Soviet camo in the 1980's

opsctr · Post by **opsctr** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:51 am

Does anyone have illustrations of 1980's Soviet era Eastern European camo patterns. I am looking for units deployed in or near East Germany. I've found some photographs of Soviet Mtr. Rif. Div. three color (med brown/charcoal/midgreen) but I seem to remember more variations from old recon photos around that time.

Any help, pictures, or links would be helpful.

Thanks, Will

Nazgul · Post by **Nazgul** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:46 am

Sorry, dug through all the books (especially the Concords) and all I've found is solid vehicles in olive drab, medium green, or green drab. I did find on picture of a Polish unit on maneuvers that painted swirls of a sand colored paint over their T72s. I'll keep looking. Good luck.

voltigeur · Post by **voltigeur** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:25 am

I will have to pull out my intelligence books after Thanksgiving and look this up. I remember one of the FMâ€™s and a DIA publication showed a black and white camo diagram for a BMP. However I only remember photos of Soviet tanks camoâ€™ed for parade or they were attributed to the Soviets but the vehicles actually belonged to someone else. There is a grey light green and sand camo pattern that is actually Syrian.

I know that 90% of Soviet Forces in Germany the vehicles were all mono color. Actually so were most US tanks and a good number of West Germans. This gets confusing looking at photos because sometimes tanks were painted in camo for dog and pony shows. There were NATO regulations published but I saw most of that outside Europe.

Iâ€™ll take another look at this though. Hope it helps.

Gort · Post by **Gort** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:36 am

What about the green/charcoal/light grey scheme.

As used by the NVA http://www.panzerbaer.de/colours/a_rela ... erzerr.htm

As used by the Soviets http://www.panzerbaer.de/colours/a_rela ... erzerr.htm

As applied to T-80BV - languishing in a Russian depot after the withdrawal.

And just for fun, some pics of older gear at a recycling centre. http://englishrussia.com/?p=3050

Hope this helps.

opsctr · Post by **opsctr** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:22 pm

Thanks Gort, that's extremely helpful! Will

groundlber · Post by **groundlber** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:12 am

I have a copy of one of the Osprey books that shows Warsaw Pact armor from the 1980's. The vast majority are single color, but the book shows a few pattern painted vehicles. Apparently the camoflage patterns were used during wargames (Op force?). I have another more modern book on Soviet armor (Somewhere), it only has black and white photos, but I should be able to tell if the vehicles are camoflaged. Once I find it, of course.
Groundlber

Soviet camo in the 1980's

Soviet camo in the 1980's

1980's Soviet Tank colors