Camouflage
Smaller, irregular units of scouts in the 18th century were the first to adopt colors in drab shades of brown and green. Major armies retained their color until convinced otherwise. The British in India in 1857 were forced by casualties to dye their red tunics to neutral tones, initially a muddy tan called khaki (from the Urdu word for ‘dusty’). This was only a temporary measure. It became standard in Indian service in the 1880s, but it was not until the Second Boer War that, in 1902, the uniforms of the entire British army were standardised on this dun tone for battledress.
The United States was quick to follow the British, going khaki in the same year. Russia followed, partially, in 1908. The Italian army used grigio-verde (”grey-green”) in the Alps from 1906 and across the army from 1909. The Germans adopted feldgrau (”field grey”) in 1910.
Other armies retained brighter colors. At the beginning of World War I the French experienced heavy losses because the troops wore red (garance) trousers as part of their uniform. This was changed in early 1915, partly due to casualties and partly because the red dye was manufactured in Germany. The French army also adopted a new “horizon blue” jacket. The Belgian army started using khaki uniforms in 1915.
The Bronze Horseman camouflaged from the German aircraft during the Siege of Leningrad (August 8, 1941).The French also established a Section de Camouflage (Camouflage Department) in 1915, briefly headed by Eugene Corbin and then by Lucien-Victor Guirand de Sc vola. The camouflage experts were, for the most part, painters, sculptors, theatre set artists and such. Technological constraints meant that patterned camouflage uniforms were not mass manufactured during WW I. Each patterned uniform was hand-painted, and so restricted to snipers, forward artillery observers, and other exposed individuals. More effort was put into concealing larger pieces of equipment and important structures. By mid-1915 the French section had four workshops - one in Paris and three nearer the front - mainly producing camouflage netting and painted canvas. Netting quickly moved from wire and fabric to use raffia, hessian, and cocoa - the integration of natural materials was always recommended.
Units of Camouflage who were artists, designers, or architects in civilian life were also largely used by the forces of the United Kingdom (Camouflage Section established in late 1916 based at Wimereux) and the US (New York Camouflage Society established in April 1917, official Company A, 40th Engineers set up in January 1918 and the Women’s Reserve Camouflage Corps) and to a lesser extent by Germany (from 1917, see, for example, Lozenge - possibly the earliest printed camouflage), Italy (Laboratorio di mascheramento established in 1917), Belgium and Russia. The word camouflage first entered the English language in 1917.
Camouflage added to helmets was unofficially popular, but these were not mass-produced until the Germans began in 1916 to issue stahlhelme (steel helmets) in green, brown, or ochre. Mass-produced patterned, reversible, cloth covers were also issued shortly before the end of the war, although hand-made examples were in use from late 1914. Net covering was also examined, either fitted with natural vegetation or with colored fabric strips called scrim.
Specialist troops, notably snipers, could be supplied with various items of camouflage, including patterned veils for the head and gun, hand-painted overalls and scrim covered netting or sacking - an adaptation of the rag camouflage used in Scotland by anti-poaching wardens, gillies, the first ghillie suits.
Two HMMWVs, one in desert “camouflage”, one in woodland.The first mass produced military camouflage material was the Italian telo mimetico (”mimetic cloth”) pattern of 1929, used to cover a shelter-half (telo tenda), an idea copied by the Germans in 1931. With mass-production of patterned fabrics possible, they became far more common on individual soldiers in WW II. Initially patterning was uncommon, a sign of elite units, to the extent that captured camouflage uniforms would be often ‘recycled’ by an enemy. The Red Army issued “amoeba” disruptive pattern suits to snipers from 1937 and all-white ZMK top-garments the following year, but it was not until hostilities began that more patterns were used.
The Germans had experimented before the war and some army units used “splinter” pattern camouflage. Waffen-SS combat units experimented with various patterns, including palmenmuster (”palm pattern”), sumpfmuster (”swamp pattern”), erbsenmuster (”pea pattern”), and also telo mimetico (”mimetic cloth”) using fabric seized from the Italians in 1943 - the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler division often wore this pattern.
The British did not use disruptive-pattern uniforms until 1942, with the hand-painted Denison smock for paratroopers, followed in 1943 with a similar style M42 garment.
A Royal Norwegian Navy craft, in a splinter camouflage pattern.The US Corps of Engineers began wide-ranging experiments in 1940, but little official notice was taken until 1942 when General MacArthur demanded 150,000 jungle camouflage uniforms. A 1940 design, dubbed “frog-skin”, was chosen and issued as a reversible beach/jungle coverall - soon changed to a two-part jacket and trousers. It was first issued to the US Marines fighting on the Solomon Islands. Battle-field experience showed that pattern was unsuitable for moving troops and production was halted in 1944 with a return to standard single-tone uniforms.
With the return of war camouflage sections were revived. The British set up the (camouflage) Development and Training Centre in 1940 at Farnham Castle, Surrey. Early staff included artists from the Industrial Camouflage Research Unit such as Roland Penrose and Frederick Gore, and the stage magician Jasper Maskelyne (later famous for his camouflage work in the North African campaign).
From 1978 to the early 1980s, the American 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment stationed in Europe used a digital camouflage pattern on its vehicles. During 1979 and 1980 the Australian Army experimented with digital camouflage on helicopters. More recently, battledress in digital camouflage patterns has been adopted by the Canadian Army and Air Force (CADPAT), the United States Marine Corps (MARPAT), and much of the military of Jordan.
-
AR15
A. Origins. The AR15 Rifle was designed by Eugene Stoner and his team of engineers in the 1960 s for entry into U.S. military trials for a new battle rifle to replace the M-14. Mr. Stoner, working at the time for ArmaLite (a division of the Fairchild Aircraft & Engine Corporation), engineered a revolutionary new rifle utilizing non-traditional rifle materials such as aluminum alloys and plastics. It was initially designed around the .222 Remington cartridge. It was later, at the request of the Army, re-chambered in .223 Remington (5.56×45mm) which propelled a 55-grain bullet out of the AR15 at roughly 3000 ft.-plus per second. With the .223-calibered AR15 sight rifle, for the same weight, a soldier could carry more ammunition than the older .308 Win (7.62×51mm) ammunition for the heavier M-14 rifle.
After lengthy evaluation and revisions, the AR15 rifle was only adopted by the U.S. Air Force for use by its base security personnel. For a variety of political reasons, the Army did not select the rifle. However, as America became involved in the Vietnam War, Secretary of Defense James McNamara cut through the Army Ordnance Department s red tape and selected the AR15 for issuance to troops. The Army gave it the military designation of “M16″.
In the Vietnam War, the rifle initially earned a reputation as being prone to jamming and stoppages. This was, in hindsight, due to three primary factors: 1) insufficient training of the troops on weapons maintenance, 2) poor-to-non-existent distribution of cleaning kits to those same troops in the field, and 3) improperly formulated .223 Remington ammunition which caused heavy fouling (a primary cause of stoppages). Eventually, the situation was recognized and remedied as troops were properly trained to keep their weapons clean and well-lubricated, issued proper cleaning kits, and issued .223 Remington ammunition that was properly formulated to burn cleanly.
B. The AR15 Legacy. Today, the AR15 rifle has become really one the most highly engineered and refined battle rifles of modern armies. It has since earned a reputation for reliability and accuracy. It has been in service in all branches of U.S. Armed Forces now for nearly 30 years. In the process, it has been upgraded from the “M16“, to the “M16-A1″, all the way through the latest “M16-A4″. The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and the U.S. Military Special Operations Command (SOCOM) also currently issues to its troops, the M-4 rifle, which is essentially an M-16 with a 14.5″ barrel, collapsible stock, detachable carrying handle, and other special accessories such as laser/infrared sighting systems, reflex-type optics, grenade launchers, flashlight attachments, etc. For these Special Forces, the M-4 has also been in certain instances reconfigured to fire “full auto”, as opposed to “tri-burst”.
The current generation of military M-16 s and civilian AR15 accessories models differ from the originals in many ways, reflecting the improvements and refinements of the rifle over the last 30 years. Current Military Specifications (Mil-Spec) for the rifle s barrel is for a heavy barrel (HBAR), replacing the original lightweight barrel which was prone to overheating and bending. Nearly all current civilian AR15 sights now are built with Mil-Spec HBAR s. The original triangular-shaped, non-perforated handguards have been replaced by rounded, perforated, and heat-shielded handguards for rapid heat dissipation of the barrel. Other changes include; a tri-burst sear on the M-16 replacing the fully automatic sear of the original, adding a brass deflector to keep spent cartridges out of left-handed shooters faces, adjustable front sight and fully adjustable rear sight for windage and elevation, detachable carrying handles, etc.
Today s military contract for the M-16 variants has been awarded to Fabrique Nationale d Armes de Guerres (FN) of Belgium (though the actual rifles are built here in the United States). Colt s Manufacturing s Co., which lost the lucrative M-16 contract, has retained the smaller contract for the M-4 rifle mentioned above. It has been reported that prior to Colt s obtaining the M-4 contract, Bushmaster Firearms Co. had manufactured a limited run of M-4 s. (Note: According to recent firearms industry news, as of December 1997, Colt is currently in the process of acquiring FN.)
C. What s in a Name? The name, “AR15“, in general is used by the shooting public in reference to all current rifles (regardless of manufacturer) made to look, function, and swap-parts with the AR15. Non-military contract AR15 s are also commonly referred to as “clones”. The actual and original “AR15“, manufactured by ArmaLite and then Colt (after buying the manufacturing rights from ArmaLite) has been discontinued for political reasons. Each manufacturer of AR15-patterned rifles now has its own moniker for the rifle these days; like Colt s “Match Target”, Bushmaster s “XM15E2″, DPMS s “Panther”, and the hilarious Olympic Arms “PCR” for “Politically Correct Rifle”.
