Helikon-Tex History of Camouflage eBook

[Jamsandwich]

Hey guys,

Got an email come through from Helikon recently to download a free eBook all about the history of camouflage (mainly Europe).

Helikon-Tex Link

I haven't read through it all but it's short and quite interesting in a nerdy way.  You have to subscribe to the newsletter but it's easy enough to unsubscribe afterwards and I quite like their gear anyway.

Screen grab from the back -

View attachment 112318

 

[Tommikka]

I’ve subscribed and obtained a copy which I’ll go through later in the week

But on first glance I was about to say how poor a history they have shown starting with the French (if we exclude nature) but the document itself doesn’t claim to be a history - just “camouflage in a nutshell”

The French have a valid claim to the term ‘camouflage’ as it’s their word.  But camouflaging combatants dates further back to pesky colonials, and far back to ancient times for ships etc long before dazzle patterns

No mention of ghillies, only one reference to snipers (without context on their camouflage needs and no reference to the origins of Snipe/sniper which would give a handy circle back to nature)

It still looks interesting though 

 

[Jamsandwich]

To be fair they did very briefly mention the use of camouflage by hunters prior to WW1 but it was just a sentence.

It's a fairly well written brief read, though I'm guessing it's acting more as a marketing tool mostly discussing patterns that they sell with a few others.  Must say, I'm slightly tempted to try Pencott as a result.

The bit on camouflage in the animal kingdom was quite amusing in its simplicity but I think my favourite bit was the TigerStripe pic after all the other camo patterns being presented in actual environments.

 

[Tommikka]

To be fair they did very briefly mention the use of camouflage by hunters prior to WW1 but it was just a sentence.

I missed that, having skimmed.

One sentence each will need to cover most things with the size of it