Inflatable tank, hidden Kremlin and other tricks in the history of camouflage

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Inflatable tank, hidden Kremlin and other tricks in the history of camouflage


The Napoleonic Wars, the wars in Europe, the Crimean War, the Russian-Turkish wars, the colonial wars are not only the largest stories cases of aggression, but also the engine of progress in the field of armaments. In the same period, the development of the main tool of the partisan war, camouflage, began.



Most often in the thick of battle, instantly determining who is close to you was helped by a bright form. An important role in terms of form was played by the traditions of the division: uniform colors, hats, and equipment. But it was precisely this that helped the enemy, who could easily notice the movements of the soldiers of the enemy army. It was necessary to create something special so that the soldiers could "get lost" on the battlefield.

By the end of the First World War the Russian army wore a dull gray-yellow-green color, the British drab (the color of a tobacco leaf), the Germans feldgrau (green-gray), the French gray-blue. But during the war, experts concluded that the protective color for reliable masking is not enough. Therefore, they soon came to understand that in order to better disguise the monotonous fabric was not entirely appropriate and began to experiment with spots on the form.

The first camouflage can be considered the form of "khaki", which appeared during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). The British began this war in their traditional form of red, and the Boers used it, destroying the perfectly visible soldiers of Britain. In this connection, the British took steps to change the bright uniforms to a uniform form. The new form because of its color has received the name "khaki", which in Hindi means "dusty, dirty" (in Hindi, this word came from another language - Farsi, where it translates as "dirt", in the sense of land, soil) . Now this word is available in almost all languages ​​of the world.

The Boer War ended, and the leading powers of the world (including Russia) urgently introduced a monophonic type of uniforms.

Actually during the Russo-Japanese War there were no special changes in changing the form of clothes, because even though the armies had become invisible, the battle tactics basically remained old (large large-scale battles by military units, in which the soldier’s individual disguise was not taken into account). Separate masking options - manual painting of parts of the form, refusal to wash clothes, etc. - isolated cases undertaken by individual soldiers and commanders in order to save personnel.

The main impetus in the development of camouflage came in the period of the First World War. The desire to create a universal, for all types of terrain, military uniform, led to the understanding that the uniform should not be monotonous. However, the idea came to use in the coloring of several colors at the same time. Further studies have already been conducted on the most effective number of colors, the shape of spots, etc.

In Soviet Russia, the High School of military camouflage was even created in 20, and already in 1927, three types of camouflage uniforms appeared in the Soviet army (white winter suit, summer one with bast bundles glued to it, summer green hoodie with brown applications) . The rest of the armies of the world also did not sit idly: during World War II, Germany used around 30 various camouflage colors.

Masking equipment and buildings

Inflatable technology or "Phantom Army." During the war years, many types of landscape masks were tested, as well as equipment mock-ups, whose main task was to mislead the enemy.

Inflatable Tanks appeared in the USSR in the 30s. The first prototype was the T-26 inflatable tank. During the Second World War, inflatable "tanks" and "aircraft" were produced for the needs of the front by the thousands. As an example, during the battle on the Kursk Bulge, 800 prototypes of tanks and 200 prototypes of inflatable aircraft were used.






It is known for certain that in the USSR there existed a special purpose 23 detachment. It included 1100 artists, illustrators, designers and sound engineers from art schools. Their task was not to fight, but to create an imitation of the stay of a large number of armed forces, combat units of equipment.



With the help of this detachment, more than 20 operations were arranged, during which fictitious headquarters, inflatable tanks were built, airplanes and artillery were drawn. Sound engineers installed amplifiers to simulate noise as with a large crowd of troops. All this existed only for one purpose - to confuse the enemy.

Fake Cities

Moscow


In the very first days of the war, the commandant of the Moscow Kremlin, Major General Nikolai Spiridonov, in a secret note addressed to Beria, suggested that they immediately proceed to disguise the Kremlin and the surrounding territories. Performing a "special government assignment," a group of architects and engineers, led by Academician Boris Iofan, developed a project that was fantastic for that time.

28 drawings, drawings, diagrams, personal notes of architect Boris Iofan, exhausted, multi-colored, as if from a children's coloring - the building of the main residence of the country. The Moscow Kremlin was turned into invisibility.


This is how they painted the square in front of the Kremlin - from a great height a complete illusion of dense urban development is created. the photo also clearly shows how the Kremlin walls were painted "under the house"


Manege building in camouflage paint



Disguise of the Bolshoi Theater

The stars on the Kremlin towers went out almost immediately - they were covered, the golden heads of the Kremlin cathedrals were painted, the walls of the walls were covered with plywood, windows and doors were painted on the walls themselves.

By the mausoleum, from where Lenin's body was already evacuated on July 3, two more floors were completed. The entire wooden structure is connected to the first hull.



A fantastic project to disappear from the face of the Moscow Kremlin worked.


Sketches of changes

Carefully masked industrial facilities. To hide the famous enterprise "ZIS" and a ball-bearing factory, resorted to grandiose fake buildings. In addition to camouflage camouflage, it was decided to build a fake plant in the wastelands.

Non-existent roads stretched everywhere, and the real ones were painted under the roofs of houses.

Strategic Volokolamskoe and Leningradskoye Highways, as if viewed from a height, seemed to have ceased to exist. The Leningradskoye highway was blocked with models of houses, pieces of plywood imitating roofs.

Leningrad

The main subject of the disguise was a special mesh with pieces of fabric sewn on it that mimic vegetation. However, reconnaissance aircraft with the help of special filters could easily recognize the camouflage net if it was not covered with real vegetation and special undecipherable paint. The Leningrad chemical plant was engaged in the production of the latter, but as regards living vegetation woven into the network, blockade members had some problems. Given the fact that the blockade of Leningrad lasted for a long time, the vegetation had to be alive, otherwise the enemy could easily recognize the disguise by faded leaves. The solution was found by botanists, who invented a unique method of canning picked plants, thanks to which even felled trees permanently retained their natural color.


Masking Smolny during the siege of Leningrad. Photo 1942, the archive of the Memorial Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad

But camouflage nets and mothballed plants are not the only means of disguise. Objects such as the Petropavlovsk or St. Isaac's cathedrals, stadiums, as well as the domes and spiers of various buildings, could still serve as a reference point for enemy bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Some of them were just enough to paint in gray so that they merged with the overall picture of the city, but for some buildings the usual painting was not only ineffective, but could hurt. For example, the spire of the Main Admiralty with the figure of a ship at the very top, one of the symbols of Leningrad and modern St. Petersburg, was decorated with the thinnest sheets of gold leaf, planted on a special glue. The solution to the problem was as simple as it was ingenious: they decided to close the spire with a huge rag cover, the final weight of which was 500 kilograms.


Removing a camouflage cover from the Admiralty spire, photo 1944


St. Isaac's Square. Photo by J. Brodsky, 1942

Perhaps the hardest and most dangerous was the disguise of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, surmounted by a golden spire with the figure of a flying angel. In November, 1941, the climbers Mikhail Bobrov and Leonid Zhukovsky, first climbed the internal staircase to the outdoor exit. Then they acted at their own peril and risk, having reached the summit of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in a gale-force wind along a flimsy staircase, where they fixed a cable on which people later climbed.


The topman M. M. Shestakov performs camouflage work on the steeple of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

But the matter was not limited to camouflage nets and painting, the residents of besieged Leningrad had to completely change the appearance of the city with the help of built from plywood and wood complexes imitating residential buildings. So, to conceal the factories, for example, plywood cities were erected on their roofs. From a height of similar buildings resembled residential areas, which was misleading the enemy. Similar structures were erected in stadiums and other objects that can serve as a guide.


Masking of the propylene in Smolny during the siege of Leningrad. Photo 1942, the archive of the Memorial Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad

Often, a significant object for the city was turned into ruins with the help of wooden sham designs, and a plywood copy of the building was erected nearby. As a result, plywood copies were subjected to constant air strikes while the originals actually remained intact.


Monument to Nicholas I.


Drawings drawings for the Bronze Horseman

The ships that stood near the city were practically protected as well. For example, the famous cruiser "Kirov", which stood on the Neva from September 4 1941, was covered with a camouflage net, and a plywood ship was installed next to it, which was subjected to a fierce German attack. Such a cunning move, of course, saved the ship. Thus, during the Luftwaffe Aisstoss air operation in April 1942, Kirov received only 4 bombing and one artillery hit. The ship managed to be saved, but then 86 people died on the cruiser.

The influence of art on the disguise of ships

The masking of large military facilities and equipment proceeded on a much larger scale. In particular, the naval ships. It is hard to imagine now, but most warships were completely covered with a multicolored geometric abstraction. Why were such "funny pictures" needed?


French light cruiser "Gloire"

The thing is that when World War I began, the Allied ships were defenseless against German submarines. Any attempts to disguise ships at sea were unsuccessful. Whatever the color combination that hid the ship in one situation, it became noticeable in others.

The first to paint “zebra-like” ships was the English professor of zoology, Graham Kerr. In a letter sent to Winston Churchill (at that time the First Lord of the Admiralty) in September 1914, Kerr wrote: "A continuous uniform color makes the object visible. Applying sharply contrasting stains of color gives the impression of a fracture of the surface." The idea seemed too extravagant, and they simply dismissed it. They recalled an unusual offer only six months later - the ever-increasing losses of the British fleet Kaiser submarines were required to take emergency measures. In the spring of 1915, the Admiralty ordered to begin experiments with a "distorting" color, which received the official name "dazzle camouflage".

"Blinding camouflage" (eng. Dazzle camouflage), which is also known as "Blinding Kutermey" (eng. Razzle dazzle) or "painting blinding" (eng. Dazzle painting). The design of the picture resembles a cubist picture, which depicts a huge number of colored geometric shapes chaotically mixed with each other.

Cubism

The glare effect was achieved due to the broad black and white wavy stripes painted on the body. Thanks to them, the visible proportions and contours change.

The principles of the so-called blinding camouflage are the result of the cooperation of artists, scientists and the military. The founder is considered to be the artist Norman Wilkinson, but it is possible that he used the ideas of Thayer, and later a whole group of artists were involved in the work on disguise. Each ship was decorated with its own pattern, having previously tested the camouflage coloring on the bulk models of ships. The purpose of this optical illusion was to confuse enemy observers. The speed of the torpedoes at that time was quite low, and the price of weapons was high, so before releasing the torpedo into a military vessel, the captain of the submarine needed to think through everything and calculate the speed, angle of entry and direction, that is, to make quite complex calculations. The founders of military camouflage hoped to further complicate this task: it is much more difficult to get into the ship, which floats backwards, as well as with the waves painted on the stern.

Hence the paintings in the spirit of Picasso or Malevich. By the way, the phrase of Pablo Picasso himself during the First World War is known, that he invented all the disguises in the war. Of course, the great artist, as often happened, exaggerated a little, but in his words was partly true.

During the Russian-Japanese war, the Russian destroyers of the Vladivostok detachment were spotted "to match the coast." Who is the author of this idea is unknown. But the fact remains: for the first time, classic camouflage, which makes the ship unobtrusive against the coast and at the same time distorting its silhouette, was used precisely in the Russian fleet.


Russian destroyers carrying camouflage color. Vladivostok, 1905


The world's first classic aircraft carrier - the British "Argus" in camouflage, 1918 g.


Transport "Olympic". During the First World War, the brother of the famous "Titanic" was used to transport troops and carried camouflage.


An example of an unusual camouflage of the First World War - the American battleship "Nebraska"

"The Second Coming" blinding color falls on the period of the Second World War. The variety of colors and drawings applied on the sides of ships of various classes is striking. Chess cells and undulating lines, triangles and squares, shapeless spots, hatching, inconceivable patterns of all colors of the rainbow ... Surprisingly, all this "apotheosis of abstractionism" was the theoretical basis.
For example, in the US Navy there was a regulated, albeit rather overloaded, classification of all camouflage patterns.
The nature of the color (monophonic or camouflage) was determined by the basic type (measure), which was assigned its own number - 1, 5, 11, 12, etc. Next came the project number (design), which standardized the camouflage pattern. The last letter in the designation corresponded to the class of the ship, the coloring scheme was related to it (for example, for aircraft carriers it was the letter A, for the battleships - B). Thus, camouflage paint, say, the aircraft carrier CV-12 "Hornet" had the designation "Measure 33 design 3A". But that is not all. Each shade used was also standardized, had its name and number - for example, ocean gray (ocean gray) 5-0, hazy gray (haze gray) 5-Н, naval blue (navy blue) 5-N ...
The founding artists of cubism could not even imagine that the scientific institutes would be engaged in the development of drawings and colors of abstract paintings, and the study of their perception with the human eye would form the basis for closed dissertations!


Italian ships of the Second World War: the heavy cruiser “Bolzano” (above) and the light cruiser “Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta” in camouflage coloring called “double fish bone”, February 1941 (bottom)

Along with the usual oil paints on the Black Sea Fleet, silver paint was used - paint based on aluminum powder. It is able to reflect the color of the water, and the areas covered with it change the shade depending on the weather, making camouflage more versatile. In addition, several Black Sea ships received a rather complex camouflage pattern with "feathering" - a smooth transition from a dark tone to a light one.


The destroyer of the Black Sea Fleet "Sobrazitelny" is one of the few owners of the "gradient" color, in which the dark tones smoothly turned into light

Was there any benefit from such camouflage? Sure yes!

Recall, at least, an attempt by a German submarine to sink the Storm Black Sea guard, when, despite the ideal attack conditions, all the torpedoes passed by. "Storm" had a complex camouflage with smooth transitions between colors, and it was suggested that this was what caused the error in the definition of its course angle by the Germans.


Picture of Alexander Jackson "Convoy", 1919
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22 comments
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  1. +10
    23 November 2016 06: 12
    An interesting article. The main thing is that it all works.
    1. +3
      23 November 2016 10: 58
      Thank you)
      Yes, it acts and how
  2. +6
    23 November 2016 06: 19
    Interesting. Or maybe the battleship Sovetsky Soyuz is standing somewhere under a mask, but no one sees it?
    1. +11
      23 November 2016 06: 56
      battleship "Soviet Union" and the I. Stalin armored train!
  3. +2
    23 November 2016 07: 29
    Thank you for the article.
    ... start experimenting with "distorting"the color that has received the official name" dazzle camouflage ".

    The name "deforming" is somehow more familiar to me. It is clear that the name "distorting" is more familiar, so the question, which name is more correct, is more common?
    1. +4
      23 November 2016 14: 44
      The article is certainly interesting. It would probably be more readable if the author used the accepted terminology. For example, staining is protective, deforming and imitating. Similarly, masks are also protective, deforming and imitating.
      In 1927, by the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council for supply, only a winter camouflage suit was adopted (composition: jacket, trousers, mittens, tape for weapons). The camouflage suits indicated by the author were worn over uniforms, which remained plain. The uniforms switched to the deforming color only at the end of the 90's (border troops at the turn of the 70's - 80's).
      During the Second World War, false objects (mock-ups of equipment) were made from improvised materials (plywood). For sound imitation of the activity of troops, broadcasting stations (ZVS) were used, and army radio stations were used to simulate radio exchange.
      Beginning in the second half of the 1942, as part of the army and front-line operations, false operations were always planned and carried out. From the archival German documents that I was able to study, it turns out that 50% of these false operations have reached their goal.
      The first serial inflatable mock-ups of equipment (air-volume) appeared in our 50-s - these were mock-ups of T-54 tanks and mock-ups of turret tanks T-54.
      And the last one. During the Second World War, 5 engineering armies were formed. One of them was used exclusively to create false objects.
  4. +6
    23 November 2016 07: 57
    Really curious. I knew before that the Kremlin was masked, but how it was done - I see it for the first time. Thank you for the article.
  5. +2
    23 November 2016 08: 02
    It is extremely interesting. Thank!
  6. +1
    23 November 2016 08: 02
    Thank! There was still an interesting note on this subject, about Professor Schwanwich
    http://svpressa.ru/society/article/16691/
  7. +2
    23 November 2016 08: 02
    I recommend that the author search photos from German reconnaissance aircraft during World War II. It is clearly visible there that the disguise of the Kremlin, for example, is clearly visible in these pictures. Therefore, it did not help to confuse German intelligence. This is another matter: they bombed at night, and blackout worked well, and most importantly, Moscow’s air defense was simply insurmountable for German aviation, and there was no serious damage in the center of Moscow.
    And the ship was abandoned from camouflage in the first period of the VM as being ineffective. This author for some reason does not indicate.
    1. +2
      23 November 2016 09: 42
      So you added something to the positive. And so everything was well read.
      1. 0
        23 November 2016 13: 26
        Here's another positivist! laughing
    2. +1
      23 November 2016 11: 00
      Not indicated. since the VM did not want to touch
      But, you are right, they refused it
    3. jjj
      +1
      23 November 2016 18: 24
      Quote: Engineer
      Photos from reconnaissance aircraft of the Germans during the Great Patriotic War. It is clearly visible there that the disguise of the Kremlin, for example, is clearly visible in these pictures.

      Yes, I also read in translation the German recollections of this.
      By inflatable technique. In Severodvinsk there is a photographer Vladimir Berbenets. He urgently served in a diesel boat in Soviet times. Once, when the boat was in Severodvinsk, he kept watch at the pump, which pumped up the inflatable boat. It so happened that at night, when the air cools, the inflatable boat was not pumped up, and the hull bent like a horseshoe. And at this time, just the American satellite flew by and the weather was clear.
      The captain of the Sevmashev tugboat spoke about inflatable boats, he towed them across the water from pier to pier
  8. +2
    23 November 2016 12: 40
    The article mentions sound simulators. I immediately remembered the memoirs of A.T. Altunin (during the years of my service - army general, my direct superior), in 1944 the captain, battalion commander. During the offensive, they drove the Germans into a grove to the German battalion and could not cope with them. They received an order to surrender these Germans to the care of a company of machine gunners Captain Sergeyev and continue to move forward. What happened next? A company of machine gunners along the route discovered a tractor. The tractor driver was found among the personnel. All night the tractor dragged empty fuel barrels tied to it around the grove, creating an incredible roar. At dawn, the German battalion, in an organized manner, surrendered. They thought that tanks had arrived and were very surprised when a tractor pulled up to their ranks and captain Sergeyev kissed a grimy tractor driver.
    I specially looked in the database "People's feat", but Captain Sergeev did not receive the Order of Kutuzov at that time, which is a pity!
    1. 0
      23 November 2016 13: 10
      I barely found it. Sergeyev Ivan Alekseevich, commander of a separate company of machine gunners, subsequently major, battalion commander.
  9. +2
    23 November 2016 13: 16
    On the issue of modern camouflage ... I noticed several times that, driving past the Kremlin, the navigator begins to determine the location of the car in the area of ​​Michurinsky Prospekt / Vnukovo ...-))
    1. 0
      26 November 2016 01: 37
      moscowp

      Speaking of cards.

      Until 1990, it was difficult to find a road map. More precisely, they were but were rare and of a large scale. If you are a motorist, navigating in the city was difficult.
      Any detailed maps were only military and of course with the seals of secretaries.
      The army happened to see a map of the Ukrainian SSR, a kilometer scale, glued from fragments. The sight was impressive. There was time to consider in more detail.
      1. 0
        26 November 2016 01: 53
        Quote: gladcu2
        Until 1990, it was difficult to find a road map.


        Well, yes, they also put Beatles behind the records, right?
        The Atlas of Highways of the USSR was published in 1946, then it was reprinted with a frequency of 5 ... 7 years.
  10. 0
    23 November 2016 20: 46
    Any military man with a disguise is familiar in practice. And with decryption too. Established means make it possible to make camouflage very effective, but it is usually usually given by secondary signs in the form of additional "dead-end" roads, trails, dug trenches and decorating general gadgets (various checkpoints, bright stands and posters, army parallelism and perpendicularity, exemplary public places, etc.) commander's UAZs).
    During his service, he repeatedly studied the results of space and airborne imagery: the equipment is not visible at the positions, but the traces of the life of the units according to clever directions are visible, and more and more recently there are more unmasking signs. the military will understand me. Disguise the tank, but make a cinder path for it, clear it and mark the dorgu for the gas refueling box with flags, make a beautiful shelving for ammunition and put the RED fire truck nearby for safety!
    I really want to believe that our participation in the Syrian company will teach something and experience will transfer to the troops.
  11. 0
    23 November 2016 23: 57
    The author is my respect! drinks I have long known about this, but so briefly and clearly .... respect in general! soldier
  12. 0
    24 November 2016 01: 21
    During the war, a fake Gelendzhik was built. The Germans bombed him. Interestingly, somewhere else around the country were such plywood cities?

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