WWII Armor Colors and Markings

Europe and North Africa: Introduction

by Bill Rutherford

You've taken the plunge. You bought some tanks, in whatever size 20mm, 15mm, 1/285 - 1/300, or even 1/200 scale. You have a set of rules you like. You've done a bit of reading on armored warfare during the WWII era, so you know about the campaigns and battles and the units that fought them. Now you're ready to play - right? Maybe. Hopefully, you thought a bit about painting your hard-bought toys.

The purpose of this article is to provide basic colors and markings guidelines for the vehicles of the major World War II combatants in Europe and North Africa. These guidelines are neither exhaustive nor definitive. Within the space available, that's impossible. Most of my comments are more applicable to the smaller scales. If you're going to game in 20mm - that is, 1/76th scale, you will be working (you had better be) in enough detail that your first step will probably be to pick up several of the books in the bibliography. In any event, this article should provide enough information to allow you to produce reasonably painted miniatures and get them on the game table.

Where, then, to begin? The purpose of vehicle camouflage is to make the vehicle less of a target, by decreasing its effective visibility or recognizability. The purpose of markings is to make the vehicle more recognizable to friends. Camouflage and markings seem somewhat at odds with one another. Each nation handled the problem in its own way. For this reason, I will deal with each nation - France, Germany, Italy, the UK, the USA, and the USSR, separately in turn. Somewhere in these pages, I have included a paint chart, giving suggested sources for the colors you will need to paint your equipment. I've also included a source list for decals.

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