Reply To: Bolt Action Desert War Bootcamp

[damon 7525xp 0]

@limburger, while there were no Waffen SS units in the Afrika Korps, there was the Einsatzgruppe North Africa commanded by Walter Rauff, a former aid to Reinhard Heidrich, that is reported to have committed many atrocities. There is a debate about how much Rommel knew of their activities. Some interesting conversations here:

Is it true that Erwin Rommel was kind to his prisoners and ignored orders to execute or torture them? from AskHistorians

Did members of the Africa Corps commit any notable war crimes during the course of the North Africa campaign? What about the Allies? from AskHistorians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Rauff

 

@maxkee For early ’41 you have the option of painting your AK vehicles in the standard European Dunkelgrau and applying shades of muddy brown randomly, the first attempts to blend the vehicles to the desert terrain were sand and mud mixed with water and daubed all over the vehicles, or a layer of engine oil with sand sprinkled over it. It wore off quickly and left the vehicles looking very tatty and worn.

The first official orders for painting for NA were issued in March ’41; RAL 8000 Gelb-braun (yellow brown) and RAL 7008 Graugrun (grey green- this is a funny looking colour as it appears a slightly darker shade of brown to gelb braun on the colour charts I have), applied 2/3 coverage with yellow brown and 1/3 grey green in random soft edge pattern. But the reality was that the mud camouflage continued into the summer of ’41 and supply problems meant that the grey green was not used a great deal. The paint faded rapidly to a chalky, flaky finish and again the vehicles quickly looked very tatty. A further order was issued in March ’42 specifying new colours; RAL 8020 Braun and RAL 7027 Grau (again looks more brown than grey), again applied in the 2/3-1/3 pattern, but again, it appears this was not followed very often, with braun being the main colour used.

It is probable that paint acquired from the Italian forces and captured from the British were pressed into use, Tomas Chory, in his book Wehrmacht Heer Camouflage Colours 1939-1945, states; ‘It is certain that vehicles painted according to regulations never formed a majority of the vehicles of the Afrika Korps’.

So short version; you can go with what looks right to you and no-one can prove you wrong.

start of the campaign- dark grey with mud smears.

’41-’42- medium brown with an option of a slightly darker brown disruptive pattern.

’42 onward- slightly lighter versions of the ’41 colours.