ZEBRA STRIPES OFF CHOW CARTS: Solid Colors Will Replace Rattlesnake Trimmings to Economize Paint. Stars and Stripes (Paris, France), June 28, 1918, p. 3—
Magazine ad for Vulcabeston (1919)
Zebra stripes on chow carts are to be a thing of the past for some time anyway.
The powers-that-be have come to the conclusion that “the effectiveness of this painting is very slight,” and one of the most overworked words in the language is going to have a little rest. You guessed it: Camouflage.
Solid, dull colors are to replace the rattlesnake patterns in future, it is announced, since it has been proven that they melt into the atmosphere pretty nearly as well as do the more motley contraptions, sometimes better.
Furthermore, all requests for camouflage by organizations in a division are henceforth to be shot up to the division engineer, who will put his camouflage officer on the job and see what kind of concealment will be most effective.
Not that the new regulations will put the camouflage corps out of work. It will probably have to work all the harder. The reason for the changes, and the curtailing of gaudiness, may be summed up in just these words: Economize paint.
A blog for clarifying and continuing the findings that were published in Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage, by Roy R. Behrens (Bobolink Books, 2009).