German tanks were originally delivered in a dark grey finish known as Panzergrau. This grey shade, which incorporated a blue element, was one of the most widely used and encountered of all German tank camouflage finishes, but after about 1942 or 1943 German tanks were delivered in an alternative sand-coloured shade which had originally been applied to Afrika Korps vehicles serving in Africa. This sand-yellow shade was also found to be very suitable for the conditions on the Russian steppes, but in 1944 tanks were again being delivered in the original grey finish. On occasion, tanks were encountered with a basic earth brown scheme, but this was in the early years of 1939 and 1940 only.
Tanks were rarely used in action in their basic colour schemes alone. In addition to the basic grey or sand yellow, tank units were issued with supplies of paint in shades of olive green, light grey, red-brown and dark yellow. These were applied by the tank crews themselves to suit local conditions, and were applied in a wide, combination of camouflage schemes and colours. The extra colours were either applied by brush of were sprayed on to the tanks using spray equipment issued at company level. On occasion there was no time to apply carefully worked-out schemes and a suitable colour was often applied by throwing the paint at the side of the tank from cans!
The colour combinations were many and varied. A common scheme was sand yellow overlaid by olive green patches or stripes. Some units used schemes which involved the use of the basic grey with red-brown, yellow and green patches. Schemes used were sometimes very elaborate when a unit had time to apply them. Some schemes used splinter or lozenge markings overall, a typical example being the yellow 'spotted' panzer grey overall finish employed in the pine forests of North-West Europe in 1944 and 1945. In the Normandy bocage some Panther units employed a complex lozenge scheme with red-brown and dark grey being the predominant colours.
In winter conditions, when snow covered the ground, German crews followed the usual pattern of daubing their tanks with white paint — not making their vehicles pure white but leaving enough of the basic colour to form a camouflage pattern. Whitewash was often used for winter schemes in preference to paint as it could be quickly and easily removed when the snow melted.
These finishes were applied over the basic colour scheme of the tank as delivered from the factory, and from early 1944 onwards tanks were delivered coated in a grey coat of 'Zimmerit'. This was a plaster-like substance applied over the whole of the tank which gave the surface a degree of protection from magnetic anti-tank devices likely to be applied by infantry tank-killer squads. Zimmerit was applied in a rough and corrugated finish which gave the vehicles to which it was applied a matt and worn appearance.
