Army Cadets Experts Explain the History of Camouflage

But what about humans? We don’t have any natural ability to camouflage ourselves, so we had to invent it.

The History of Camouflage

Camouflage in Ancient Times

Camouflage has been used in various forms for millennia. Before he came, saw and conquered Britain, Julius Caesar sent spy ships to gather information about the landscape. These ships were coloured blue and green (as well as the uniforms of the sailors aboard), to help disguise them from watchful eyes along the shoreline.

It was many hundreds of years, however, before camouflage became the norm in combat. For most of human history, combat was hand-to-hand. This meant there was little use for body camouflage, as soon or later opposing armies would meet face to face – and in the midst of a battle, you really needed to know who it was you were swinging your sword at.

In fact, for many centuries, the polar opposite of camouflage was the norm: knights and warriors would wear identifiable colours and patterns so they could discern friend from foe. British troops received their nickname ‘Redcoats’ from the scarlet uniforms they wore. Striking uniforms can serve a purpose in identification (it’s why UN soldiers wear blue helmets), but in an age of ranged combat and sniper rifles, concealment is the better strategy.

It wasn’t until the mid-1700s that camouflage began to appear. Firearms had been invented before this point, but a musket’s range was terrible, and its accuracy even worse. They were slow to reload, too, so battles were more of a ‘fire one shot and then sprint madly into the thick of it’ affair, rather than extended exchanges of small arms fire. By the eighteenth century, however, rifles had developed a longer range, and early British rifle units began to wear dark green uniforms to make them harder to distinguish.

British Army Camouflage History

Despite the early adoption of dark green colours, it took a long time for the wearing of camouflage to spread to the rest of the military. In India, in 1848, Brigadier General Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden CB commanded the British Corps of Guides. He ordered brown clothing for his men, dyed with river mud, to conceal themselves as they navigated the hot backdrop of the country. These uniforms became known as ‘khaki’, an Urdu word meaning dust-coloured, which itself is derived from the Persian khak, meaning soil or dirt.

Even then, it took several more decades for the use of camouflage to become widespread.  During the First Anglo-Boer War in 1880, British troops continued to wear their iconic scarlet uniforms. The Boers, on the other hand, used guerrilla tactics: staging ambushes in terrain they were innately familiar with and wearing tan-coloured uniforms to avoid alerting British troops to their presence until it was too late. It was, unsurprisingly, not too difficult for a Boer marksman to pick out a target when they were all dressed in flame-red jackets.

This forced a change in tactics, and by 1902, the British Army had officially adopted khaki as the colour of uniform for all troops stationed overseas. It wasn’t long before other militaries adopted the same idea, with the American, Russian, Italian and German armies creating their drab shades of uniform.

Camouflage in the First World War

When the First World War erupted in 1914, France was the sole large military power still using colourful uniforms. This war was the first in history to use modern firearms on a colossal scale, and camouflage quickly became vital. Various painters and designers around the world were employed to develop effective camouflage patterns for troops on all sides of the war. The French troops were finally forced to abandon their brightly coloured uniforms, too.

The First World War was also the first major instance of camouflage being used to hide vehicles, artillery and important positions in the field. Before this, aerial warfare didn’t exist, and the sudden appearance of spy planes made it essential to conceal as much as possible in order to maintain the element of surprise.

Dazzle Camouflage

World War I also popularised the use of dazzle camouflage. Dazzle camouflage serves a different purpose than simple concealment. Instead, the purpose of dazzle camouflage is to make it difficult to identify a ship’s range, speed and heading. This could even be as simple as painting a false bow wave on the front of a ship to give the illusion of greater speed. Spotting a ship is one thing but being able to accurately target it if you can’t tell which end is the front, which direction it is going, or how fast, is quite another.

WW2 British Camouflage

The development of camouflage continued during the Second World War. New uniforms were developed for paratroopers to conceal them as they parachuted behind enemy lines and made their way through difficult terrain. The Italian, German, British and Soviet armies soon designed their own unique patterns for their troops and snipers, thanks to careful work by artists and architects. Many women’s groups sewed camouflage clothing, with organisations around the world contributing netting and other military camouflage items to the war effort.

British aircraft such as the Hawker Hurricane were painted with green and brown paint schemes, with the intention of concealing them not from troops on the ground, but from other planes – a potential lifesaver when dogfighting.  Their undersides were painted a different, lighter colour to help them blend with the sky when seen from below, concealing them from observers on the ground.

Camouflage was also used for misdirection. In the lead-up to many pivotal battles and assaults in the Second World War, such as the Allies’ invasion of Normandy, false troops and tanks were set up at locations far from the intended attack point. This caused opposing forces to spread themselves thinner in anticipation of an attack.

Modern Military Camouflage

Today, camouflage is no longer restricted to coloured patterns on uniforms and vehicles thanks to improvements and refinements over the years. With the rapid advancement of technology in the 20th century, the ability to spot enemy soldiers grew to include night vision, heat-sensing technology, and even magnetic sensors and smell sensors. Naturally, in this game of military cat-and-mouse, new technologies have also been developed to conceal soldiers from each of these sensors.

• Multispectral camouflage has been developed to conceal vehicles from visible wavelengths as well as infra-red, UV, and radar, by using multi-layer designs and special pigments to mask thermal emissions.
• Digital camouflage patterns with a pixelated look have been developed to more effectively blur the edges of a person or object.
• Communications are now camouflaged with encryption – even your phone or this web page uses encryption as standard. Until it was cracked by the British, the Enigma Code was a considerable threat during the Second World War.
• Stealth technology uses a combination of active and passive technologies to take camouflage to the next level. As sensors improve to detect aircraft and drones, their camouflage improves too, taking advantage of the latest technology to avoid being detected.

Evolution developed camouflage in animals over millennia. Human technological advances happen every year.

Go further with Army Cadets

Hopefully, you’ve by now picked up a little knowledge on how camouflage works, and you’re feeling pretty clued up on your British Army camouflage history. If you’d like to learn more, the Army Cadets syllabus includes a section on fieldcraft, which teaches camouflage and concealment, among other skills, in a safe, fun environment.  Find your nearest detachment today.