Guys...
This camo pattern and, its use has always interested me as many depict post war colourways.
The widespread use of the italian camo began with the disarmament of the italians in 1943. The LAH an HJ participated in the use and integration of this material source (more fully than other divisions) but, it was widely used by all forces including the Kriegsmarine.
Following disarmament large stocks of material was used by the germans who had problems supplying their own troops with uniforms. Not only were these stocks used but, frequently they were adapted either tailor made but, more often than not, theatre made for operational use. The germans made tunics, trousers smocks and zeltbahn's and caps.
The only pattern I have seen used was the M29 or 1929 Telo mimetico from the year of its manufacturer. It was used in a variety of forms until the 1990's making it one of the longest production camo's. It was made from duck cotton and differed from german camo in that it was single sided and thus, not reversable. The reverse had a distinct dark brown colour and not red brown as believed. Colours were varied but, light greenish yellow, medium greens and browns Colouration was consistantly darker in colour, more chocolate brown and never apparantly border on the rusty side of the colour. The greens were true and never had a blue or aqua hue.
Much discussion on these colours has been put forth but, an accepted definition states they look well faded and drab in appearance sometimes one will be hard pressed to distinquish a camo pattern on the cloth in question at all.
I have some very good pictures of the WWII patterns but, they will not resize to acceptable formats for the forum but, can be found easily through search engines. The pattern adopted by CS is very bold and rather to bright and garish IMO from the way it should be in the field. This is not just a CS issue all manufactuers who have attempted to use this have produced a too bold appearance, its just CS have gone a little further than most.
Mitch
