Waffenfarbe HELP

[ngs3]

I am trying to gather examples of the following waffenfarbe to compare: Light Brown and Light Gray. Can anyone post good images of early Army Signals, Luftwaffe Signals, SS KZ and propaganda colors? Also any copper brown or other brown shades.

Thanks!

Neil

[Dave Suter]

Here are a couple. First is Luftwaffe signals -

[Dave Suter]

And early Heer construction...

[ngs3]

Thanks Sarge ! This is exactly what I'm hoping for. The browns are an interesting waffenfarbe and like the more popular greens must come in a variety of shades. My goal with this thread is, to capture in one place some examples to see what shades are in collections and how much they varied. In particular I would like to document that of early Army Signals units--prior to April 1936. Is it close to copper brown? Is it close to light gray?

Thanks again for your help.

Does anyone else have some examples they can share?

Gratefully,

Neil

[Frosch]

Luftwaffe signals

Judging by the entries in a Luftwaffe NCO's Wehrpass, these boards were almost certainly in use after March 1941. In March 1943 he was transferred to Grenadier-Regiment 261 and was KIA in September.

The boards are a bit grubby and the scan is a bit dark (sorry), but the image should help for comparison purposes. One day I will finally get around to buying a Kodak colour scale to help overcome the calibration differences between my scanner, monitor, etc.

Regards,

David

[ngs3]

David,

Thank you for the example . Emminently usable as a reference!

It looks very much like all 3 examples are close to the same shades of brown (which is what I expected). It seems to me that the number of colors used for waffenfarbe would be more restricted than portrayed in Angolia & Schlicht's Uniforms & Traditions of the German Army. I think the point they made about variations is lost in the confusing display of color samples. I've seen some variations in brown--one example I'll post here after we get some--hopefully--more examples.

Thanks again for taking the time to post your shoulder board,

Neil

[Frosch]

By the way ...

The small brown piece thread at the square end on the underneath on the left board is not a bit of fluff, but what is left of the stitching used to stop the boards from moving around too much on the retaining loops.

David

[ngs3]

So what does this color belong to?


Thanks,

Neil

[ngs3]

Another try . . .

second try:

[Dave Suter]

What do the boards look like? My guess is that this was once white, but that collar tab stitching makes me wornder - or is it just reflecting light oddly in the photo?

[ngs3]

Ah Hah! You asked THE question!

If you are seeing a pale brown, you are seeing the color of the waffenfarbe. It is matching on every piped edge of this Waffenrock. Inside the seams the color is the same (it's a barely worn jacket). So what color is it? light brown? light gray? or, in other words, is it Signal? or Propaganda?

Thanks, Dave!

[Dave Suter]

My best guess would be pre-1936 signals, which used a light brown color. I can't think of any other possibility. Any chance the waffenrock is dated......

[ngs3]

Of course no date (why make it easy?). But how do you square the color on the jacket with the generally medium brown tones of the examples provided in this thread?

[Dave Suter]

Early Signals used LIGHT brown. The other branches used COPPER and DARK brown. Go look here - http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/unif.../Rank/Rank.htm

[ngs3]

Dave, I know zip about non-Heer units. Are you saying the official color designation for other waffenfarbe was true brown (plain brown?) or copper brown and no other service used hellbraun? That is why I wanted to see examples. As Angolia's color chart shows, when you go by color samples and not the regulation you can identify many shades as he did. I think that is misleading but important when trying to decide what the basic color was when ordered by the Army. I would like to say this is Signals but it has been suggested that it is also Propaganda.

Thanks for the responses, this is very helpful.

Neil