"Western Desert, British khaki vs German khaki?" Topic

All,
I'm starting in on a small Western Desert project in 28mm. SAS/LRDG raids vs. DAK. I picture DAK khaki being a more yellow shade than British khaki. Am I correct? Yes, yes, I am aware of weathering etc., just want basic uniform suggestions.

Nick

Hi, Nick. maybe this might help?
link

Thanks Tom, that does help.

After a few days in the Sahara, there will be only one khaki--the color of the dust around you. It will be in your nose, in your eyes, in the outside of your clothes in the inside of your clothes, in your underwear, under your nails, etc. It will acquire special character with your sweat and the bleaching of the sun. Khaki is khaki is khaki.:)

If it helps, I basically going with early war DAK, that will work with Raiders of the Lost Ark as well as real WWII, so olive green jackets and khaki trousers and headgear.

The entire DAK uniform was olive green, not khaki at all. It fades quickly though, and ends up a yellowish shade. Only the Luftwaffe were issued sand coloured uniforms.

Many DAK troops wore bits and pieces of actual khaki uniforms though, much of it acquired from Italian or captured British stocks, although German troops generally kept their German jackets. Some officers had custom jackets made in sand colour.

In short, DAK are a right pain to paint as they are a ragtag mixture of everything from dark olive green to faded tan… The British are much easier as Khaki Drill is just KD, already sand coloured and just faded a bit.

I used to re enact both DAK and 8th Army, and we all spent a lot of time looking a original clothing and trying to fade our repro stuff to match.

Martin, thanks. So the DAK as often portrayed in films and tv are essentially incorrect?

Worth remembering that German forces were partial to the Italian Sahariana jacket when they could got it, and that all the Axis forces made use of captured British khaki after the fall of Tobruck.

I have seen a very wide range of colors shown as German "olive" but if Martin says it was all green prior to fading, I'm inclined to take his word for it. And of course in 6mm I do greenish DAK just so they can be told from the British.