Camo by country

The Camo Guide › Camo by country

Every entry in our Camo Guide, sorted by country of origin. Pick a country and you’ll find each entry with its dates, sources and how sure we are.

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30 countries81 entriesWritten in Glasgow at 81 Queen Street

How to read this page. Countries are where a pattern or event began, as given on each entry. Many patterns were also worn elsewhere; the full entry says where. “How sure” uses the same labels as the rest of the guide.

Germany

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1916	Franz Marc’s painted tarpaulins	First World War	Wikipedia only
1916 or 1917	Printed lozenge fabric for aircraft	First World War	Disputed
7 July 1918	Painted German helmets	First World War	Official source
1931	Splittermuster 31	Second World War	Disputed
1937	Reversible camouflage smocks	Second World War	Official source
1937	Platanenmuster	Second World War	Disputed
1939 or 1942	Rauchtarnmuster	Second World War	Disputed
1940 or 1941	Palmenmuster	Second World War	Disputed
1941	Luftwaffe Splittermuster 41	Second World War	Disputed
1941 to 1943	Eichenlaubmuster A and B	Second World War	Disputed
1943	Sumpfmuster 43	Second World War	Confirmed
1944	Sumpfmuster 44	Second World War	Confirmed
1944	Erbsenmuster	Second World War	Confirmed
1945	Leibermuster	Second World War	Confirmed
20 February 1991	Flecktarn	Cold War	Official source

United States

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1896 – 1909	Abbott Thayer and countershading	First World War	Single source
1 April 1918	Women’s Reserve Camouflage Corps	First World War	Single source
1942	Frog Skin (M1942)	Second World War	Confirmed
1976	Dual-Tex	Cold War	Official source
1981	Chocolate chip (six-colour desert)	Cold War	Confirmed
Date still to confirm	Woodland (M81)	Cold War	Single source
1948 / 1967	ERDL	Korea and Vietnam	Confirmed
1990 – 1991	Chocolate chip in the Gulf	Middle East and Desert Storm	Confirmed
Photographs	US desert night camouflage	Middle East and Desert Storm	Photos only
1994	Testing urban camouflage	Modern	Single source
2002	MARPAT	Modern	Official source
2002	MultiCam	Modern	Confirmed
2004	UCP (Universal Camouflage Pattern)	Modern	Official source
2009	US Navy NWU Type I	Modern	Single source
After 1944	From surplus to hunting	Fashion and film	Wikipedia only

United Kingdom

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1914	A Glasgow zoologist writes to Churchill	First World War	Wikipedia only
March 1916	Fake trees for spotters	First World War	Disputed
May 1917	Dazzle ships	First World War	Confirmed
By 1918	Painted sniper robes	First World War	Wikipedia only
1940	Hugh Cott’s Adaptive Coloration in Animals	Second World War	Single source
1942	Denison smock	Second World War	Official source
Malayan Emergency	Malaya: no camouflage	Cold War	Official source
1968	British DPM	Cold War	Official source
March 2010	MTP (Multi-Terrain Pattern)	Modern	Wikipedia only

France

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1914	France goes to war in red trousers	First World War	Official source
12 February 1915	The world’s first camouflage unit	First World War	Official source
Early in the war	Picasso and the Cubists	First World War	Disputed
Early 1950s	French Lizard (TAP 47)	Cold War	Official source
2016 – 2024	French BME	Modern	Official source

USSR

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1938	Soviet amoeba (MKK)	Second World War	Disputed
1941 to 1943	Winter on the Eastern Front	Second World War	Photos only
1942	Soviet leaf pattern	Second World War	Single source
1944	TTsMKK	Second World War	Disputed
1957 or 1968	Berezka (KLMK)	Cold War	Disputed

Poland

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1958	Polish wz.58 “deszczyk”	Cold War	Wikipedia only
1989	Polish “puma”	Cold War	Wikipedia only
1993	Polish wz.93 “Pantera”	Modern	Wikipedia only

Ukraine

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
2014 / 2015	Ukrainian MM-14	Modern	Confirmed
2025	Ukrainian MM-25	Modern	Official source
2022	Armbands and tape in Ukraine	Modern	Disputed

Hungary

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1938	Hungarian M1938	Second World War	Single source
1987	Hungary’s first camouflage uniform	Cold War	Single source

Norway

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
c. 1998	Norwegian M/98	Modern	Official source
2012 – 2023	Norway’s new pattern	Modern	Official source

Portugal

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1964	Portuguese Uniforme Camuflado m/964	Cold War	Disputed
2019	Portugal’s multi-terrain pattern	Modern	Single source

Argentina

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1982	Argentina in the Falklands	Cold War	Single source

Belgium

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1956 to 1958	Belgian Jigsaw	Cold War	Disputed

Canada

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1997	CADPAT	Modern	Official source

China

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
Reported 2007	Chinese Type 07	Modern	Official source

Czechoslovakia

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1 January 1965	Czechoslovak vz. 60 “jehličí”	Cold War	Single source

Denmark

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
Date still to confirm	Danish M/84	Cold War	Official source

Finland

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
In use 2007	Finnish M05	Modern	Official source

Israel

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1964	Israel and French lizard	Middle East and Desert Storm	Official source

Italy

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1929	Telo mimetico (M1929)	Second World War	Wikipedia only

Japan

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
24 May 1945	Giretsu: hand-dyed camouflage	Second World War	Confirmed

Mexico

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
2022	Mexican TE-3	Modern	Single source

Netherlands

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
2019	Dutch NFP	Modern	Official source

North Vietnam

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
Vietnam War	The other side: North Vietnam	Korea and Vietnam	Single source

Rhodesia

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
c. 1965	Rhodesian Brushstroke	Cold War	Wikipedia only

Serbia

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
Current	Serbian M10	Modern	Official source

South Korea

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
2008 – 2014	Korean digital granite	Modern	Official source

South Vietnam

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1959	Tigerstripe	Korea and Vietnam	Official source

Sweden

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1990	Swedish M90	Cold War	Wikipedia only

Switzerland

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
1950s	Swiss Alpenflage	Cold War	Wikipedia only

Vietnam

Year	Entry	Page	How sure
Current	Vietnamese K20	Modern	Single source

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