C A M O U P E D I A

hunter becomes a normal irregularity in the landscape

Above Drawings submitted for US Patent No 5,572,823 titled "Hand Held Decoy and Hunter Shield," invented by J.R. Savaria (1996).

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René Bache, POPULAR SCIENCE: Pity the Poor Ducks, in the Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth OH), May 24, 1919—

Duck hunters and other sportsmen in pursuit of game will no longer require "blinds" or other such means of concealment. They will wear snipers' suits instead.

The "cap of invisibility," which, when donned, rendered its wearer viewless, has figured in more than one fairy story. In the sniper's suit (as developed during the war) its miraculous function has been fairly realized.

What is a sniper's suit like? Most people have no definite notion on the subject beyond the fact that it is "camouflage" for the person. The matter, however, is easily explained, and can be made so clear that anybody may put together such a costume for his own use.

It needs no tailor's skill, goodness knows. The prime requisite of a proper suit of clothes is fit. But the sniper's suit must not fit at all. On the contrary, it must be vastly loose and baggy, not conforming in the least with the contour of the wearer. It must have no angles, for in nature angles are few.

The sniper's suit—for hunting snipe, or ducks, or what not—must be contrived and colored as to enable him to resemble as closely as possible his surroundings; to melt into them, as it were. It is made of the coarsest and cheapest kind of burlap, rubbed with mud or daubed with green or brown paint to imitate the color scheme of his immediate environment.

An essential part of it is a headpiece that can be pulled hood-fashion over head and face, the eyes of the wearer looking out through places that have been thinned for the purpose by the simple process of removing the burlap threads running horizontally. Tufts of grass or other natural vegetation growing in the immediate vicinity of the hunter's lurking place are fastened here and there to parts of his costume. He may even attach a few pebbles to it with short lengths of wire. His very gun is wrapped in a loose burlap bag, provided with a fringe of grass or leaves, leaving only the trigger and the sight free.

Now, if the hunter thus equipped were to walk about he would, of course, alarm the game. If he were merely to stand erect, he would attract attention (though immovable), because differing in form from his surroundings. But when he lies prone, and perfectly still, he becomes in appearance merely a normal irregularity in the landscape. In effect, he is invisible.

The noblest of all game animals is man. In warfare he becomes just that. During the recent conflict suits corresponding to the above description were commonly worn not only by snipers, but also by machine gunners, and by men who took part in raids across No Man's Land.

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Eric Sloane / how to conceal a small factory in WWII

Above Eric Sloane, illustration of camouflage techniques for a small factory, from his book, Camouflage Simplified. New York: Devin-Adair, 1942.

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Anon, Western Mail (Perth, Western Australia) May 13, 1943, p, 22—

An architect friend of ours who always considered himself a very respectable member of society is now beginning to have his doubts. Trying to do his part, he signed up for a night school course in industrial camouflage. He began to worry when he read the catalog listing lecture subjects: Concealment, Deception, Confusion, Disruption and Distortion.

He's wondering whether his code of ethics will ever be the same.

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

warships resemble chameleons / are nearly invisible

available online

Anon, CHAMELEON WARSHIPS. Question of Color. The Worker (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), June 8, 1916, p. 15—

Persons who have been watching the results of attempts to disguise the outward appearance of warships have become convinced (says the Coast Seaman's Journal) that the destroyer fleet, lately the subject of the ship painter's efforts, has become practically invisible at sea, not only to the naked eye, but to strong binoculars as well. "Battleship gray" has had its day. It was better than the glaring ultra-prominent white that once made the American Navy the marksman's favorite target, but it was far from the last word in invisibility, for it has recently been proved that:

A solid color of any kind can be distinguished at sea, whereas a mottled surface, like the surrounding water itself, breaking up into lights and shades, will make almost any bulk invisible at a distance proportionate to size. Abbott H. Thayer, an Englishman [sic], who studied the colorations of wild animals, and particularly water-fowl, noting at what distance their color enabled them to become invisible to the naked eye and under glass, and who is said to have taught Theodore Roosevelt much that he knows on the subject of invisible animals, is largely responsible for the Navy's taking up the problem. Thayer conducted a series of experiments in the Navy Department a year ago and demonstrated that under certain conditions the model of a torpedo-boat painted by him could not be seen while a similar vessel painted battle-gray was plainly visible.

At Newport the destroyers have been painted in numerous ways to test their visibility. Some of them have been painted like checker-boards, in alternate squares of black and white, but the most elusive combination discovered to date consists of horizontal, irregular, serpentine lines of black paint along the sides of the destroyers with a background of battle-gray. The serpentine curves correspond substantially to the waves of the sea, and the mixed colors conform in part to the mottled surface of the water. The funnels, on the other hand, are painted in irregular spirals, and it is said the destroyers painted in this way are more nearly invisible close at hand than at a greater distance.

As soon as the problem is solved to the satisfaction of the naval authorities a scheme for painting the battleships will be worked out for use in time of war. It is already reported in this country that the British Navy has ships painted in all sorts of colors on patrol duty in and around the North Sea, and that the plan has worked with great success. Thayer evolved a plan of covering up funnels and fighting tops with a series of planes intended to reflect the color of the sky, but the plan has not been found entirely practicable, for the reason that the roll of the ship destroyed the reflection intended and at times made the vessels more prominent to the eye than before, and also because the winds frequently made their use impossible altogether.

Another experiment being conducted by the Navy is one intended to make periscopes invisible. While they are practically so now, the wake they leave behind them can always be detected because it runs in a straight line of foam.

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

sausage works / playing wartime havoc with the eye

Above A rendering by J. André Smith (American camoufleur and war artist) of an installment of tents in which half have been broken up with disruptive patterns, while half still need completion, as described in the article below. In that article, the two wooden ducks (flannel covered) described as being on display in a London museum were demonstrations of countershading, made by American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer, and given to the museum after he had spoken there.

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Roger Pocock, The Art of Concealment: Devices on Land and Sea. The Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania) January 3, 1918, p. 6—

On the permanent staff of the Natural History Museum in London there are two little wooden ducks. They are dressed in gray flannel, and each housed in a glass case, with a grey flannel background. No. 1 duck is dressed in plain gray flannel and you can see her plainly at a hundred yards, because of the dark shadow cast by her neck and body, as well as by the brightness of her back. No. 2 duck to slightly whitened underneath to counteract the shadows, and slightly bronzed on top to counteract the light. Even at six feet the showcase appears to be empty. There is not a sign of duck. No hawk, no fox, no sportsman with a scatter-gun and a small dog could possibly discover or kill the invisible duck unless she moved, or made foolish quacks to guide her enemies. A great many years ago I wrote to the Lords of the Admiralty, imploring them to go and see the invisible duck, who could teach them priceless lessons in the art of concealing battleships and cruisers. They promised faithfully, so l have no doubt they called and left their card.

Am I giving away a secret, or letting cats out of bags? From all I hear the British navy of today can show the invisible duck that she in a mere beginner in the art of camouflage. In the current number of Punch you may see a tramp steamer impersonating a German sausage works. That's a joke, but the British fleet delights in playing practical jokes on the Germans. You may have noticed, for example, that the U-boat campaign is not a complete success, and that the British Lion does not as yet sit up to beg for mercy.

If you would study camouflage by land go look at the wild animals. See how the tawny lion and striped tiger are painted to resemble the tall yellow bunch grass at the jungle. The giraffe is painted with a quaint diamond-pattern exactly like the flickering lights among the acacias trees on which he feeds. The leopard, the jaguar, and all spotted cats, the spotted deer, and the dappled horse are painted to imitate the dappled light under a shady tree. The pig is patched pink and brown like the sunlight, and shadow of the denser woods, The elephant is painted a hazy brown, exactly like the great trees at the deepest forest. So all the wild beasts are colored for concealment in their natural landscape, while many of them change their clothes with the seasons. wearing white for the snowy winters, brown for the torrid summer. In exactly the same way our British armies are clothed in tawny dun for the tropics, and in khaki—a Hindu word for dung color—for warfare in temperate regions.

The khaki blends exactly with the cranes and timbers of North Western Europe. As for the German field-grey, it is a capital imitation of the shadows cast by woods or entrenchments on a sunny day, and blends very nicely either with rain or fog. The horizon blue of the French armies tones well into average landscape. All are useful colors. In the early part of the war the British made one mistake. The service cap was kept taut and smart with a wire hoop inside the rim of its flat top. So stretched, the cloth reflected sunlight, and presented a fine target for enemy marksmen, until we found out what was wrong. Then we moved the wire, and the cap was no longer a target. When, during air raids, our men get the order "to stand fast," the army is almost altogether invisible at 2,500 feet.

In the old days our bell tents made excellent targets for heavy artillery, being visible at a distance of many miles. Now all of them are painted with a special sort of distemper, and the bolder the patches, the stronger the colors, the better. Strong painting breaks the contours of any sheet, and so not only tents, but guns, timbers, wagon covers and huts are made to look just like the patched and broken ground of camps and roadways. Beyond such elementary trifles in camouflage the writer may not go with discretion. But the thing is certainly a wonderful and complete art today.

At the present time Fritz [the German military] is surely puzzled, he even, when we let his airplane observers enjoy a peep at our lines, the things that they see are not really there at all, while the guns, which they can neither see nor photograph, are playing havoc with the fond ambitions of the super-man.

One must own that Fritz is artful himself, but the British army, like the navy, has many a merry jest at the expense of the bewildered enemy.

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Saturday, February 28, 2026

camouflage exhibit opens tomorrow / Washington DC

Opens tomorrow! Don't forget. Sunday, March 1. CAMOUFLAGE: Designed to Deceive. A wonderful new exhibition about camouflage at the International Spy Museum in Washington DC. As shown in the photo above, the museum building is itself a camouflage icon. See you there.

Friday, February 20, 2026

stand fast command / nobody don't do nothing / freeze!

WWI captured German cannon
Thorburn, Alexander Douglas. Amateur gunners: the Great War adventures, letters and observations of Alexander Douglas Thorburn. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Military 2014, pp. 193-194—

Any sportsman knows that the eye of an observer trying to spot game is attracted by movement. It is movement that gives away the position either of game in peace or of soldiers in war. The observer of an airplane searching for the position of a hostile battery has his attention drawn by movement.

The approach of a hostile airplane is notified by the airplane scout whom every battery in action must keep on the gun position, a specially selected man, with the sharpest of wits, eyes, and cars, and armed with a whistle and field glasses. The airplane scouts should be exceptionally able to stare into bright sunlight, be acquainted with the designs as well as distinguishing marks of enemy airplanes, and be relieved every hour. On the scout blowing his whistle the order "stand fast" is given and obeyed instantly. (The old instructor's "detail" of the meaning of "stand fast" is unbeatable: "On the order "stand fast" nobody don't do nothing.")…

The guiding principle of camouflage from aerial observation should be this: It is useless to attempt to hide anything, but not difficult to disguise anything so that it will look like something different and harmless. For example, four or six guns at 20 yds interval are obviously a battery. Fill up the spaces between the guns and spread netting or leaves over the top and from the air you have apparently a row of trees, a thick hedge, or even a big hog of swedes or beetroots. But all the men must stand absolutely rigid. The slightest movement anywhere is enough to ruin your attempt at disguise when an enemy airman is scouting overhead The penalty for movement will be possibly smashed guns, probably dead and wounded gunners, almost certainly a move to a new position and all your work to be done again.

Thursday, February 19, 2026

Troccoli's involvement in artillery camouflage in WWI

Giovanni Battista Troccoli (1882-1940) was an Italian-American painter who came to the US at age 11 in 1893. He began his career in Boston, where he worked as a wood carver at age 14, and soon after as a modeler for a well-known Boston sculptor, Hugh Cairns.

WWI artillery camouflage (Watertown Arsenal) AI Colorized

He turned from sculpture to painting, and in the process studied with Denman Ross (author of A Theory of Pure Design: Harmony, Balance, Rhythm), and with artist and frame designer Hermann Dudley Murphy, both of whom were associated with Harvard University. The latter, as explained in earlier posts, supervised the application of ship camouflage during World War I.

Troccoli also studied painting in Paris, Amsterdam and Spain, and seems to have been primarily known as a portrait painter. Of greater interest at the moment is his little-known involvement in wartime camouflage. During WWI, perhaps as a civilian, he was involved in developing camouflage patterns for American field artillery at the Watertown Arsenal, in Watertown MA. It is unconfirmed but he may have contributed to the camouflage of the field guns that are shown above and below in this post, all of which were apparently processed at Watertown.

WWI artillery camouflage (Watertown Arsenal) AI Colorized

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

so who invented camouflage / two more possibilities?

SS Lapland in camouflage 1918 (not related to text)

In an earlier post today, I made note of the credit that may be due to a British brewer, Joseph Williams Lovibond, for his early contributions to wartime camouflage. I had no sooner posted that when I ran across his name again, in a newspaper article (see text below) that dates from one year earlier and makes the same claim. However, it is even more interesting because it also claims that yet another man, a British bridge engineer named Reginald Arthur Ryves (1873-1949), made proposals for the camouflage of ships, guns and wagons as early as 1905.

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COLOR "COVER": Pioneers of Camouflage in The Telegraph. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on October 3, 1927—

Who Invented camouflage?

The recent death of Mr. Solomon J. Solomon, R.A., the famous artist, who was one of the pioneers of camouflage during the war, has made many people ask that question. For, though there was at first a tendency to describe him as the inventor of the art, It soon became obvious that there were other claimants to the honor.

As a matter of fact, It would seem that it was the Germans who first used this particular kind of deception during the war, although, thanks to the ingenuity of Mr. Solomon and his colleagues, we soon beat them at their own game.

It was, however, Britishers who first saw, before the outbreak of hostilities, that developments of this kind were necessary in modern war. As long ago as September 1905, a consulting engineer, Mr. Reginald Ryves, put forward an idea for the painting of ships to deceive an enemy, on practically the lines which were afterwards adopted. He added suggestions for the painting of guns and wagons.

Also some years before 1914 Mr. [Joseph Williams] Lovibond, a brewer, made experiments with painted screens for hiding gun positions. His system was demonstrated to the War Office, whose representative was much impressed by the success of the device. But nothing further was done, and it was only after the Germans had started it that we began to think seriously about the possibilities of camouflage.

It Is tragic when we think how many lives might have been saved had Mr. Lovibond's ideas—or Mr. Ryves's—been adopted earlier!

The real credit for the invention of camouflage must, however, be given to Nature. Look at the wonderful protective coloring of certain birds and insects—how they fit into the scenes which they commonly frequent. Or take the tiger. He looks conspicuous enough when we see him at the zoo, but in his native jungle he is practically invisible until the moment that it suits him to be otherwise.

But in one way at least we had begun to learn the lessons those animals had to teach even before we called upon Mr. Solomon to hide our guns from the enemy, or Mr. Norman Wilkinson to paint our ships so that no one could tell which way they were going. Our field service uniform of khaki was chosen because it blended naturally with the color of the surrounding country in many of the lands where our troops had had to operate.