Splittertarn: The Tent That Dressed the Wehrmacht — the Heer Splittermuster 31

The most widely distributed German camouflage of the Second World War was barely worn at all. Splittertarn — the splinter pattern of splintered shapes and fine rain streaks — was issued to almost every German soldier, but in the form of a tent, not a uniform. The great majority of Wehrmacht troops fought in the plain field-grey tunic. The camouflage was the triangular tent-quarter they carried, and draped over their shoulders when it rained. This is the story of the pattern that clothed an army as a rain cape — and of the tent that a soldier could cut into a jacket.

The pattern that wasn’t a uniform

Splittertarn — more formally the Heeres-Splittermuster 31 — is generally regarded as the first German camouflage printed on fabric in series. It was designed around 1929 as the Buntfarbenaufdruck 31 (also written Buntfarbendruck 31, “multi-colour print 31”), entered production in 1931, and is known in most postwar writing as the Heeres-Splittermuster 31. The “31” is the year of introduction.

But here is the crucial fact that almost every account skips: splittertarn was not first and foremost a uniform. It was printed on the Zeltbahn 31 — a triangular, reversible tent-quarter that each soldier carried and could button along its edges into a four-man tent, a pyramid shelter, or a rain poncho. A soldier received a Zeltbahn, not necessarily a camouflage tunic. The camouflage was the tent he wore over his field-grey uniform in the rain.

What it looks like: splinters and rain

The pattern is built on a distinctive two-part structure. First there are sharp-edged, angular splinter shapes — irregular polygons with hard, sometimes almost glass-like edges, in green and reddish-brown over a light grey-green or tan ground. Then a network of fine diagonal “rain” streaks is printed over the top to break up the silhouette further.

The Zeltbahn was reversible — one side lighter, one darker. The exact colours varied between factories and years, a normal consequence of wartime textile production and shortages. A brown-toned Zeltbahn variant was produced around 1938–42.

Who wore it — and who didn’t

The Zeltbahn in splittertarn was issued widely: to the Wehrmacht army, to naval artillery and to some police formations, because the tent-quarter was standard individual equipment regardless of unit. This is what justifies the claim that splittertarn was the most widely distributed German camouflage of the war.

That is not the same as saying the army fought in splittertarn. The standard combat dress of the Wehrmacht infantryman was the field-grey (feldgrau) tunic. Camouflage clothing in the strict sense — a smock or jacket — was reserved for specialists and, in the Waffen-SS, for the SS’ own distinctive patterns. So the pattern had a curious double life: almost universally carried, and yet far from universally worn as clothing.

From spring 1942 the army fielded proper splittertarn clothing — the Tarnhemd smock and helmet cover, printed on one side, with the other side white for snow, and then the Wintertarnanzug padded winter suit. But these were added later and in limited quantities, the torso and helmet of German camouflage rather than its body.

The tent that became a uniform

One of the most human parts of the splittertarn story is what soldiers did with their tents. Because the Zeltbahn was a large, waterproof, camouflage-printed cloth, troops would cut it up and have it made into improvised smocks, jackets, haversacks, tank waistcoats and jump smocks — a “from tent to uniform” progression that collectors still study. It was field necessity, and it blurred the line between the mostly-carried shell and the actually-worn clothing.

The Luftwaffe makes it their own

In 1941 the Luftwaffe produced its own, smaller and busier version of the pattern: the Luftwaffen-Splittermuster 41, also called Buntfarbenaufdruck or, by collectors, “Splinter B” (the army version is “Splinter A”). This scaled-down variant was printed on the Knochensack jump smock of the Fallschirmjaeger, on Luftwaffe field-division jackets, helmet covers, and parachutist kit. It was produced until about 1944.

The army and Luftwaffe versions are genuinely distinct — the Luftwaffe pattern is denser and more intricate — but they are unmistakably the same family, a useful distinction for anyone learning to read these patterns.

Names and the collector problem

German camouflage is a minefield of names, and splittertarn is where you can see it clearly. The official names are the Buntfarbenaufdruck / Heeres-Splittermuster 31 for the army and Luftwaffen-Splittermuster 41 for the air force. Note too that “Splittertarn” is a later, convenient shorthand rather than a formal designation: the wartime term for the printed cloth is the Buntfarbenaufdruck 31. The terms collectors added — “Splinter A” and “Splinter B”, and the SS-pattern names like Platanenmuster, Rauchtarnmuster and Eichenlaubmuster — were invented after the war, not used by the German forces at the time. When you read about “splitter”, keep the official and collector names separate, because they describe different systems of naming.

It is worth being equally clear about the splittertarn’s place in the family. Splittertarn is the root of one branch of German WW2 camouflage: the army-Luftwaffe-adjacent patterns of splinter and Sumpf (marsh). The Waffen-SS patterns of Platanen, Palmen, Rauchtarn and Eichenlaub are a separate lineage, attributed to Johann Georg Otto Schick, a Munich professor, from about 1935–36. The two branches are often lumped together as “German WW2 camo”, but they do not descend from one another. The splinter branch descended to Sumpftarnmuster 43/44; the Leibermuster of 1945 was a distinct, final-war pattern rather than a simple splinter descendant.

The long descent: post-war and beyond

Splittertarn did not die with the Reich. West Germany reintroduced it — the Bundeswehr ordered splittertarn in the 1950s and produced variants (“Splittermuster starke”, with broad streaks); the splittertarn uniforms were for the most part withdrawn by the early 1960s, the main combat suit giving way to a plain olive version around 1960; helmet covers in the pattern, many converted from detachable hoods, are reported to have stayed in use for another ten or fifteen years. The Border Guard (Bundesgrenzschutz) copied it too. The pattern spread as an influence: Bulgaria was equipped with the German pattern in 1941 and only later evolved a national splittertarnmuster of its own, while Sweden’s famous M90 splinter pattern is a 1990 reinterpretation of the same splintered idea. Its look — hard splinters, fine rain — has never really left the camouflage family.

Why splittertarn matters

Splittertarn matters as a case study in what camouflage actually was in the German army — and in how easy it is to get the story wrong. The famous “most widespread German camouflage” was a tent. The classic Wehrmacht combat look was field-grey, not camouflage. And the German camouflage “family” everyone assumes is one thing is in fact two separate lineages. Understanding that division of labour — tent versus tunic, army branch versus SS branch — is what makes the pattern interesting rather than just another pretty print.

It is also a case study in naming. The “splinter” style, the “rain” streaks and the tent that became a uniform: splittertarn rewards the reader who looks past the myth of the fully-camouflaged Wehrmacht and sees the actual equipment and the actual supply chain.

Splittertarn and its relatives at MegaCamo

At MegaCamo the German military camouflage story is catalogued across the site. Start with our guide to German World War II camouflage, then explore the German military range, the wider camouflage collection, or our complete pattern list, and read our Flecktarn article for the end of the German pattern lineage.