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*[http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/camouflage-poster.jpg CAMOUFLAGE: Art, Science and Popular Culture] |
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*[http://www.kamouflage.net/ kamouflage.net: online index of military camouflage uniforms] |
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Revision as of 03:04, 10 February 2006
- For the German synth pop band, see Camouflage (band).
Camouflage is the method which allows an otherwise visible organism or object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment. Examples include a tiger's stripes and the battledress of a modern soldier. Camouflage is a form of deception. The word camouflage comes from the French word 'camoufler' meaning 'to disguise'.
Natural camouflage
In nature, there is a strong evolutionary pressure for animals to blend into their environment or conceal their shape; for prey animals to avoid predators and for predators to be able to sneak up on prey. Natural camouflage is one method that animals use to meet these aims.
Different aspects of animal camouflage exist due to difference in the sensory abilities of different animals. Some animals use mimicry, seeming to be something else, such as a leaf, a stone, a twig, or a similar but more dangerous/poisonous animal.
Some mimics also simulate natural movement, e.g., of a leaf in the wind. This is called procryptic behaviour or habit. Other animals attach or attract natural materials to their body for concealment.
A few animals have chromatic response, changing colour in changing environments, either seasonally (ermine, snowshoe hare) or far more rapidly with chromatophores in their integument (chameleon, the cephalopod family).
Some animals, notably in aquatic environments, also take steps to camouflage the odours they create that may attract predators.
Some herd animals or school of fishes adopt a similar pattern to make it difficult to distinguish a single animal such as Zebras, or a large school of fish, with reflecitive scales or similar markings, making it difficult to distinguish a single fish.
Countershading (or obliterative camouflage), the use of different colours on upper and lower surfaces in graduating tones from a light belly to a darker back, is common in the sea and on land. This is sometimes called Thayer's law, after Abbott H. Thayer who published a paper on the form in 1896.
Military camouflage
For more details, see Military camouflage.
Camouflage was not in wide use in early warfare. 19th century armies tended to use bright colours and bold, impressive designs. These were intended to daunt the enemy, attract recruits, foster unit cohesion, allow easier identification of units in the fog of war.
Smaller, irregular units of scouts in the 18th century were the first to adopt colours in drab shades of brown and green. Major armies retained their colour 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 colours. 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 French also established a Section de Camouflage (Camouflage Department) in 1915, briefly headed by Eugene Corbin and then by Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola. 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 Camoufleurs 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 coloured 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.
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.
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.
Ship camouflage
World War I also saw the advent of ship camouflage. Although most gunships were still painted a uniform grey, five schemes were approved in the United States for merchant ship camouflage. Ships without camouflage were required to pay higher war risk premiums.
Dazzle camouflage was briefly popular for ships in this period. Unlike true camouflage, the "dazzle" scheme used high contrast and confusing shapes to make it difficult for enemy forces to estimate speed and the range to the target ship — critical in the age of "dumb" gunnery and torpedoes. The effectiveness of "dazzle" is not entirely certain but it continued in use into World War II. By 1918 the British had applied various patterns to over 4,500 vessels - mainly under the direction of Norman Wilkinson (who became Inspector of Airfield Camouflage in WW II).
Camouflage in Fashion and Art
The transfer of camouflage patterns from battle to exclusively civilian uses is a recent phenomenon. While many hundreds of artists were involved in the development of camouflage during and since WW I the disparate sympathies of the two cultures restained the use of "militaristic" forms in works other than those of war artists. Since the 1960s however artists have seized apon camouflage as a means to twist and subvert it away from its military origins and symbolism. The concept of camouflage - to conceal and distort shapes - is also a popular artistic tool.
Artists using camouflage include: Warhol (notably his 1986 camouflage series, his last major work), Jacquet (extraordinarily prolific in camouflage works from 1961 into the 1970s), Boetti (Mimetico pieces, 1966-67), Lutz (a number of projects, the film True Stories, Red, Hot and Blue, etc. 1986-), Lau (gardenergala, 1999-2001), Hamilton Finlay, Veruschka and Trulzsch (Nature, Signs & Animals, Mimicry-Dress-Art, all 1970-73), Palmen (Streetwise series, 2002), Lapham (numerous works, including Mimetic series, 1999), Anastasi (Blind, 2003), McGurr ("Futura 2000"), Opgenorth (Museum Camouflage series, 1998-)
Camouflage garments had a similarly hesitant adoption, although military styling has a long history of civilian use. Military patterns initially found civilian markets amongst hunters and, through military surplus, in those seeking clothing that was tough, well-made, and cheap in the United States and other countries. The steady output from countries using a National Service model was influential and several countires (intially the 'winning' sides of WW II, where there was less negative connection with military-wear) became significant markets. In the United States in the 1960s military clothing became increasingly common (mostly olive drab rather than camouflage), interestingly it was often found worn by anti-war protestors, intially groups such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War but then increasingly widely as a symbol of political protest. It is a felony in the United States to wear "any distinctive part" of a US military uniform. In the years after the Vietnam War, camouflage military clothing became very popular among many people, replacing olive-drab military clothing.
The 'rebellious' links of civilian camouflage diminshed through the 1970s and beyond as more mainstream groups adopted a style seen as youthful and anti-establishment. Fashion, trailing the world as usual, has become increasingly eager to adopt camouflage - attracted by the striking designs, the "patterned disorder" of camouflage, its symbolism (to be celebrated or subverted (vide its use by Hello Kitty)), and its versatility. Early designers include Castelbajac (1975-), Roland Chakal (1970), Stephen Sprouse (using Warhol prints, 1986), and Franco Moschino (1986), but it was not until the 1990s that camouflage became a significant and widespread facet of dress from streetwear to high-fashion labels - especially the use of "faux-camouflage". Producers using camouflage in the 1990s and beyond include: John Galliano for Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vitton, Commes des Garcons, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, Issey Miyake, Armani, YSL, and on and on.
Certain companies have become very closely associated with camouflage patterns (such as Maharishi and mhi, 6876, A Bathing Ape, Stone Island, or Girbaud), using and overprinting genuine military surplus fabric and have also extended the patterns by creating their own designs or integrating camouflage patterns with other symbols. The use of original patterns in new (often bright) colours is also common.
Camouflage is also common on products other than clothes.
Theory of camouflage
MacKay's statement above remains one of the most important elements in the theory of camouflage — an exact match with the environment's colours is less crucial than the patterning of the regions of colour themselves. Ideally, camouflage should be made to break up and thereby conceal the structural lines of the object which it hides. Thus, the patterns often seen on camouflage clothing, masking cloth and vehicle paints are carefully constructed to deceive the human eye by breaking up the boundaries that define sharp edges and human silhouettes. This is called high difference or disruptive camouflage.
Similarly, a tiger's stripes, when viewed in the context of long grass or deeply shaded forest, have the same effect - making it hard to identify the tiger's shape as 'tiger!' Further, the tiger's non-stripe colouring tends to match its background of long grasses, called blending camouflage, high similarity camouflage or figure-ground blending. This mix of blending and disruptive patterns is called coincident disruption - the aim of modern military camouflage.
Coincidentally, the stark black-and-white zebra stripes, while not blending camouflage, is effective disruptive patterning - especially to the colour-blind lion. Another theory states that the zebra stripes are actually dazzle camouflage. In fact recent research, supported by experiments in the field, posits that the high contrast stripes, particularly those running horizontally, are an effective means of confusing the visual system of the tsetse fly.
Disruptive patterns are designed to counter certain human perceptual models. The tendency to fill in gaps between aligned, or seemingly aligned, shapes to create 'whole' objects (closure and continuity). That overlapping, or appearing to overlap, is part of grouping shapes together (proximity grouping). That similar shapes belong together, they are a coherent unit, while dissimilar shapes are parts of different units (similarity grouping) and so on.
Modern camouflage includes environment-specific patterns such as Bill Jordan's hunting-specific "RealTree" or Camoclad's similarly targeted "Mossy Oak" series, both contain more detailed visual elements than older camouflage. While these obliterative-disruptive patterns are more effective than traditional camouflage patterns, they are also very specific to an environment and season which precludes their use for military purposes. These styles were stimulated by Jim Crumley's "Trebark" design, first marketed in 1980. It should be noted that in the United States most hunted animals are colour-blind and rely on scent warnings (leading to activated-charcoal clothing from Scent-Lok).
Progress has also been made in generalized camouflage patterns as well. In 2004, the US Army joined the US Marine Corps in adopting an updated "digital camouflage" pattern (called MARPAT in the Marine version) to replace the traditional woodland pattern. It is termed "digital" because much of the design was done on a computer and unlike other camouflage patterns, it is blocky and appears almost pixelated.
People with maskun or other color blindness have been used to detect camouflage, because they have heightened sensitivity to visual patterns and their visual sensitivity curve is different from that of people with normal sight. Military camouflage schemes now are designed with dyes of defined spectral properties — even outside the range of visible light to avoid detection by technical means like night vision (NODs, night observation devices) or thermal imaging devices. This idea was first trialled by the German Army in late 1944 as the Leibermuster pattern. It has been argued that eventually the military will stop using simple visual camouflage as it is of such diminishing utility.
The opposite of camouflage is making a person or object more visible and easier to recognize, for example with retroreflectors and high-visibility clothing. There are hunting garments with bright orange patches that stand out to the eyes of other hunters, but are supposed to be a tone-match to the colour-blind game animals.
Research also continues into adaptive camouflage, which is camouflage that changes to match its environment. One method of doing this is by changing the pre-made pattern, either automatically as some animals can like the octopus, or manually by reversing an article of clothing with a different pattern on either side.
True adaptive camouflage, which many would call "invisibility", is much more difficult. Such camouflage would require a high resolution display that renders thousands of different angles, depending on the position of the viewer (similar to a hologram). The display information would have to be interpolated from only a few cameras as it is impossible to have one camera per angle displayed. Additionally, the displays would have to be capable of extreme brightness to maintain their illusion during daylight. See: optical camouflage.
See also
- Battledress
- Army Combat Uniform, new US Army uniform, similar to MARPAT.
- Battle dress uniform, US Army's old combat uniform.
- Chocolate-chip camouflage, a six-colour desert pattern designed in 1962 and used by the United States Army during the Gulf War in the early 1990s - replaced by a three-colour pattern from 1990.
- MARPAT, the new digital pattern used by the United States Marine Corps since 2002.
- Flecktarn, used by the Bundeswehr in Germany.
- CADPAT, Canadian Disruptive pattern, designed in 1995, issued from 1997. A digital camouflage and the basis for Marpat.
- Disruptive Pattern Material or 'DPM', camouflage used by British Forces since the '60s.
- Mountbatten Pink, a camouflage used primarily by the British during World War II
- Active camouflage, a technology pioneered by the United States Air Force to allow aircraft to blend into their environment by altering colour or luminosity.
- Sniper, a military occupation where camouflaging is very important.
- Stealth technology
- Tiger Stripe
References
- Alan Raven - The Development of Naval Camouflage 1914 – 1945
- Craig Roland - The Art of Camouflage - The History of Camouflage
- Roy R. Behrens - Art and Camouflage: An Annotated Bibliography
- U.S. Army manual FM 21-76 on camouflage
- Guy Hartcup - Camouflage: A History of Concealment and Deception in War (1980)
- WWII War Department Field Manual FM 5-20B: Camouflage of Vehicles (1944)
- . ISBN 0-9543404-0-X.
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External links
