The "Correct" Shade of Field Grey (Feedback Reply)

Brief response to a viewer's question about uniform colours.
Some of the following references were used in researching this video (in descending order of importance):
SICHERUNGS-REGIMENT 195
sichrgt195.blogspot.com/
REAL COLORS OF WORLD WAR II
ak-interactive.com/product/re...
FELDBLUSE: THE GERMAN SOLDIERS' FIELD TUNIC 1933-45
www.amazon.ca/Feldbluse-Germa...
Pixel art of Third Reich uniforms
www.deviantart.com/grand-lobs... (See example at 2:02 )

[@papatony6343]

50 shades of field grey

[@Ynffy]

That actually seem to be how it was. If you read for example the books about the Heer uniforms through the war by Nigel Thomas on the issue or any photo collection book. "Feldgrau" was never an exact mix of pigments when the cloth was dyed. Even before the war there was no exact standard hue to my knowledge. If there is something that seems to change it is that the "Feldgrau" stocks of cloth generally were more moss green or bluish green in the 30's and became more olive or gray in tone as the war went on. When the Ike-jackets and trousers were introduced in 1944 most field uniforms seems to be of olive, gray or various brown tones. Made from whatever stocks of cloth they could get. Many soldiers used foreign camouflage uniforms.

[@SmittyMRE]

Papa Tony That explains all the leather and buckles.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@Ynffy It went in the opposite direction in WW1, perhaps because of economic conditions. Feldgrau was a medium grey shade in 1914 but by 1917-18 uniforms tended to be a more greenish-grey shade.

[@RicArmstrong]

I dont think people consider that the amount of time the garment spent in direct sunlight and how many times the fabric was washed can have a huge impact on the shade of the original fabric color.

[@williammagoffin9324]

Yup, I have a pair of Czech Vz 92 uniform shirts and one spent a lot of time in sunlight and you can tell by how lighter one shade of green looks compared to the one that didn't. The reason I can tell its because of sunlight is that under the collar it still has the original shade of green that matches my other shirt.

[@DouglasEdward84]

This is part of the reason why C.S.A. uniforms in the Civil War seem so polygot, poor quality dye and sunlight changed the color dramatically.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@DouglasEdward84 Colour-fast dyes were not invented until well into the 19th century. They may not have been available in the CSA at all. Even in the more industrial North, unscrupulous contractors sometimes sold uniforms of "shoddy" material to the army that started to disintegrate when it rained.

[@fanta4897]

Even if we take sunlight out of the equation, there's still going to be dirt, oil, sweat, etc. which will get on the uniform if it's used in combat. That alone will eventually change it's colours.

[@LarsLoveToMosh]

Same here with 2 Surplus German Bundeswehr Uniforms,one was visible faded through use and the Other was barely worn,Night and Day difference

[@eodsteve6545]

The same problem in uniform colour exists today. I was issued eight sets of DCUs. No two matched exactly.

[@eodsteve6545]

I have read several memoirs of German Officers. In most, they mention going to private tailors for uniforms. I imagine the tailor used artistic latitude in the cloth colour and weight. My favourite is "Panzer Commander" the memoir of Col. Hans Von Luck. He mentions his transfer from the Eastern Front to North Africa. "It was clear that Germany had not had any colonies since 1918. They issued me tight fitting khaki Prussian tunics of heavy material, leather boots that lace up to the top and a pith helmet."

[@meph919]

Modern German army has the exact same issue, "50 shades of field Grey" even though there is even an official RAL code of Grey you're supposed to wear and every other shade is not allowed but not even general officers seem to care

[@juliusdream2683]

Yea exactly because there made by many different manufacturers as I’m sure you know. Same with the M81 when I was in back in 95 the khaki shades were always slightly different.

[@Pivotguy419]

In my opinion, the "correct" color provided by Boomhauer is a closer match to the Fieldgrey *paint* used on helmets, mess tins, and other equipment. When it comes to original uniform colors, that's really down to the dye lot, which would vary drastically from batch to batch.

[@nobodyspecial4702]

Because the RAL color standards used by the Germans was for paint, not cloth.

[@disneysrecessextra1634]

Weird, I was just thinking about how the colours of uniforms vary from media to media after I saw a scene in Valkyrie. Then this shows up lol.

[@non-prolific135thscalemode7]

It's quite simple, Michael. There is no "correct" shade of Feldgrau. WWII colour pics can hardly be taken into consideration, because the films of the era don't show colours the way the human eye sees them - not when they were taken and even less now that they're 80 years old. The pic with all the different "field grey" tunics you used shows it clearly. Not two tunics looked identically. Many different fabrics, lack of ingredients or materials and so on made for different shades of Feldgrau. I "love" these discussions and Panzergrau is another great example. Many people use wartime photos as reference, but on those pics the colour is almost black. It is in fact a dark grey with a blueish hue. Same goes for Dunkelgelb which is kind of an ochre with a very slight olive greenish hue. When we were issued our NATO olive uniforms in the Bundeswehr they all looked the same. One month later they all looked completely different, depending on how often and at what temperature they've been washed and maybe even which washing powder was used.

[@rudolphguarnacci197]

That's the exact point.

[@graham9045]

But what is the ideal feldgrau? We all know OD107 has prooved itself in jungles and forests but is feldgrau as effective in urban enviroments? Maybe accounts from the 6th German Army in Stalingrad could answer that.

[@Laguna2013]

Quite head spinning. The RAL 7021 of today looks near-black. RAL 7016 of today looks like the panzergrau of your description above. We don't seem to be the only ones discussing this online :)

[@Wazup13579]

Many other things changed during the war in the ways of color. As a novice armor modeler you see this in a lot in WW2 Russian armor. I have found that as long as it is painted a green color it is historically accurate. With multiple factories producing multiple vehicles in different years the colors differ from a shade darker than key lime pie to an almost very dark forest green and anything between. They didnt care about gaps in the armor on the tanks, why would they care about the correct shade as long as its green. American webbing chanced a great deal also. Probably the most consistent color would be American armor as an OD green.

[@thecanuckredcoat4142]

With the soviets specifically it goes a bit further, with writings at the time talking of the variety of uniform colors (the 'khaki' uniform varying between blue-grey to dark brown/black).

[@ytmain5994]

There is another colour factor to consider: distance. Colours appear lighter the further they are away. This was something I read years ago in the Encyclopedia of Military Modelling. They were pointing it out as also applying to scale. For example, a 1/72 scale Sherman tank painted in the exact colour of a real one will appear more like a toy then it should. As I recall, tires were a big concern. At about 1/35 scale panzer grey becomes a better choice then black.

[@Condorthedude]

Every Uniform produced by Germany in that era was different from one another, Uniforms would actually look different from each other because of the type of material used or the factory producing the uniforms using a different system to dye and make their material

[@idgeek]

I am a professional visual designer who faces this problem on every project. When a client complains about colors, I ask them what kind of cheap monitor they have, then proceed to tell them I've the most expensive professional Ezio monitor. Theres no way you can get any color right without seeing colorchips/samples.

[@kev_mclernon_family_channe4745]

I’ve painted military miniatures for over 30 year. Actually over 40. I’ve been to museums In France, Germany, and Hungary. Even black uniforms vary. I think the photo you showed first is the one all of my friends use as a guide. The brightness of tunic vs. pants is how I distinguish early war from mid-war. For late war anything goes. Even British uniforms especially the webbing varies. And I’ve been in the field for three months with two shirts and today they are still in the closet and from uv light the only natural color was the portion tucked in my pants. Maybe the film industry or graphic artists have some lock step color scheme. But for me, the videos you make are good and even though I’ve got about 10 books on German uniforms. Some of which cost a pretty penny I have no issues with your presentation and am grateful for your dedication and thoroughness. Damn, you read all comments. Ugh. I will say your rebuttal introduces a lot of points I never thought about. But I think even veterans didn’t know every variation and theirs also a long history of soldiers keeping part of their kit if it distinguished them among their peers. How many go’s had their boots trimmed to loafers with a bayonet because they tucked their pants to impress the girls only to have some AB guys remind them during that time you could only tuck pants if you had jump wings. Great video. I’m sharing with the gang. Great video. Btw Budapest museum was the best of the lot. Best wishes.

[@Edelweiss482]

I'm a digital artist and though I don't draw German uniforms as much nowadays (since I don't want to give the people on instagram or university the wrong idea) I would like to point out that we would use that color as a mid tone or even dark tone. When we apply light to the character it would resemble the color you used or the colours seen in photos and historical pieces.

[@greghanson407]

When I was in the US Army 50 years ago everyone wore fatigues that were Olive Drab, but even then there were sometimes dramatic differences between the newly issued fatigues and those that had been worn and washed repeatedly for 2 or 3 years. Sometimes we would wear a new fatigue shirt but the pants would be old or vice versa so even the individual soldier would be two-toned. Even when we had to paint our vehicles we were supposed to wash them first, but usually, we just sprayed them with OD paint which we referred to as Over Dirt.

[@TitusCastiglione1503]

I’ve always interpreted field grey as pretty much a variety of shades in between olive green and darkish grey. I personally think leaning toward’s grey with a hint of olive is best from an aesthetic preference, but in real life I’m sure the color was all over the place. Your video’s representation was perfectly fine.

[@smokingunstudios6474]

Man you got to upload more often, I binged all you videos lol. It’s great stuff

[@DeltaEchoGolf]

Before the war, the field uniform had a high wool content with a small amount of other material added. This was to give the fabric some firmness and stability. This is to prevent sagging and shifting of the garments. Wool being a natural fiber it will take dyes quite easily. Thus the shade of field gray will appear lighter than that of later war garments (If the exact dye were used throughout the war). With the ever increasing amount of non wool content within the wool fabric as the war progressed. The wool either had to sit in the dye bath longer or a darker shade of field gray dye had to be used to penetrate this fabric. On a side note. In 1944 the Germans introduced the M44 uniform. The intended color for this was Feldgrau 44. Which has a brownish tone. Interestingly the post war German Bundeswehr wool uniform at first glance, appears brown in color. But up close you will see green fibers within.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

It looks like there are a couple of M44s in the photo, although one has a bluish tinge rather than a brownish one.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

This was extremely fun to watch. The guy sounds like a amateur rivet counter on on a WWII scale model group. When I use to paint figures my first goal was to make sure that a variety of shade of Field Gray uniforms would be represented with my figures in the diorama. Same with the various British and American uniforms. And as for the painting vehicles... well whatever looked close enough was good enough.

[@stevetheduck1425]

A British example from experience: the camo uniform jacket and trousers (hood, forage cap, etc. as well) in Disruptive Pattern Material is well-known to fade in use, due to time, washing, sunlight, storage, etc. Some soldiers even re-stained colours when needed, often with the coloured 'blanco' used to stain their webbing equipment. The faded DPM was actually considered to be a better camouflage in wooded sunlit areas due to the fading bringing the colours closer to each other.

[@prairiedog2514]

Last time i was this early it was 1939

[@ericcook5224]

It's funny that the one uniform in the photo showing the multiple jackets- the one that matches the colored square is actually a captured Dutch tunic that was converted for German service!

[@giovannizorzolirossi9372]

You are probably the most precise youtuber on the field. You know veey well the facts an you are also wise to see other points of view. And real sarcasm is rare. Great compliments

[@DukeExeter]

2:35 ahhh that famous photo, in my miniature painting community we dubbed that picture the "fifty shades of feldgrau"

[@leighrate]

In order to determine the actual colour's from photographs, you would have first to know the exact characteristics of the film, how the film ages, how it was stored and, as you correctly pointed out the lighting conditions under which the photographs were taken. Even that assumes a correct exposure. One possible way of determining the colour palette would be to identify a known colour (Black preferably) and use Adobe Photoshop or similar to correct the palette.

[@ewancampbellcampbell1550]

Your artwork looks superb! In truth, I think that the uniform has become so recognisable that the exact colour of the uniform could easily be overlooked.

[@armyjacky96]

I'm a Soldier in the US Army and its still the same case with issued uniforms and uniforms made from other companies have either a lighter or darker shade on the camo. Nothing extreme, but with a close eye, it's not the same shade. Same for our physical fitness uniform. I noticed in formation, some people have the gold color or yellow color on the lettering on their uniforms.

[@abuseofviolence]

I remember I saw 20 years ago a genuine high german officier tunic made by a tailor in Paris during the war that was really, really brownish - The tailor had only be able to use tissue that was made to make french officer tunic.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Some late war feldgrau used by the Germans for their uniform was almost khaki.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

He means that the tailor could only find French uniform cloth with which to make a German uniform. So it ended up khaki. Later thought - interesting though that dipping the cloth in feldgrau dye was not an option.

[@coon199]

Please do a video covering the SS uniforms and volunteer uniforms if you can do them both in one video, that'd be great.

[@main6974]

You require more subscribers, I actually needed this video. Thanks.

[@Theredsunrising]

I get the same comments about the German Helmets that I restore as a hobby. Officially in 1940 they changed the colour to a textured Feldgrau, being RAL 6006 as you mentioned, but in practise it varies from a dark green right through to a very pale grey.

[@mikeytrains1]

This reminds me of a similar debate in railroad circles-what was the *true* shade of Lehigh Valley cornell red? What was the *true* shade of any Chicago & Northwestern yellow or green? What was the *true* shade of the nile / olive green the Baldwin Locomotive Works utilized on Style 291 patterned paintjobs? It’s all too hard to nail down-for example, a collective of railway simulator content creators known as Trainz Forge actively dabble in creating Style 291 equipment, and compensate for a lot of the lighting & graphics limitations & conditions in the game by making a shade that is slightly darker, somewhat akin to what’s usually known as Pennsylvania Railroad Dark Green Locomotive Enamel.

[@rwcowell]

The chemical dye code is a reference to field grey. However, you hit on many point into why the German field blouse varied color. I served in the US Army, back when we wore BDUs. When we received them new, in BT, everyone's BDUs looked identical colorwize. However, once I seen other soldiers around the base, the BDUs colors varied in look quite a bit. Some were faded, through wash and wear as time went on. Perhaps the dyes were slightly differing when the BDUs were made. With modern manufacturing comes improved quality controls to get colors more closely uniformed. The making the of dyes nowadays, they use computers to mix the colors, rather than relying on manual pouring and mixing colors to make the dyes. The chemical makeup of the processed cloth and wool, with how it absorbs dyes can be a factor with color variations. If they made them in the same batch sets etc. There are so many factors that can make uniforms differ in colors. Civil War uniforms colors have some of the greatest color variations I've seen. So to expect all German uniforms to have an exact color match, doesn't seem reasonable. I appreciate you doing a video about this. I like to paint models. I just discovered your channel and have subscribed, looking forward to more of your topic. Cheers!

[@Hsutheguard]

reading boomhaur's comment in his cartoon voice

[@haddockswhiskey]

Cheers Boomhauer for the English spelling - top form! I knew painting toy WWII soldiers was going to be a headache…

[@markholm6955]

Aging ( even just sitting in a museum) of the uniforms changes the color also. I recall the 1st time I visited the Gettysburg Battlefield. In one of the park services museums - they had uniforms from the Civil War, in a extremely temperature controlled display cases. The lighting was kept extremely low - the lighting was so dim - I had no idea of the real colors of those uniforms. Yep, the discussions over the real colors of field grey are long - but being a armor modeler - the discussions over the true colors of German Armor - especially from the late war period are just as interesting. Some of the people who are colorizing old WW2 photos aren’t doing the best job - seeing a late war Tiger I colored a light grey just made me laugh. All in all tho a great video - and as you pointed out - colors change depending on the surrounding colors but also the light hitting the items - the color temperature of the sun changes thru the day snd artificial lighting is just as varied if not more so which changes the perception of color too

[@Pratt_]

Great video once again, I'm so glad I found your channel ! I was also intrigued by your color selection for your German uniform videos, knew it was mainly for contrast purposes but it still felt weird. If I may though at 6:00 he says that it would stand out like the French WWI uniform, not like it looked like it, you show the screenshot at the same time so it's not really a big deal but it really doesn't mean the thing so I don't really get why you said it like that. Granted even if I more than familiar with the English language, I'm not a native English speaker, so I may comprehend things a bit too literally. Great video nonetheless, can't way to see more!

[@FortuneZer0]

I disagree with this video in one detail. Let the man write his english in the propper and right way!

[@FortuneZer0]

@@TheBigMclargehuge hey I didnt say Im able to write english perfectly as my fourth language.

[@HandGrenadeDivision]

@FortuneZero - no argument from me. :-)

[@keirenroberts2588]

I think it is a bit futile trying to get find one colour to accurately represent all of the uniforms. Not only could the quality and type of dye and material vary but clothes fade in sunlight and after being washed.

[@MarbelCube]

Studying on pre-war polish uniforms gave me same conclusion. There was no monochromatic standard for uniforms. They were different, based on producers, materials and environmental conditions. Not to mention shape changes and other decorations. I think it's case of most of the old uniforms of any armies and that's why it is such an interesting topic.

[@emmanuelmacias8029]

This video remind me a old photo from the 80s era mexican army soldiers I saw a long time ago. Each soldier having a different shade of green uniform.

[@AmphiStuG]

That hexa-colour almost looks like the same shade of reed green of German HBTs

[@GH-cp9wc]

While I'm certain there was a "Standard " color for Feldgrau, I'm also fairly certain there were few rejections for being off a few shades, during wartime Germany.

[@DanSpadafora]

What would we do without paint! Excellent video. Shows the truth about uniforms; No one got it the same every time.

[@barrylangley8021]

I examined the color photos of British battledress from WW2. These had either a brown or a greenish tinge depending upon the photo. The garments when viewed in reality, however, were all the same identical of shade of Khaki. In a contemporary photo of a uniform it seems that much depended on the background, light, and camera and film. Having observed this, I would say that contemporary photos of clothing cannot be relied upon, but a mint item of the same clothing can. Of course there is always the factor of wear and bleaching by sunlight as you say.

[@jasonyama333]

I've been trying to match colors for a set of US GI web gear Korean War Era, and it's been a night mare. Different manufactures, different dates of manufactures, mix of NOS (new old stock) from WWII, gear made during early to mid 50s. Hell I can't even get items for modern tactical gear to match a single color like coyote brown. Makes my OCD twitch.

[@plantag]

Really interesting videos. Was really surprised when I watched your original video that the color of the original feldblause was listed as being field grey. When you see pictures of this earlier uniform always seemed distinctly different from the uniform that followed it. Learnt a lot and will stop painting the collars dark green on my next batch of grenadiers. Overall I can stop worrying about adding to much white into my highlights going forward is clearly any slight difference in uniform is nothing compared to what was really happening

[@AFV85]

You also have to take in account of the old photos were not great for colour tone then as it was and over the years the pics wash out including the fabric on the tunics! I'm an armour modeller always painting figures and I never stick with one field grey as there was so many different tailors making the uniforms same as tank paint depending on whare it came from there are all different tones so you can say they are all accurate! Depending on manufacturers of the materials they had as close to field grey as possible! Maybe they did use the RAL code to take to there fabrics and tinned paints available to see what they had closest to that colour so yeah it probably was the "Correct " shade but it most probably was only ever used in 1939 before materials came scarce! So if I was looking for an Accurate shade I'd go towards the start of the war uniform tones but they are all correct to! That's just war suppliers and materials available! Good video

[@silver.sorner2059]

The "correct" green the guy provided is more of a "reed green" sometimes used on HBT tunics

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The Germans had a lightweight reed green summer uniform although it does not often show up in photos.

[@highjumpstudios2384]

You, Drachinifiel, and potential history are without a doubt some of my most favorite history KZbin channels right now.

[@Kalon__]

Even though you're right, the darker green just seems more fitting for some reason..

[@TheVefIt]

I'm a photographer, and one thing I can add to the discussion is how photography, even digital photography cannot be trusted for 100% accuracy. First, different lights interact with objects reflecting different colors, the same object seen under the sun will have a different color than a object seen under tungsten lighting. Now, in film, or analog photography; each emulsion(chemical mixture) of color film from each film family in different brands is different, and they have varied over time, this means that no 2 film photographs of the same subject will interpret and portray color exacly the same way, unless both images have been taken with the same film emulsion. Thats the main aspect of it, but, also different lenses project color different onto the film, altough in a subtle manner, and the details of the proccess used to develop and later print a positive image onto paper will also affect the image. And lastly, any analog image that you see online was once digitalized by a scanner or a digital camera, adding another layer of color interpretation. All this can be subtle to the untrained eye but the variation in contrast, tone, saturation, hue will always be there. Its no different with digital images, each sensor and color processing in the camera hardware is unique from model to model and brand to brand. In case the picture was taken in RAW format, you can also take into account the proccessing done by the photographer on the computer. A RAW image can be edited to portray color in many different ways before being exported into a jpeg. But thats not all, no 2 different monitors protray color exacly the same, monitors lose calibration over time and can drift to different hues. Such that professional color correction monitors for filmmaking and proffessional photography that portray color with enough accuracy and following industry standards can cost thousands and thousands of dollars. This is all to say that, IMO, color matching really should never be taken that seriously in any field other than paint and photography equipment manufacturing Haha! Color is much more about feeling than numbers. I didn't even get into physiology of sight and how probably no 2 human beings see exactly the same colours.

[@quadnod4605]

Nice video! Will you make a U.S. Army uniforms video? Thanks.

[@user-py5qq4ht8l]

just want to add that a few tunics on the photo's from Chris Pittman would be considered "Italian wool" aka a blueish shade of wool. The Germans used quite allot of Italian leftovers after the defeat of Italy later in the war.

[@mathias2992]

There are multiple foreign capture cloths, different eras of uniforms, custom ordered officer jackets, and even a converted parade uniform. If one's 1940 Germans have the colors of the bottom right, they're anachronistic.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Some Germans were partial to the Italian sahariana tunic. They just added German insignia to it.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

In that photo the one in the front row fourth from the left is almost Luftwaffe blue. One thing about that collection of tunics is that none are particularly greenish, but colour photos of Wehrmacht troops sometimes show them with tunics of a pronounced greenish-grey colour.

[@forrestgreene1139]

East Texas. But seriously, It's all about the light and the film.

[@curtschmidt918]

Very informative and entertaining

[@stevenhuffman752]

I've owened about 20 oroganal german uniforms, not one of them were the exact same color. Manufactures used different dye lots and use can alter the color.

[@kurts8538]

Made by different companies the formulas for the dyes and fabrics will have different levels of quality throughout war as stocks varied. It will be very hard to have just one color to the standard, the uniforms will wear and fade differently. Good video.

[@colem_h]

I only think the Field Grey looked weird is because it didn't have the wool texture, which I guess makes it look darker.

[@laurentfranco8075]

I still believe that many WW2 enthusiasts are somewhat brainwashed as far as colors are concerned. They seem to think of those armies as one giant mass of khaki, field grey or olive green. This is totally not the case to start with. Uniforms came in such a wide variety of color shades. Many also don't seem to understand how colors actually work. It's not only certain light conditions or wear and tear. Colors also have their own vibrancy and contrast with how they work against other colors and their surroundings. Go to any WW2 museum and just be amazed with all the different colors your eyes actually see! True They're not bright red or blue like Napoleonic uniforms. But the amount of different color tones and shades on display are simply dazzling. Yet so many historical experts and army ethusiasts seem to see only khaki, green and field grey. As a modeller I mixed field grey with so many other different colors. I've added bright green, yellow, purple, blue, brown, etc. all to the field grey color. You just have to forget what you actually know about certain colors and start looking. The German ankle boots also came in a wide variety of color like red brown, orange brown, buff, yellow brown, beige, ochre brown, purple brown. Yes even in a pink flesh tone. Same with the MP40 pouches. They came in black, brown, khaki, lime green, grey brown, luftwaffe blue, bright green, dark blue, dark grey, light grey, etc. All you have to do is do some research, unlearn what you know and start seeing.

[@jimbeam7315]

have you watched september clues documentary? or this? kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6iVeKqoh9lsn68

[@Savchenkov1]

Reminds me of when I was young, I bought a rattle can of touch up paint for my white car. Horrified at the shade difference. I thought white was white~right?

[@josephstabile9154]

Thanks for putting into perspective a long needed subject. Your photos speak for themselves. Feldgrau could range from Spanish Moss green to nearly olive drab. Wear/fading (weather, washiing, UV radiation) plays havoc with color--how long does one's new, black shirt stay looking new? As you imply, keeping dye lots identical is nearly impossible under the best of circumstances. And when referencing photos, film, print color shift, lens filters, lighting & angle of reflectance "changes" color immensely. As one famous example: the in flight shot of a group of P-51s; for years it was assumed the camo on E2-S was blue, but 'twas actually OD, looking "blue" for the foregoing reasons!

[@jacobfarrell7171]

I was in the 10th Mountain Division 2002-2005. Could you break down a Mountain Division, or compare US and German Mountain Divisions? Thanks. Love the content

[@juliusdream2683]

That was great 👍🏼 very detailed.

[@t.jjohnson6317]

Very informative Thank-you

[@johnklenzendorf6279]

Great video with lot of informations, in this numbers of uniforms and their producers some unified color is really impossible. And also sunlight, usage and washing have their impact too, but how the woolen uniforms were washed, especially in the field? I could not find much info about that :)

[@HandGrenadeDivision]

Not sure how often things were laundered, but it was common to also beat the clothes with a clothes whip to get the dried dirt and mud off of it.

[@mrtadtail2111]

I think people ignore the fact that there are several colours used in clothing, and rarely is it actually one solid colour. This blend - due to tech' limitations - is hard to, if not impossible to synthesise online. The simple fact is that until the technology is made, we will never be able to create "realistic" images, while using acceptable amounts of data and memory. There are millions of reasons why a lot of things people want computers do, can't happen which are best explained in dedicated, videos, forms, and so on. So simply it can just be explained that it will be impossible to make the "perfect" colour, as transmissions could not take the stress and compression techniques would damage the image and or video.

[@noaeleonore6177]

Wanted to sew a Wehrmacht Nachrichthelferin skirt. In the textiles shop I wasn't able to find the right color. And about 5 colors were called field gray

[@timothyhofmeister1832]

he didn't say it was the correct color, he said it was the Media adaptation.

[@raseli4066]

I have looked closely at the uniforms that the swedish army has in real life today, and even there was slight differences of colour. Uniforms are like us humans, come in all diffrent types of stuff at random. But with vehicle paint, from what I have noticed. Is abit easier to standardize on. Unless you are 1944-45 germany.

[@xatan3318]

Vallejo paints has an entire German ww2 paint section if you wanna check them out if only to check out the accuracy of their paints.

[@caloew7982]

the color really depends on the type of uniform, also the factory it was made in. for example, some M36 tunics ive seen will sometimes will look more grey, but also some waffen SS uniforms, like the M42 also look grey. also HBT uniforms had the really dark feldgrau called "reed green" but theres so many different colors, theres no real way to know the "correct" color. also the "correct" feldgrau that viewer provided looks more like the color used on HELMETS as some actually had feldgrau color.

[@J.C...]

Wow. Now I want to go pull mine out and see what color it is! 👌 It's in very, very good shape. Hasn't seen sunlight in 50+ years.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Soviet "khaki" varied even more and could be a shade of brown, green, grey or even almost black.

[@wolfpacksix]

Good videos. Keep up the good work.

[@dylanwillman2281]

Thank you so much!!!!!! I have toy German that needs repainting And this help so much

[@kaynebartholomew2994]

Not gonna lie, the hex code he provided made your art work soldat look like he had a set of Repro drillich or HBTs on to me. Looks more like drillich/HBT than the wool feldgrau to me.

[@MegaBIGJOE64]

First, uniform colour was not the same brand new, then after weathering from sunlight, dirt, washing, the color changed even more. The range of different colours always existed and known during WW II. From light green to dark grey. The French nickname for German soldiers was 'Les vert de gris', verdigris. Copper oxyde green.

[@GenMaj_Knight]

absolutely based

[@prestige_materials]

Brilliant!

[@raindrophoh]

I think I have seen some totally grey German uniform (of soldiers, with helmets, but not general ones) in form of different things, like in video games and some of the models. The grey colour is just like the colour of those grey painted on German tanks. Do these uniform exist? If so, are they used in combat or having a different purpose?

[@mikeforester3963]

The colour discussion leaves out an important detail: the fabric. Lighter shades often occur for officers uniforms made in garbadine fabric rather than the more rugged wool fabric of the enlisted ranks. The latter results in a darker tone than, say, the class A parade uniform of a senior officer. Another aspect already addressed in comments is bleaching from sun exposure or natural elements such as rain, depending in which condition the fotograph was made. And last, uniforms were produced in numerous facilities by many manufacturers, and differences in tone were bound to happen. And then there's the "steingrau" issue with many formal dress uniforms which is the classic Prussian military tunic tone worn until 1990 by the Nationale Volksarmee of GDR. So, there is no definitive "fieldgrey" as worn in the field. Only colour footage of recruit and barrack assembly examples may give a glimpse on how it was originally intended to look.

[@roaldthamesen533]

The Boomhauer one resembles the cotton HBT versions imo.

[@djartyom924]

Love your content

[@polaris30000]

The saltier a uniform gets, the more the colour shifts and it doesn't always shift the same way. My own combats would fade out to the point of being near unrecognisable for a relatively new uniform after 6 months to a year.

[@honorablespartan]

Do you have other social media?

[@stevetheduck1425]

Was there in Germany a set of official colours provided to manufacturers, such as is done today with roadside items, warning signs and modern firefighter's or soldier's uniforms? If we can get an idea of what was / is intended, we might be a step closer to divining the varied results and how that came about?

[@stevetheduck1425]

Yes, there was, too quick to ask. Have heard of the RAL lists, but it was new to hear that it existed as early as it did, thanks for the information.

[@John.McMillan]

As far as I recall, want the German Wehrmacht uniform originally called "Mouse Gray"? I'm sure at many points just as the Germans tried to tan uniforms for Afrika and Italy they also tried to Green them.

[@HandGrenadeDivision]

No, the trousers at the start of the war were in Steingrau ("stone grey") which was a slate grey shade. Mouse grey is often referred to, but usually in reference to later service shirts and the initial issue of the Winteranzug (padded parka and snow pants).

[@John.McMillan]

@@HandGrenadeDivision Ah, Thank you for the correction.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@HandGrenadeDivision I believe one of the first uniform modifications was to go over to field-grey trousers, though the Steingrau ones were used until they wore out.

[@99Racker]

I would suggest another source for color discrepancy. On a commercial scale, in WW2, it would have been difficult, as the war went on, to maintain dye lots. As a batch of dye was used, I assume they did not pour out the existing amount but added new product to the vat. If you look at any military formation of troops, unless it is a parade unit, you will note slight variations of color even in new uniforms. I have tried to find an acceptable fieldgray to paint a weapon. Thus far, without success Thanks for the video.

[@thevexengineer]

me, a colourblind person watching this video: "Very cool!"

[@stappan1752]

OMG I wish I could use a computer like you did a fantastic job jersey

[@sanjurohanamizuki6181]

Feldgrau wool was woven with wool threads that were pre-dyed grey , brown or green as the main component colors . The dominant thread in that roll of wool very much decides the shade of the wool . It wasn't uncommon to be issued a tunic that was very green , trousers that were very brown and a hat that was very grey . As the only way for 2 pieces to match perfectly would be for them to come from the same roll of wool . Hollywood , replica uniforms made from modern wool , and colorizing black and white footage has given the impression that " Feldgrau " was in anyway consistent in color . In short both your representation and the color that the commentator pointed out are correct and so would more than a dozen other shades .

[@davidharing6475]

I think you nailed the color. Yours is closer the uniforms than Boomhauer's. Also, his comment on Horizon Blue is strange, if you look at WWI uniforms where these colors come from, they are all roughly the same hue in different colors. Almost like the different militaries came up with almost the similar ideas when doing the same thing. Weird. Sarcasm off now.

[@theinquisitivecritic]

Do you think you can figure out what the standard Luxembourg soldier wore in the late 1930s prior to the Second World War? I’ve been looking into this for a while now and have only found a couple of pictures.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The only photo I have seen was a parade one with rather French-style 19th century-looking uniforms with képis somewhat taller than French ones.

[@theinquisitivecritic]

Steve Kaczynski ya I’ve seen that too and unfortunately it’s not a close up so it’s difficult to tell what the details on the clothing was.

[@jtwoods5561]

my most concerning question is about the africa korps uniforms and if they would not match the same color tunic and pants i get told my impression is wrong due to wearing a sand tunic and tropical green pants but im basing it from the 1st Indiana jones im i wrong

[@FlareLightPro]

A point to note as well with the photos from the era that are being referenced, (and i'll try not to go too deep in this rabbit hole, because im not an expert on WWII photography and techniques, rather just a modern film shooter). the TL;DR is that the color produced in film photography is not accurate, and can be effected by a multitude of factors. With film photography, the white balance is part of the films chemistry, and cant be changed on the fly like modern digital cameras. If someone was using a "daylight" film in shade, on an over cast day, in the early morning or under different types of artificial light of flash, the colors will have a bit of a tonal shift. Another variable would come during development, the temperature of your development chemicals has a direct impact on how long the film needs to be in that chemical. changing the temperature and timing can have a shift in the way the images come out. Aside from temperature, the amount of times the chemicals have been used / how old the chemicals are/ how exhausted them chemicals are can have an impact on development, and the way the images come out. With the C41 development process I use, the manufacturer only recommends processing 8 rolls of 120 format film, before results become "unpredictable", and then you have to adjust the development times or temperature. Theres also the issue (no idea what photography doctrine was at the time) if people were "pushing" or "pulling" their film (take a 400 iso film, shoot it like its 800 iso or 200 iso and change your development time to achieve this effect) as that has a direct impact on how color will appear. and even the type of film. Kodak Portra and Kodak Ektar are both daylight color films, but Portra is better at producing skin tones, where as Ektar is better for landscapes. And of course accounting for manufacturer defects throughout this whole process.

[@jermasus]

On that topic, what the hell is up with stahlhelm colors? I know they are supposed to be field gray too but I've seen colors that looks almost like panzergrau like in 2:00, some with more blue hue like in 3:44, some with more olive color, and some with green hue. I can understand the color not being uniform on... uniforms, but how is there such a great difference in color on just flat metal surface? Does this mean panzergrau and dunkelgrau and such other paints also varied greatly on tanks?

[@HandGrenadeDivision]

The quantity alone of things that had to be painted pretty much guarantees difficulty in maintaining colour consistency. Not helped by the fact the Germans changed official colours for everything on occasion (the western Allies did it too, incidentally).

[@jerryudonneedtoknow3903]

I think I've figured out something with both color, your and the hexadecimal one given. So like you said lighting plays an effect on it. I basically tested adding or decreasing to amount of gray in the colors and they started to match more. For your color, I tested by adding more "gray" to it rather then shifting the colors higher or lower in brightness levels, as it usually just increases "green" of it. If you adding more "gray" to your color, it would look less odd. For the hexadecimal, I tried the same thing but instead, I took amount a little bit of green and added/subtracted some "gray" to get a more lighter version. It seemed to look better too. If you increase it brightness it would only look like a brighter green so grey had to be adjusted What I basically did was change the Black and white scale, while doing minor or no changes to the RGB colors. Also one thing that bothers me it people don't really consider the piece of clothing is not a single solid color. The weaving of each thread give different colors to different spots, each thread varies in shade different giving a while different color from the pigment. If you were to paint a wall, a wall is completely flat, and most likely very smooth. This means the color wont get many reflection irregularities due to the Smooth surface. Cloths have irregularities and inconsistancies, even if it feels smooth, the microfiber are in actuality pretty coarse, these fibers tend to make lighting on cloth surfaces look not very smooth, and at the same time the lighting disturbs the color

[@drs-Rigo-Reus]

field grey was made by different companies, hence color variations, always been the case. Also solders had them cleaned in various ways, enhancing different shades.

[@HouseClarkzonian]

I would like to know if Officers wore a more Grey Feld grey, Hollywood always seems to depict them with such colour.

[@HandGrenadeDivision]

Officers very often purchased finer quality uniforms, so their material and colour often differed from that of the troops.

[@HouseClarkzonian]

@@HandGrenadeDivision Thanks for the Info mate, it's been on my mind for quite some time and with trying to find answers I was after straight from a search engines was a nightmare.

[@hubertusxvi6877]

Where did you get the line art for the German uniforms from or did you draw them yourself?

[@HandGrenadeDivision]

The line art is mostly original with some derivation (in particular insignia) of public domain images.

[@maxxvonschutle5880]

Make a video about how you make the timeline and the editing please