Forest Green Abrams are back!

Interesting. I didn't realise they had been painting all there tanks for the desert. I thought they would have just painted them as needs must.

The vehicle in the video would make an interesting model.  It has the desert tan running gear, green hull, and camo netting.  

The paint used is a temporary, water-based paint being applied by the crews when deployed to Europe as part of a rotational force.  The green paint is washed off and the tanks returned to sand when the unit redeploys back to the US.

Water based?  Does it wash off in the rain?

The camo netting almost gives it a 3-color NATO scheme look to it.  Love those tanks in green.  In fact, I did a TUSK abrams and gave it some NATO green elements (mudguards, fume extractor, a couple of the road wheels).

Solid green? Like the early 80's M1s between MERDC and NATO Tri color?

 Yep that's cool Got a blend in. The dark gray German ww2 camo didn't make much sense to me. I just figured it was to blend in the dark forest of the area.

Then I read it was done to park in the shadows of city's to avoid aircraft

Not sure why they when to dark yellow Russian step maybe. But that's the same with desert color m1 just don't blend with heavy green forest area.

I know this a m1 post but if anyone knows why German used there colors I would like to hear about it.

Here's a link showing one of the tanks on my base that has recently been repainted:  https://www.dvidshub.net/video/518842/m1-abrams-tank-crew

You can see the road wheels are still desert yellow; harder to see are the bottom of the hull and the sides of the hull inside the wheels, but they are also still desert yellow.

Armor, you work at Graf?

blackdog62

 Yep that's cool Got a blend in. The dark gray German ww2 camo didn't make much sense to me. I just figured it was to blend in the dark forest of the area.

Then I read it was done to park in the shadows of city's to avoid aircraft

Not sure why they when to dark yellow Russian step maybe. But that's the same with desert color m1 just don't blend with heavy green forest area.

I know this a m1 post but if anyone knows why German used there colors I would like to hear about it.

 

The gray/brown and later all gray was used ostensibly to hide the vehicles in the shadows of trees and what not when parked. It was not optimum in the western desert, so other colors (tropen) were developed for the Mediterranean area.

Rolling through the steppes (plains) of Russia the crews noticed the tanks became covered in the yellow dust/pollen of the area. That, and vast areas devoid of trees, prompted the dark yellow base color with the red brown/dark green added as required. 

Yep, sure do work at Graf!  Been here seven years...

Armor_Aficionado

Yep, sure do work at Graf!  Been here seven years...

 

I've never been thru there myself but have heard many tales. I have been thru NTC and CMTC though several times each,... amongst other places...

Armor_Aficionado

Yep, sure do work at Graf!  Been here seven years...

 

My son just left Vilseck several months ago. Went back to Huachuca.

I spent a week at the base at Grafenwoehr, must have been late 90's, on the M2 simulators, this was before the British army got our own. Couldn't believe the facilities they have on those bases, especially compared to ours.

As an Army tanker in Germany (Dec 87 to Dec 90), Graf and Hohenfels were our second home. Although sometimes it seemed like we spent more time there than at home. I was a single officer so after gunnery, the battalion would bus all the married soldiers back to Mannheim (often called a "hard ___ run") so they would not be eligible for the $30 family separation allowance that the Army paid married folks for being apart from their loved ones for over 30 days straight. They'd take the bus one day and return the next.

Single soldiers and officers would guard the vehicles at Graf until the battalion returned and then we'd road march to Hohenfels for another several weeks.

Frankenpanzer..thank you.  hiding there armor in the shadows of buildings from aircraft seemed a bit limited to base your armor color on. 

blackdog62

Frankenpanzer..thank you.  hiding there armor in the shadows of buildings from aircraft seemed a bit limited to base your armor color on. 

 

Where ever that tidbit of info came from was a bit incorrect. Prewar Panzer spent a lot more time in the countryside than in towns or villages. But using shadows for concealment works against ground observation as well as air observation. Add foliage for even better concealment. 

The strange thing is I think I got that info from a Stuka pilot memoirs. I read so much it's hard to say but didn't make much sense. 

Jerry.

Bish

Interesting. I didn't realise they had been painting all there tanks for the desert. I thought they would have just painted them as needs must.

 

Not all US Army tanks are sand desert camouflage. Several stateside units have green tanks as does the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. 3 color NATO M1A2 tanks are there.

http://www.2id.korea.army.mil/pom/winners.asp