WWII British & Commonwealth Uniforms

A khaki that was never uniform

The British field uniform in woolen serge was described in 1940 as brown-green, but the shade differed by maker, by batch of wool and by how many months it had spent in the sun. A washed blouse after a year in the field was noticeably lighter and grayer than a new one out of the crates. A painter is therefore not looking for one correct color but for the range within which all those variations moved.

From the Western Desert to the Rhine

Soldiers from India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa wore cotton khaki drill in Africa and Burma, which is markedly yellower and lighter than European battledress. To that are added the camouflage prints of airborne smocks, khaki webbing impregnated with green Blanco, the brown leather of boots and belts, and the blackened steel of helmets. A convincing figure is made up of exactly these materials, and each of them calls for a different base.

How to work with the shades

On a figure it pays to lay the darkest tone into the folds, the middle one on the flat areas and the lightest only on the edges and the crests of folds. Wool has no sheen, so a final matte surface is part of the impression; cotton may be noticeably lighter and cooler. Do not forget that dust changes everything at once: a light filter over a finished figure will unify the shades better than the most careful mixing beforehand.

The details that complete a figure

What hangs on a uniform belongs to it just as much. The straps of load carrying equipment were coated with a green paste compound that lightened once dry and rubbed back to the light at every movement, canvas bags faded faster than cloth, and leather straps darkened instead. Give those three materials a different value of brightness and the finished figure looks convincing even without a single further shade.