Camouflage on a war department railway

When the First World War began, the British were ahead of the French in camouflage - through sad experience. Khaki was the standard colour of their uniforms. Khaki - a Hindi word meaning earth coloured - was first used in military uniforms in British India in the mid-nineteenth century. The Meerut Guides were known as the Khaki Risala (khaki squadron). It was not generally introduced to the British Army until the Boer War 1899-1902; their bright uniforms presented the Boer snipers with excellent targets. By 1914, at the outbreak of war,even the kilts of the Scottish regiments and the uniforms of mounted officers were khaki.
It was not a perfect system, because hey! the Flanders mud and vegetable detritus was not khaki. Camouflage had to become more subtle.
The French learned from sad experience that their beautiful patriotic red-white-and-blue uniforms did not work in the field and went over to horizon blue for uniform. This was also the colour of the basic paintwork of the locomotives and rolling stock of their 60cm gauge field railways, originally designed by Prosper Péchot.

This painting by François Flameng shows a French trench at Mont Renaud in eastern France 1918. We can see that French horizon blue is not ideal, but a good overall camouflage colour. From Illustration magazine

This desperately sad picture of a trench shows that this greyish blue works. With the inevitable mud on their faces, the effect was complete - as long as they stayed still.
In a form of parallel evolution, locomotives used on the WDLR, the British 60cm gauge railways, were painted a darker grey. 
The art of camouflage had to go a little further. In 1909, the artist and naturalist Abbott Handerson Thayer had put forward the idea of  Disruptive Camouflage. He wondered why zebras have stripes and leopards spots. This disruptive colouring must have been successful, he assumed, by breaking up the outline of the person or object. As the first world war dragged on, the military began to use such ideas, though on objects rather than army uniform. Blotches near the edge of a vehicle would help to disguise straight lines.

16mm model of a WD class H (tanker) wagon built by Jim Hawkesworth using Wrightscale WD bogies.

This fine model of a WDLR water tanker Class H on Wrightscale WD bogies demonstrates the theory in action. Placed against a white background, it shows up like a jester in a carpark. If the model were running through dappled shade, it would be a different matter! Blotches break up the straight outline and bold vertical patches disrupt the horizontal flow of the eye. It was designed and painted by Jim Hawkesworth.
You may be wondering how he decided on the colour scheme. We know there were a number of artists working especially in Britain and the USA to develop ideas about camouflage.They came up with dazzle (in the USA razzle-dazzle). Not only should spots and stripes disrupt the outline but they would actually make it hard to judge speed and distance.

Entitled 'chars d'assaut' (assault tanks) July 18 - painting by François Flameng. From Illustration magazine.

We see the sharing of Allied ideas on a French St Chamond tank of 1918. This contemporary illustration by Flameng is particuarly useful by being in colour. We see how the monster's outline is broken up, all the better for it to sneak up on the enemy trenches and evade their guns. The colours - green, khaki, red and brown - might seem rather bright, but applied in combination they tone in the landscape. They are applied in splodges, all the better to break up the straight edges of the vehicle.
Other forms of camouflage were used. The screen is effective, especially to conceal movement in daylight. Such screens were used to conceal railway loading bays, at vulnerable points where there was no ground cover or to screen activity from the air. The observation balloon was much used from the late 19th century but but observer aeroplanes were soon in use by both sides. The Germans quite effectively used aerial troops and Zeppelins (manned balloons) for observation and bombing.

Entitled 'Canon de 138,6 de la marine' this picture by Henry Cheffer was made in June 1918. Now at full strength, the AEF had just engaged with the German Army at Bois de Belleau. The French called it la rupture/breakthrough. Illustration

Here a 380mm gun is screened from the air. The coloured mesh helps to break up outlines, but also enables vegetation to be laid over the gun and crew, hiding them without hampering their work.