French Daguet: The Camouflage of the First Gulf War
In September 1990 France renamed its military contribution to the Gulf crisis Opération Daguet. A daguet is a young stag, a male deer in its second year…
Camouflage History
The stories behind the world’s military camouflage patterns — from German WWII and Soviet leaf to ERDL, UCP, MTP and today’s digital prints.
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Estonian 2006 Pixelated: The ESTDCU and Its Desert Twin
In the second half of 2006 the Estonian Defence Forces took a pixelated field uniform into service. It came in two colourways at once: a greenish four-colour…
M05 Desert and Snow: One Pattern System, Three Climates
Finland’s service camouflage is usually described as a woodland pattern with a few climate variants tacked onto it. The order of events is the opposite. The…
Kamysh (Kamush): Russia’s Tiger-Stripe Pattern for Special Units
In Russian, камыш, kamysh, is the reed at the water’s edge, and the word has been asked to carry several quite different prints. This article separates the circa-1993 tiger-type design, the 1995 камышовый рисунок and the grey «Серый камыш», and sets out what is documented about the units that wore them.
Yugoslav M89 “Oak Leaf”: The Camouflage That Outlived the Country
Yugoslav M89 Hrastov List, the non-aligned JNA’s own oak-leaf pattern, worn through the wars and outliving its country.
Austrian Camouflage: The “Pea” Battle Suit and the Alpine “Stone” Pattern
Austrian camouflage, two designs: the German-derived pea battle suit (1957–78) and the Steintarn “stone” splinter of the tent and the helmet cover.
Platanenmuster: The Waffen-SS “Plane Tree” Pattern, and the Name They Never Used
The Waffen-SS Platanenmuster (Plane Tree) was the first dot-and-dapple SS camouflage, and its name is post-war collector vocabulary, not a wartime one.
LTTE ‘Cactus’: The Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers Pattern and the Name They Almost Certainly Never Used
‘Cactus’ is one of the most distinctive LTTE Tamil Tigers camouflage designs, but the name is collector and market vocabulary, not an official designation.
EMR (Digital Flora): The Pattern That Pixelated the Russian Armed Forces
EMR – Digital Flora – is the pixel pattern that unified the Russian armed forces, and its designers trace its logic not to CADPAT but to Germany’s Flecktarn. The trap in the name, explained.
Splittertarn: The Tent That Dressed the Wehrmacht, the Heer Splittermuster 31
Splittertarn was the most widely distributed German WW2 camouflage, but it came as a Zeltbahn tent, not a uniform. The splinter pattern and its long legacy.