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Can someone please give me a reference to uniform colors of all the nations that fought in WW2. Mainly i am painting up my French Infantry, and lost the information from the French DCR about the uniforms. Also thought this would be a good reference for others also.

Thanks

Doug

RoughRIder requested:
Can someone please give me a reference to uniform colors of all the nations that fought in WW2.

That's an awfully big question for a single post!

I mean, I'm all in favor of a discussion of how we paint our infantry figures. So please yes let's proceed with a discussion. But let us temper our expections a bit. There are entire books devoted to the uniforms of individual nations in WW2, like Germany, the UK, or the US.

Mainly i am painting up my French Infantry, and lost the information from the French DCR about the uniforms.

Now that is a bite-sized question. Good place to start.

The majority of French continental forces were fitted with uniforms of a Khaki-green color. A little more green than the Soviet's khaki (which varied greatly from lot to lot, and sometimes drifted all the way to chocolate brown).

I use Polly-S "French Khaki" for my WW2 French infantry. However, as with many nation's uniforms, uniforms faded, and different pieces of the uniform faded at different rates. French infantry were equipped with a coat as a standard item, and the coat was of a notably heavier material that seems to have retained its original color better. So if you want to get a particularly interesting look (full of character) you might try doing the pants in more of an olive green, or even a khaki-tan.

I did not do that when I painted up my French infantry several years ago, but looking at them recently I have thought about going back and hitting their pants with a khaki tan. I've had good experiences with the appearance of troops where their uniform tops and bottoms are painted in different shades ... even if the differences are subtle.

Please note that French colonial units could well be in very different uniforms. Tan, with very light tan (almost white) hats were common in tropical climates. And even at the start of WW2 there were still a few units that had some rather colorful uniforms, although almost all had a "battle dress" that was far more subdued.

Or so I understand. Certainly willing to learn more.

the folks over at FOW have a quick and dirty guide to late war color, with different paint manufacturers numbers:

http://www.battlefront.co.nz/Article.asp?ArticleID=98

MK1... as always your knowledge is also much help, truely not trying to suck up

Let me phrase it this way... from the combat commands i was wondering if anyone had any of the painting guides for the infantry. My main question about the french was did they have green helments or were they some other color like grey or black.

cama came in with:
My Google-fu is strong...

<== Master Cama-Fu!

Google French Infantry 1940:

Well found! The re-enactors in the picture give a pretty good impression of French
Khaki. More green than Soviet Khaki, but not a pure green color.

I think Polly-S "French Khaki" is a good match. But after 7 months of "sitzkrieg" in the
field, there might be some uneven fading. Still, can't go much wrong with a decent
French Khaki.

The picture of the historical uniform and kit shows that the French Khaki seemed to fade
towards a tan tone. I would suggest doing the trousers in more of a tan tone would
match this well, and give a sense of character to the figures.

I might note that this trend in French uniforms is rather the opposite of some other
armies. In the Red Army, for example, it was the tops that were known to fade more
than the trousers. But the French provided a particularly sturdy coat as a part of the
every day uniform, and it seems to have held its color well.

RoughRIder replied:
My main question about the french was did they have green helments or were they
some other color like grey or black.

As with most combattant armies, I think the intention was that the helmet would be the
same color as the uniform. But since the material was so very different, it comes out
looking like a rather different color. Notice from the picture above that the helmets look
almost gray. They aren't. They are khaki. But they take the light very differently.

For my armies I almost always find a different color for the helmets because of this
material difference. For my French, I use Tamiya "Khaki Drab". This is the color that one
might paint a British ETO vehicle in 1944. Makes a nice grayer-green for the helmets. I
also tried Modelmasters "Medium Green", but didn't like it so much. Also, I find the
Tamiya colors have more of a "satin" finish, not as flat as Polly-S, but still not full gloss.
That helps the helmets catch the light a little differently.

Just my own experiences. Your mileage may vary.