PzKpfW V 'Panther' camouflage #R02#

bookcover  Panther In Color Waffen SS (Paperback) by Waldemar Trojca: Amazon

Koen,
  Very nice shots of Panthers in camo.  It never ceases to amaze me how there is such a variety for camoflage schemes.  It is almost as if those crazy rear-echelon types were trying to individualize the tanks they painted, as if they were artists and no two tanks were supposed to be alike.  Since they couldn't make each one look exactly alike, there would be variety no matter what.

  I wonder if tank commanders tried to seek out a certain spray paint non-com at times, and ask for a distinctive pattern.  It wouldn't be the first time this happened in the German war machine.  Look at the Flying Circus in WWI, and how fighter aces tried to individualize their planes in both WWI and WWII.  As an accomplished tank commander I would be looking for two things:  camoflage that increased my chances of survival on the battlefield; and maybe a slightly different scheme that made it easier for my own tankers to pick out where my tank was, for leadership purposes perhaps.  Sometimes I wonder about that.  I mentioned the amazing variety to Earl Gray too, for his posting on jagdpanthers.

                           Heinrich505