WWII Armor Colors and Markings

Bibliography

by Bill Rutherford

1. Bradford, George, Armor Camouflage and Markings in North Africa 1940-43, George Bradford, Preston, Ontario, Canada, 1971, 96 pgs, $15+. This book has been around awhile, but is still the best reference I've found for Italian armor. Actually, it's the only one. Bradford does a good job with the Americans, British and Germans as well. The book is loaded with well done color profiles, examples of markings and photos.

2. Culver, Bruce, Panzer Colors 1, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, TX, 1976, 96 pgs. $9.. Panzer Colors I traces the development of German camouflage through World War 11. It's packed with detailed, concisely captioned photos of German equipment that are supported by a well written text. Several pages of color plates further illustrate the variety of German camouflage and complete the book.

3. Culver, Bruce, Panzer Colors 11, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, TX, 1978, 96 pgs, $9. Panzer Colors 11 is a companion volume to Panzer Colors 1, focusing on markings of the German panzer divisions rather than camouflage. It's every bit as successful, providing a coherent, comprehensive description of German armor markings.

4. Culver, Bruce, Panzer Colors Ifl, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, TX, 1984, 96 pgs, $9 . The final volume of the Culver trilogy, Panzer Colors III, in the same style as it's two predecessors. details the markings of all of the other armored formations in the German army the independent battalions, the panzergrenadier divisions, etc. By the time you finish these three books, you'll probably know more than you ever planned to about German armor colors and markings.

5. McNair, Ronald, Mai - Jun 1940, Les Blindes Francais, Editions Heimdal, Paris (?), France, 1990, 96 pgs, $20. First of all, this book is in French. Don't let that deter you, though. It's full of detailed photos that clearly illustrate the wide variety of French armor camouflage and markings. Additionally, McNair includes several pages of equipment data and organization tables. The text was extensive: unfortunately, my French wasn't good enough to fully appreciate it.

6. Parrett, Bryan, British Tanks in N. Africa 1940-42, Osprey Publishing, London, UK, 1981, 40 pgs, $8. British Tanks sets the tone for the Osprey Vanguard series of books. A short, reasonably detailed text, lots of extensively captioned photos, and eight pages of color plates, with their own explanatory notes, make for a useful, cost effective reference. In the present rase, the color plates nicely illustrate several variants of the British diagonally striped desert camouflage, as well as numerous of their formation signs.

7. Parrett, Bryan, The Stuart Light Tank Series, Osprey Pub. London, UK, 1980, 40 pgs, $8. Ferret follows the standard Osprey Vanguard pattern, providing, in this case, color plates depicting American, British, Soviet, and late war French Stuarts. The explanatory notes are quite detailed.

8. White, B. T., British Tank Markings and Names, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, TX, 1978, 88 pgs, $9. Three quarters of British Tank Markings and Names details British tank names, on almost a unit by unit basis. This is interesting, but not vitally important to the gamer. White provides a good selection of photos, however, illustrating British tank markings of all types. Hidden away at the end of the book is a good, concise, description of British vehicle camouflage, as well as several pages of well done color plates and informative captions.

9. Wise, Terence, D-Day to Berlin, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, TX. 1979. 96 pgs, $9. D-Day to Berlin is a good one-volume reference on late war Western Front camouflage and markings for the German, British, and American armies. It oontains lots of photographs, several pages of color plates, and a text that is carefully focused on the colors and markings of the protagonists, not their histories.

10. Zaloga & Grandsen, The Eastern Front, Squadron/Signal Publications. Carrollton, TX, 1983, 96 pgs, $9. The Eastern Front is a good one-volume reference on camouflage and markings for all of the protagonists on the Eastern front. Its the best book I've seen on the subject of Soviet vehicle camoflage and markings. Likewise, the authors describe and illustrate German vehicle camoflage and markings. They even go so far as to describe in reasonable detail a colors and markings of ten additional Eastern front combatants, ranging from the Finns to the Croatians.

11. Zaloga and Grandsen, Soviet Heavy Tanks, Osprey Publishing, London, UK, 1981, 40 pgs, $8. This book follows the Osprey Vanguard formula, combining captioned photos, color plates, and text. In this case, the thrust of the text is to trace the development and operations of Soviet heavy armor. the photo captions and the color plate notes, though, are quite informative, describing a variety of vehicle camouflage and markings.

12. Zaloga and Grandsen, The T-34 Tank, Osprey Publishing, London UK, 1980, 40 pgs, $8. The comments I made about Soviet Heavy Tanks apply equally well to the T-34 tank.

13. Zaloga, Steven J., Blitzkrieg, Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, TX, 1980, 96 pgs, $9. Blitzkrieg is the best (and only) single volume reference dealing with the camouflage and markings of the 1939 - 1940 campaigns in Europe. Many photos and color plates illustrate the major combatants' equipment, while the text clearly describes it. Numerous minor countries' colors are also described.

14. Zaloga, Steven J., The Sherman Tank in US and Allied Service, Osprey Publishing, London, UK, 1982, 40 pgs, $8. Another Osprey Vanguard book. The color plates include, among other things, detailed descriptions of late war French camouflage and markings.

15. Zaloga, Steven J., US Camouflage and Markings 1917-46, Osprey Publishing, London, UK 1984, 40 pgs, $8. The one volume American camouflage and markings reference. Good color plates, extensive, well written notes, detailed, informative photos - this book is a goldmine of information on American camouflage and markings. Oh - it's an Osprey Vanguard...

16. Zaloga, Steven J., US Halftracks of World War 11, Osprey Publishing, London, UK. 1983, 40 pgs, $8. Similar to Zaloga's Sherman book and Parrett's Stuart book, US Halftracks...'main strength lies in it's color plates which contain yet more examples of American camouflage and also information on late war French markings.

17. Klaus, David H., IPMS Color Cross-Reference Guide, IPMS/USA Inland Empire Chapter, San Bernardino, CA, 1988, 168 pgs, $15.00 (1 think ... ). This book, though primarily an aircraft colors reference, is a great help. It provides a good primer on scale colors, ties just about any aircraft color you could imagine to the Federal FS595A color tables, extensively describes most of the color numbering schemes around, and. best of all, cross references most commercially available paints to their best FS-695A matches! You may not need it for gaming, but I sure needed it to figure out some of the armor colors I list herein!

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