Panzer II Colours 1

 ART BY Carlos de Diego Vaquerizo

29- Pz. Kpfw. III Ausf. L (Sd. Kfz. 141/1), sch. Pz. Abt. 502, Tortolowo U. S. S. R., September 1942. Heavy armored Tiger vehicles were manufactured slowly, so in the schwere Panzerabteilungen, (Independent battalions of heavy armored vehicles) a few Panzer III's were included. At some point in this year, in the Stab of the 1. Kp. there were Tigers "100" and "101", while vehicle number "102" was a Panzer III that was replaced in October of that year for a Tiger. The color of this vehicle once it got out of the factory seems to be one of the light grays employed by the Luftwaffe, but it could also be Grau RAL 7027; the unit that the vehicle was entrusted to, painted some Feldgrau RAL 6006 camouflage spots. The battalion insignia, a mammoth drawn in a white outline, can be seen right by the machine gun in the front and on the back of the turret. The style in which the Balkenkreuz is painted is quite interesting because of the unusual color array.

30- Pz. Kpfw. III Ausf. J (Sd. Kfz. 141/1), Pz. Rgt. 15, 11. Pz. Div., southern sector of the Eastern Front, U. S. S. R., July 1942. The official distinctive of this division was a circle divided by a vertical bar, which was usually painted on all four sides of the armored vehicles. This unit also employed another symbol; a ghost yielding a sword and reclined on the front of a vehicle in motion. The motif was painted on both sides of the frame and in the large box that most armored vehicles had in the back. The Pz. Rgt. 15 was known for painting on its vehicles formation numerals with only two digits: the first one indicated the squad and the second one the position of the armored vehicle inside the squad. On top of the Grau RAL 7003 base coat, elongated Grün RAL 6007 spots have been painted to camouflage the vehicle.