Camouflage

 Up until World War I, most countries’ military uniforms appeared to have little to do with allowing soldiers to blend into the environment in which they were fighting.  In the Revolutionary War, the British wore bright red coats, even evoking their colloquial name of “redcoats”.  In the US Civil War, Union soldiers wore dark blue.  In World War I, the French started out with dark blue jackets and bright red pants before switching over to light blue, commonly referred to as “horizon blue”.  By that point the Germans had switched from dark blue to field grey and the British had finally discovered khaki.  The US settled on a green color commonly referred to as “olive drab”, though US Marines in WWI wore a darker shade of green.

  During WWII, Germany and the US developed camouflage uniforms.   The Wehrmacht “splinter” pattern is less well known – though prevalent in the original “Inglorious Bastards” film from 1978.  So far as I can tell it was a smock but not a full uniform (except a little-used winter version).  The much-discussed Waffen SS developed a dot pattern in spring and autumn versions, though I rarely see the spring version.  The autumn version started out as a smock and wound up, by 1944, as a full uniform.  By now that dot cammo pattern is an easy way to distinguish SS troops, along with either SS (Sigrune) or Totenkopf black collar patches and their distinctive collar insignia, from private all the way up to the Reichfuhrer SS himself, Heinrich Himmler (who was too young to see combat in WWI). 

 For its part US forces developed a similar pattern, but had to reserve it for Pacific theater operations due to US troops in Europe being mistaken for SS.  I’m not aware the Japanese ever developed a camouflage uniform.  However, you don’t see the US WWII camouflage pattern appear after WWII, Korean and Vietnam War US troops are almost always seen in simple olive drab.

 Woodland camouflage.  By the mid-80s the US switched from olive drab to woodland camouflage as a standard, at least for the Army.   This is green, brown and tan.  By Operation Desert Storm (1991) we’d developed our first desert camouflage variety, later replaced with a slightly different pattern, obviously in desert colors, for the operations in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). 

 Multicam Black.  Recently I developed an affinity for jungle hats, in particular of camouflage variety.  And there’s apparently a new variety out there these days, “multicam black”.  I ordered one, and the label had this eerie description: “Multicam black was developed to meet the unique needs of law enforcement operating in high risk environments. It projects a distinctly authoritative presence appropriate for domestic operations.”  So here’s a camouflage variant expressly designed for domestic military operations against our own civilian population.  I’m not Angela Davis, Bernie Sanders or Tom Morello, but language like that really makes you wonder if the police understand that they are NOT the military when facing US citizens at home.  Even the FBI, training at Quantico – of all places – designate non-target civilians as “the taxpayer”, meaning Special Agents are repeatedly reminded that innocent civilians are paying their salaries.   Having said all that, multicam black is pretty cool, like a goth version of woodland camouflage. 

Militaria

Recently I went through a storage unit with my mom and brother, and found a few boxes of my old militaria.  This was just after watching the Lemmy video – the Motorhead bassist lives in L.A. in a rent-controlled apartment full of Nazi memorabilia.  Sometimes he wears Nazi uniforms, but where the swastika would be under the German eagle, is a meaningless three-pointed symbol clearly meant to replace the offensive swastika with something other than simply a blank circle.  Brian Jones caused a scandal dressed in an Allgemeine SS black uniform, supposedly a joke suggested by his then-girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg (who seemed to be passed around from one Stone to the next).  Neither Jones nor Lemmy are Nazis, to my knowledge.  In Lemmy’s case it’s simply an interest in WWII, with a particular focus on Germany.

 Those who know me, know my intense interest in the military, despite my lifelong civilian status which – due to my hearing – is very much a permanent thing.  But that hasn’t stopped me from collecting military gear of various types over the years, with an obvious preference for WWII German items.

 Unique Imports/Collector’s Armory.  When we moved to France, we had no idea about WWI or WWII, but we learned quickly.  Our friends the Winkers had catalogs from this company, which was actually located in Alexandria – on one home leave we visited the place (it’s not there anymore).  This place mainly sold replica guns and knives, no actual uniforms, but we did get some helmets: my German helmet which I still have.  They’re still in business, but they don’t seem to have a customer-accessible showroom anymore.

 Optas.  In high school I met my friend Jean (John), who alerted me to this militaria shop in Paris, a few blocks north of Gare St. Lazare.  I bought a WWII German jacket, 1943 pattern, with Wehrmacht insignia.  Later I had my father replace it with Waffen SS insignia.  Unfortunately this jacket must have been a 38 chest size at most, as by college I could no longer fit in it.  I know I got several other items here, including the Mauser ammo pouches, MP40 magazine pouches, jackboots, an SS sidecap, and the Mauser bayonet.

 National Capital Historical Sales.  In college I learned about this place from a friend who was heavily into WWII re-enactments.  His deal was British Commandos.  This was a large warehouse in Lorton/Newington.  Apparently it’s still in business but without a customer-accessible warehouse.  This place sold lots of replica uniforms for re-enactments as the original uniforms were (A) too rare, (B) too expensive, and (C) because of A & B combined too valuable to risk running around in forests shooting blanks at each other.  Even so, even the replica uniforms were kind of pricey.  I recall scoring some German WWII grey uniform pants which must have been 40 waist, always way too big for me…better suited for Sgt. Schulz (“I know NOZZING!”).  I also got a pair of SS collar patches which I put on a blue denim jacket; the left tab was blank, meaning SS general staff.

 At The Front.  This is more like it.  The guy who runs this site is a riot: always busting on his customers as fat-ass weirdos insisting on perfection which even the Nazis never accomplished.  “I’ve seen legitimate original SS uniforms and they all have these issues – face it, they were made by concentration camp prisoners who weren’t as obsessed about quality control as you lot seem to be.  And no, we don’t sell XXXXXL paratrooper uniforms.”  Having said that, I’m extremely pleased with the dot cammo Waffen SS jacket I bought from him.  Excellent work!  I’m tempted to get a 1936 pattern Waffen SS uniform jacket, which I’ve always wanted, but unfortunately with authentic SS insignia on it – with the swastika on the left arm and SS runes on the collar tab – it wouldn’t be something I could wear outside my own apartment. 

 Mr. At-The-Front seems to know a lot about the replica business and his competitors.  Apparently after WWII many companies opened up producing what they claimed was authentic WWII militaria.  Since even this stuff is now 50 years old, the fakes are beginning to look authentic simply by virtue of being old.  He admits his stuff is replica, he just asserts – and so far as I can tell, reasonably so – that his copies are closest to the original.

 Schipperfabrik.  This is a different company, with a different owner (website has no snarky comments) with a focus on WWI instead of WWII.  They have the Kratzchen German WWI pillbox hats, various German WWI uniforms (early war, Bluse, etc.) and the 1916-18 German helmets.  Briefly they had some replica pickelhaubes (German spiked helmets) but it seems they didn’t sell well enough to make the endeavor commercially practical.  Again, even if you weren’t offending anyone – “damn it, my grandfather was shot at by Huns!” (actually, mine was!) – where can you wear a pickelhaube?  I’m tempted to buy the US WWI tunic, but haven’t done so yet; it’s only $250 (!).

 Surplus stores.  I’ve ignored mentioning this until now because surplus stores are everywhere, and it’s fairly simple and easy to get US cammo of various types.  Moreover, these surplus stores have the same load of East German stuff all the time.  Although I have purchased jungle boots and cammo outfits (US Army) these to me are not nearly as interesting or challenging as finding SS dot cammo or WWI or WWII militaria which is not of US origin.

Re-enactments.  I never did do this.  There were several reasons.  First, they all use genuine WWII weapons, simply firing blanks.  The weapons are extremely expensive, as you can imagine.  Last I checked, MP-40s cost $30,000.  Even my Mauser 98K was $350.  Second, as noted above, even the replica uniforms are expensive, and for a re-enactment you have to have the complete uniform, not just a jacket and helmet.  I had managed to get the belt, belt buckle, ammo pouches, gas mask in canister, Y-straps, jackboots, way-too-big pants, bread bag, canteen, and helmet, so I suppose I was most of the way there, but even that took years to accumulate and I still didn’t have the gun itself.  Third, re-enactors are full of history buffs, and they all want to be in elite units:  SS for Germans, Guards for Russians, Commandos for British, and Rangers or Airborne for US troops.  That leaves no Wehrmacht or general infantry units, merely a group of wanna-be crack units fighting each other, which everyone agrees is unrealistic…but no one wants to back down and be the regular soldier.   And none of the SS units were anywhere near me.  Fourth, using blanks puts you on the honor system.  I recall from being a kid playing war games at the Compound in Neuilly with our friends and having replica guns.  No one wants to lose, no one wants to “die”.  And with no real way of “hitting” someone (even with something like a paintball) you just end up in arguments.  “I shot you, you didn’t even see me.”  How can a sniper operate if he needs his victim’s consent to achieve a kill?  “Please admit I blew you away.”   If re-enactors have started using paintballs – not such a bad idea if their uniforms are replicas anyway – I’d love to hear about it.  The WWI re-enactors say, “this is the Great War – everybody dies!”

            From a cursory Net search, I’m getting the impression that most of the re-enactors in my area (Northern Virginia) are…Civil War.  While I’d be happy to put on a blue uniform and traipse around Gettysburg – firing blanks at the Rebel yahoos re-enacting Pickett’s Charge – I’d rather be in grey-green in a trench or WWII simulation.  But I will keep looking…

Panzer Leader

I suppose this is a good sequel to my Rommel blog entry, as the premier German tank general of World War II, Heinz Guderian, also wrote a book.  Two books in fact, but I didn’t bother to read his pre-war book Achtung! Panzer!, instead opting for his post-war memoirs, Panzer Leader instead.  Actually, the idea for Guderian to write memoirs came from the Americans, who were extremely impressed with him after interrogating him after the war (“dude, you kicked major ass.  You should write a book!”).

 Rommel came into the tank picture fairly late in the game, only being given command of an armored unit in spring 1940 just before the attack on France.  He was never involved on the Eastern Front, which is where all the most important tank battles were fought, although his operations officer, Bayerlein (who in fact wrote several entries in The Rommel Papers) was Guderian’s in Russia before being transferred to Africa.  Guderian was involved with Germany’s tank program from the very beginning, starting with secret developments of tanks in the Reichwehr in the inter-war years. 

 I’ll spare all the details and cover the main areas.  His book starts with a brief chapter on his inter-war years (1919-1939) and he explains how they developed the panzer divisions.  Although Guderian had served in WWI and Germany did have a few A7V’s in that war, Guderian had been an infantry (signals) officer in the war. Germany had been on the receiving end of the Allies’ tank warfare, so he was determined to learn from his enemies.  He gives Liddell-Hart a good deal of credit; ironically, Liddell-Hart was pretty much ignored in his home country, England, nor did the French pay any attention to him either.  The victors, having won, decided the way they did things in WWI was good enough for the next time around.  Guderian figured the Germans needed to innovate and change things if they wanted to have a shot at beating the Allies the second time.  Part of this was concentrating tanks into panzer divisions instead of spreading them out among infantry divisions as support weapons.

 As Guderian describes it, typically terrain can be divided into three types: (1) terrain completely unfavorable to tanks, (2), terrain which is neutral, and (3), terrain which is extremely favorable to tank warfare.  The enemy has chosen to spread his tanks across all infantry units, including many in areas (1) and (2).  Guderian thought it was smarter to concentrate his tank forces in type 3, where they would have not only a terrain advantage, but also a tactical, numerical advantage despite the fact that, overall, Germany had less tanks than its opponents.  He also felt that tanks themselves should be the vanguard of the attack, not merely supporting the infantry. 

 His first taste of battle was in Poland, where his forces were involved in the northern sector, near Danzig and the Polish Corridor.  He was even able to visit Kulm, in East Prussia, where he was born.  Then, of course, he was also involved in the invasion of France.  The crossing of the Meuse, while a dangerous affair early in the campaign, nevertheless had its light moments.  Lt-Col. Balck, throwing Guderian’s own words at him (from an earlier exercise), warned his superior that “joy-riding in canoes on the Meuse is forbidden!!” 

 Then it was on to war with Russia.  In August 1941, Guderian had hoped and fought that the German forces would advance on Moscow as soon as possible, but Hitler had other plans.  The Fuhrer wanted to sweep back and take the Ukraine and Sevastopol (Russia’s “aircraft carrier to attack the oil fields in Romania”), Guderian was vetoed.

 On page 208, he describes something I have to laugh at.  “[On August 31, 1941] the 10^th (Motorized) Infantry Division succeeded in crossing the Desna, to the north of Korop, but was thrown back again to the west bank by heavy Russian counter-attacks, besides being attacked on its right flank by strong enemy forces.  By sending in the very last men of the division, the Field Bakery Company, a catastrophe to the right flank was just avoided.”  Not THE Field Bakery Company??  Forget the Grossdeutschland Division, or the SS, it’s the Field Bakery Company which struck fear into the hearts of the Red Army.  Surely an elite unit.  Did they have a special counter in Squad Leader?  Red player: “Your assault engineers don’t frighten my Guards.” German player: “Oh yeah, well here’s the Field Bakery Company.  Prepare to die!”  Red player: “No!!!!”

 On a darker note, Guderian notes the German High Command (OKH) and Hitler were completely oblivious to conditions on the front: the persistent mud, the bitter cold, the petrol shortages, and the overall hardships which the average German soldier was forced to endure.  Coddled in their warm, comfy headquarters hundreds of miles behind the lines, these staff officers, and the Beloved Fuhrer, couldn’t possibly imagine the hell which the troops were going through.  Remarkably, these boneheads would neither accept the word of the generals such as Guderian who had been to the front, much less even consider going to the front themselves to see what was going on. 

 In December 1941, the offensive ground to a halt to the west, south and north of Moscow in the bitter cold, the troops too frozen to fight any more – especially since, by that point, the Russians had poured in large reinforcements, including Siberian units well-equipped for cold weather combat, whereas the German troops still did not have any cold weather uniforms – they were stuck in Warsaw.  Guderian advised Hitler that the troops should be permitted to retreat to river lines with previously prepared defenses to wait out the winter; Hitler disagreed.  Based on this disagreement, Guderian was relieved of command, and remained inactive until March 1, 1943.

 At that time he took over as Inspector-General of Armored Troops.  His two strongest recommendations:

1.  Don’t create any new units, simply refurbish the old ones to full strength.

2.  Don’t put any new tanks into combat until you have enough of them to make a full unit, and the men know how to use them.  Feeding them into combat piecemeal simply lets the enemy learn how to fight it (almost like the tank version of a vaccine). 

 Rommel.  In spring 1944, Guderian went to see the Atlantic Wall preparations, and ran into his old buddy Rommel (who I’ve described at length earlier).  Guderian was very impressed with Rommel’s track record, had very nice things to say about him, and believed Rommel deserved his reputation.  But they differed on the best way to deal with the oncoming invasion.  It’s funny – Rommel claims that Hitler agreed with the generals who believed that the German forces should be held away from the beaches, and Guderian here admits that he is one of them.  But Guderian claims that Hitler agreed with Rommel!   Go figure.

 Waffen SS.  He generally tends to be favorably impressed by the fighting ability and morale of the Waffen SS.  The Second SS Panzer Division, Das Reich, was under command of his army group in 1941, and he got along well with, and liked, its commander Paul Hausser.  He did not like Himmler, who he thought was completely incompetent as a military commander.  He was also good friends with “Sepp” Dietrich, the commander of the First SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler – when Guderian was sacked in late ’41, Dietrich came to visit him as a show of support.  Unlike Skorzeny, he actually recognized the Holocaust, condemning it but claiming extremely limited knowledge of the major details.  He also condemned as criminally stupid the ill-treatment of the Russian and Ukrainian local populations – here they had vast numbers of people who hated Stalin, and were willing to fight, even die, for the Germans against the Red Army, yet somehow the Nazis managed to screw that up, alienating these people and turning them into partisans cooperating with the Red Army in throwing the Germans out of Russia. 

 Later war role.  On July 21, 1944 – immediately after the bomb plot (see “Valkyrie”) Hitler appointed Guderian Chief of the Army General Staff.  Guderian knew something of the plot, but had kept his mouth shut and unlike Rommel had not been fingered by anyone.  He had refused to join the plot, reasoning that by that point the Allies were insisting on unconditional surrender, so anyone taking over from Hitler would be equally f**ked.  He thought the plot was half-assed and extremely poorly conceived.  Despite this, he still argued with Hitler, as one of the few generals who would talk straight to Hitler and not kiss his ass.

 Bewilderingly, with Russian troops in East Prussia, threatening Berlin, Hitler insisted on sending what few surplus units they had down to Budapest.  It turns out that Germany’s last sources of oil were in that neighborhood, now that Romania was gone and the synthetic oil plants were destroyed by Allied air raids. 

  Also, Hitler refused to allow the generals to establish fortified defense lines, especially on the German border, which might have assisted them in defending Germany from the Soviet onslaught.  His reasoning was: if we build these lines, the cowardly generals will simply retreat behind them immediately.  We don't want to give them any more incentive to retreat than they already have. 

 Finally in March 1945, Hitler couldn’t take any more, and advised him to go on vacation.  “Hitler said to me, ‘Please do your best to get your health back.  In six weeks the situation will be very critical.  Then I shall need you urgently.  Where do you think you will go?’ Keitel advised me to visit Bad Liebenstein.  It was very beautiful there.  I replied that it was already occupied by the Americans. ‘Well then, what about Bad Sachsa in the Harz?’ asked the solicitous Field-Marshal.  I thanked him for his kindly interest and remarked that I intended to choose my place of residence for myself and that I planned to pick a locality which would not be overrun by the enemy within the next forty-eight hours.”  He ended up in the Tyrol, where he was on May 10 when the Germans surrendered. 

 The remainder of his book consists of fairly candid character analyses of Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, and other major players (except Rommel, who he had praised earlier).  I found this just as fascinating as the rest.  I can see why the Americans were so impressed with him – I certainly was.