dress). But again this is an “innovation” not quite unique, as the US Marines were issued the reversible M42 “Frogskin” disruptive pattern cammo BDU in 1942.

What is unquestionable is the fact that the SS cammo patterns, first issued on smocks but latter on other uniforms, made Waffen-SS troops look distinctive. I have no doubt that this was intentional on the part of Schick, Brandt, Schmid, Weidinger and Himmler. It made Waffen-SS troops look “bada**,” which is of course how you want your “elite” troops to look. So I’d posit that the SS cammo patterns were as much about standing out as blending in.

Sid Guttridge
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Re: Dithering on the Blurred Origins of SS Cammo

#2

Post by Sid Guttridge » 25 Jul 2014, 11:20

Oh Joy, Oh Bliss. A readable and informative post laced with a degree of light humour.

Every now and then I am reminded why I use AHF.

Cheers,

Sid.


Gary Kennedy
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Re: Dithering on the Blurred Origins of SS Cammo

#3

Post by Gary Kennedy » 25 Jul 2014, 13:19

While it doesn't address any of the questions posed above, I was minded to look through an old book, namely Hitler's Samurai - the Waffen SS in action, a revised second edition by Bruce Quarrie from 1985.

I've copied the below excerpts from the section on uniforms, specifically cam ones;

Camouflage and protective clothing

The smock; This garment was unique to members of Waffen SS formations and men of the Herman Goering Division…It is the most distinctive Waffen SS item of clothing and the one most illustrated in the photographs. The smock was a loose fitting, hip-length garment of lightweight material designed for concealment rather than warmth or protection from the elements. It had no collar, was draw stringed down the front, draw stringed or elasticated at the waist, and elasticated, or later buttoned at the cuffs. Early smocks had simple slits above the waistband to allow the wearer to reach pockets or weapons underneath; later versions had button-down flaps over these integral pockets in the same position.

“The most unusual feature of the Waffen SS smock was the camouflage pattern itself, in an almost bewildering array of mottles combining light, dark and dusty greens, pink, mauve, brown and russet to blend in with the spring, summer or autumn leaf covers. The smocks were reversible, each side being printed in a different colour combination – including white for winter wear.”

Also from an earlier passage

“Obviously the wearing of normal insignia on camouflage smocks would have ruined the whole effect, so a system of special rank distinctions, adapted from that used on their camouflage smocks by Fallschirmjager, was devised.”

Now if you read that in isolation, you may well be forgiven for thinking no one else but the SS were ploughing this particular furrow, while in fact there was quite a lot of work going on in various militaries (Denison smock, HBT, and so on). On the other hand, if you're writing a book about the SS in particular you may not feel the need to draw a wider picture of camouflage development in general, even if it would put the SS version into context. There is an obvious argument that the SS placed greater emphasis on cam gear than the Army as a means of distinguishing themselves from the latter in their early days. An SS officer in cam gear in 1941, peering through his binoculars (always seems a popular pose for the camera) stands out from the sea of field grey, and might look rather futuristic. Knowing that a fair amount of that distinctive camouflage was actually acquired from the often maligned Italians, who'd been using it since the beginning of the 1930s, though in a different manner, should again place the development in context. Likewise putting a soldier into cam gear does not immediately make him a better soldier, it makes him harder to spot in certain circumstances, and the execution of his training on the battlefield can multiply the effect.

I'd been reading the most recent editions of the thread the uniform question was split off from, and it reminded me how difficult it remains to have a debate on pretty much anything regarding the SS, due to their intimate relationship with the Nazi Party, Nazi state and Nazi crimes. At 44 I really can't get excited about them myself, I think there is an element of youthful wonder involved (though I don't think I ever had much of that either). And I'm not a uniform guy either, so that's all I've got. Carry on.

Gary

dshaday
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Re: Dithering on the Blurred Origins of SS Cammo

#4

Post by dshaday » 07 Aug 2014, 21:02

Rob - wssob2 wrote: The Waffen-SS camouflage are alleged to be a military “innovation.” I spend a little time researching the subject, but ended up more confused as to what exactly was innovated and its origins due to all the circular references and imprecise accounts.

In the 1920’s, the Italian Army was the first to issue mass-produced telo mimetico (“mimetic cloth”) to its troops as ground sheets and shelter halves.
The camouflage pattern Model 1929. The ground sheets came in two camouflage versions. The first version could not be worn as a poncho as it had no head opening. The second version could be worn as a poncho/camouflage garment. I am unsure as to when the second pattern was introduced and why the first version was a tent/ground sheet only. Does any one know?
Rob - wssob2 wrote: Now this is where the murky origins of the Waffen-SS “innovation” begins. Circa 1935, SS commander Felix Steiner is building up the SSVT (“SS Special Purpose Troops” - precursor of the Waffen-SS). SS-Obersturmführer Günther Ecke suggests to his battalion commander, SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Ing. Wilhelm Brandt, “Hey, we should have smocks and helmet covers!” Brandt, being an engineer by training, decides it’s a great idea.

Wim Brandt was the commander of the reconnaissance battalion. Camouflage was of interest to his specific role. Camouflage zeltbahns were also manufactured (Initialy the SS used the grey Reichswehr zeltbahns and later the splinter zeltbahns). I have not been able to confirm when the SS zeltbahns were first made.
Rob - wssob2 wrote: The SS goes off to war in 1939, but only the “Germania” Regiment gets the smocks and helmet covers, since at this time the cammo patterns had to be produced by hand.
Standart Deutschland is also reported as having worn helmet covers and SS zeltbahns. (see General Major Werner Kempf – Panzer Division Kempf).

Note that in Jan 1939 Hausser recommended that 20 camouflage smocks be issued per company for assault troop training. If this was implemented then perhaps they were also worn in Poland by the LAH and Deutschland?. In any case, issue and use was limited in the Polish campaign.
Rob - wssob2 wrote: What about patents? The SS did seem to issue some patents concerning this new issue, but its doubtful that Himmler was worried about international IP rights. It does seem evident that patents were issued, but more to protect the SS from the German Army stealing the design and possibly for the SS to gain monetary value off the IP. The only patent I could find was for the metal clips that attach the cloth cover to the helmet:
http://www.google.com/patents/DE682324C?cl=en
I was aware of this patent but on the German Patents site. Interestingly there is also a patent for the Army splinter pattern, patent #556235. I have looked for the smock patent but, also, cannot find it. There are mid and late wartime patents for improvements in the printing of the SS camouflage pattern onto fabric.

Considering that the SS had its own factories and made the uniforms themselves I cannot see how the patents gave the SS a great monetary edge/profit. I do not know how much of the manufacture was outsourced to private companies.

For me, the patent for the helmet cover is for the clips/tension springs and how they were sewn onto the cover to make for a snug fitting unit.

Rob - wssob2 wrote: Now there is no question that this new SS-style camouflage, with five-color dapple/dithering pattern, reflected the advanced camouflage theories of the era. If we are to revisit the “innovative” argument again, however, I’d propose that the the real innovations lie in the dye-manufacturing and screen-printing processes used to produce the material.
Very true about the printing process. The army splinter pattern involved only 2 x additional colours printed over the beige/grey or beige/brown background. The camouflage patterns themselves can be seen as innovative, particularly the 1945 Liebermuster with the IR capability.

I also look at the smock design as innovative. It was a specifically designed piece of clothing to wear over the field tunic. Not a shelter quarter that can also be used as a garment. It is more efficient in its role as a camouflage garment compared to the zeltbahn. The SS smock was designed to be as unrestrictive to the wearer as possible, and not interfere with the soldier’s normal movement in combat.

I am also excluding the ghillie suit as it is more an over-suit and not developed with printed, disruptive camouflage pattern.
Rob - wssob2 wrote: The Waffen-SS ended up producing multiple pattern variants (palm-tree, oak-leaf, smoke, dot, etc). Interestingly enough, the smocks were discontinued circa 1942 - one of their problems I’ve read about was that they covered up rank insignia. If the smock itself (later variants were reversible, with summer/winter patterns printed on opposite sides.


The manufacture of smocks was discontinued in January 1944 because the severe material shortages in cotton duck precluded further manufacture. Even manufacture of SS zelbahns faced the same problem. Instead, the 2 piece suit in HBT was introduced because that material was still available. Even though it was considered inferior, it was all they had to use (also, it was only printed on the one side).

The smock was collarless so that it would not cover up the wearers standard rank insignia on the tunic collar (visible front and one side). It did however cover up the shoulder boards (normally visible from all angles). Hence the mention of unofficial and then official rank bars on the sleeve.

The smock was always reversible. The material was printed that way (as used for the zeltbahns). The Army smock was printed on one side and left uprinted/white on the inside.

Rob - wssob2 wrote: So if the smocks were so innovative, our question is then why did they need to be replaced with full-cammo SS M44uniforms in 1944. It is the latter, not the former, that are more akin to modern BDU (battle dress). But again this is an “innovation” not quite unique, as the US Marines were issued the reversible M42 “Frogskin” disruptive pattern cammo BDU in 1942.
Smocks were replaced because of material shortages. Not because they were unsuccessful. This is also why the SS used the Italian camouflage in 1944 onwards. The Italian material was high quality cotton duck . It was the best material available (and “free”).

I do not know why the smocks were not made in the course HBT material in 1944/45. Maybe there were technical problems in printing the double-sided material? Maybe the SS thought that the next logical progression was a complete camouflage uniform with pockets and trousers? Maybe they decided to save resources and use the new M44 HBT uniform as a summer field uniform and fatigue uniform (and do away with the existing green HBT fatigue uniform)?
Rob - wssob2 wrote: What is unquestionable is the fact that the SS cammo patterns, first issued on smocks but latter on other uniforms, made Waffen-SS troops look distinctive. I have no doubt that this was intentional on the part of Schick, Brandt, Schmid, Weidinger and Himmler. It made Waffen-SS troops look “bada**,” which is of course how you want your “elite” troops to look. So I’d posit that the SS cammo patterns were as much about standing out as blending in.
Well, the SS went to a lot of trouble and expense to manufacture and develop the technology to make the camouflage gear. Even when the world was collapsing for them they kept on making the gear. Even when a PR image was not so important in 1945 the SS (H.J. Otto Schick again) introduced the Liebermuster to give Infrared protection, on the chance that the Allies were about to use new infrared equipment.

The pre-war camouflage was introduced at a time when the SS were developing new combat uniforms and equipment. For example, the original SS uniform was an earth brown. It was not until the Army’s M44 field blouse that the army finally accepted that an earth brown colour was more efficient and adopted it. I have seen reference to the SS introducing special designed grenade bags (? presumably not on current issue to the army at the time?), lightweight canvas belts and special assault equipment (assault A frame and assault bag which was later adopted by the army).

A professional image was certainly a draw-card for the camouflage gear. I do not believe that it was the main reason. [/quote]

All the best

Dennis

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Marcus
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Re: Dithering on the Blurred Origins of SS Cammo

#5

Post by Marcus » 11 Aug 2014, 13:54

The relevant parts of the post at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 6#p1890706 was moved here and can be found below:
dshaday wrote:
Sid Guttridge wrote: If the best anyone can come up with is for W-SS military originality is a single patent for clothing, I guess we have to follow it up in the absence of alternatives.

What precisely was the patent for?

What exactly did the W-SS patent introduce in it that did not already exist?
Reference books refer to patents being issued for the smock, helmet cover and face veil. I presume that the camouflage pattern was patented but I am not sure- after all the army splinter pattern was also patented.

The patents introduced: A purpose designed camouflage, combat jacket (in a significantly new type of camouflage pattern) combined with a matching helmet cover (with optional face veil). Especially designed to be efficient in giving maximum freedom of movement, and not inhibit the soldier in the attack role (ie fire and movement). This had not been done before. However logical that idea sounds today, it was innovative back then.
Sid Guttridge wrote: Certainly the idea and development of the first multi-coloured camouflage clothing was not down to the W-SS, as already discussed. That appears to be down to the Italian and German armies.
This is what I have always said. I did not give the Waffen SS credit for the idea of printed camouflage material.
Sid Guttridge wrote: Nor, it appears, was it the first to be issued. It seems the Italian paratrooper's smock may have been in multi-coloured cammo from 1937 - the year of the W-SS patent.
Are you still investigating this, or are you stating this as fact?
Sid Guttridge wrote: I repeat, "I am not sure that the bureaucratic ability to file a patent on something other people had already developed counts as military originality!"
No one had yet developed a purpose designed combat jacket (in a significantly new type of camouflage pattern) combined with a matching helmet cover especially designed for efficient assault troop use. Several elements were brought together in one concept. The smock was not a clumsy poncho in camouflage (which the Italian and German armies by the way, classified as a piece of field equipment - not clothing- and called it a tent section. Shelter was its primary use). The smock was not a bulky overall type garment (like the early Russian camouflage). The SS smock provided concealment, freedom of movement, lightweight, ability to move freely, be streamline and not have protruding parts (like the ponchos) and did not have a hood which would have reduced peripheral vision (the helmet cover performed the role of the hood for concealment without this drawback). It was cut large enough to go over equipment if desired, and was reversible. It was fairly simple to make.


Sid Guttridge wrote: And what, one wonders, was the purpose of the patent? To stop the German Army from benefitting from its presumed advantages, perhaps? How does that advance the military art?
Books do mention the patent as being a protection against the army copying the design. I do not know where they get this information from. Maybe Himmler wanted control over what happened with this project. That would be in character with his control over everything the SS did/adopted in the pre-war period.

In any case, it was the SS who gave samples of the camouflage to the army when they showed an interest during the Polish campaign. Also, it is quite obvious that the army camouflage smock that came out later in the war was based on the SS camouflage smock for its design, but in army camouflage colours/pattern . The SS smocks and helmet covers were also issued to Luftwaffe troops. I have also seen reference to the 14th SS Div unit being issued with army smocks! Personally I do not see the patents as being an obstacle during wartime.

The advantage to the military art as showing that the combination of these elements in one unit was effective and should not be delayed/ignored.
/Marcus

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Re: Dithering on the Blurred Origins of SS Cammo

#6

Post by dshaday » 12 Aug 2014, 07:35

Hi Sid

I want to add to my comments in post #5, that the description of the smock and the paragraph beginning with "The patents introduced: ...", is my interpretation of why a patent for the smock would have been made. This is my opinion of the innovation in the smock. Although I have mentioned that many books refer to a patent being lodged for the smock, I have not been able to find it on any on-line resource.

When I re-read my post I began to suspect that the paragraph could be interpreted as paraphrasing from the actual patent. This is not the case.

All the best

Dennis

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