There are topics that do not disappear after regular publications, but periodically arise after some events. As, for example, the theme of the Second World War before the next anniversary, the theme of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War before May 9. At the same time, the topics retain their relevance and interest of readers. This is the topic today.
It's about disguise. More precisely, about the camouflage of military equipment and weapons. The fact is that even among the military, there is a somewhat misconception about camouflage as such. Not to mention civilian readers. It is difficult to cover the whole topic. Therefore, I will reveal only the most essential and important aspects and talk about some types of camouflage. And let's start with the basics.
What is disguise
First of all, about the very concept of disguise. In the most primitive sense, disguise is the process of concealing one's own forces and means from the enemy. In fact, disguise is not only a "game of hide and seek", but also an imitation of the composition of one's own forces, weapons, fortifications, bridges, pipelines, airfields and others. This is a system of misleading the enemy.
Everyone knows the classic examples of such disguises. Moscow and Leningrad during the siege. When, with the help of certain measures, the cities became practically unknown to enemy pilots and artillerymen. On the map, one thing, in fact, another. Or a less well-known fact - the use of pseudo-tanks and pseudo-aircraft in the Battle of the Kursk Bulge by the Soviet side. When on the front line more than 500 tanks and 200 aircraft suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Concealment activities are carried out at various levels. In terms of the scale of the event, camouflage can be strategic, operational and tactical. Naturally, this involves various engineering, technical and organizational measures.
It is clear that masking cannot be absolute. It is impossible to practically mask an object from everything at once. It is theoretically possible, but practically … In a real situation, success can only be guaranteed by 100% knowledge of the enemy's reconnaissance means.
Hence another division of camouflage, by means of enemy reconnaissance. From "classics" like optical, thermal and sound to exotic like acoustic, hydroacoustic, radio engineering and others. Only complex camouflage is effective.
Some types of effective camouflage. Camouflage net
The most famous way to disguise equipment and weapons is known to everyone from films and their own service. This disguise is over a hundred years old. The camouflage net was first used in the First World War to cover artillery batteries and headquarters from enemy aircraft and reconnaissance. And as the number of nets increased, the infantry positions and even entire fortified areas began to be masked.
The main requirement for a camouflage net is its complete identity with the surrounding area. And the installation of such protection from a prying eye does not take much time. True, such a network can work effectively only at a certain distance. It rarely saves you from visual observation of enemy reconnaissance.
There is one more important drawback of this method of camouflaging equipment and weapons. The classic mesh cannot protect against thermal imaging or radar. Today, the classic mesh is more of an auxiliary camouflage than a self-camouflage. More precisely, one of the elements of disguise.
True, at present there are networks that are able to protect not only from visual, but also other types of reconnaissance - such as radar and thermal imagers. They are used to cover strategic missile silos, headquarters and other important facilities. Moreover, cloaking nets are used to completely block radio waves in both directions.
Despite its simplicity of design and worldwide fame, the camouflage net remains one of the most commonly used camouflages. Moreover, there are no restrictions for using the network. It can cover a freestanding vehicle, gun, or disguise the firing position of a squad, platoon, company.
You can make a forest road, a field airfield, a field hospital, or an ammunition depot "disappear". There is a known case when a part of a large highway in Africa "suddenly disappeared". The mesh can work even while on the move! Cars and other military equipment when driving on field roads, especially in the forest, perfectly hide under this camouflage. Aviation simply does not see them.
In general, the capabilities of camouflage networks have not yet been fully disclosed. New production technologies give rise to new opportunities for their use.
Aerosol masking
This scientific term hides another well-known household name, which came to the army from antiquity. Smoke screen. True, in modern times the combat mission of aerosol camouflage has changed somewhat.
In ancient times, fumes masked positions to conceal the number or location of troops. And since the First World War, smoke has been used to disorient the work of artillery. You must admit that during direct fire, it is quite difficult for artillerymen to fire at an emerging or disappearing enemy.
For some reason, it is believed that fumes are ineffective and work for a short time. Meanwhile, the use of this type of disguise can be quite large-scale. The smokes in the navy look the most grandiose. The areas hidden from the enemy are measured in tens of square kilometers there! Smokes that can hide the squadron!
On land, such camouflage is also used quite often and on a large scale. Remember the movies where tankers imitate knocking down a car with a bucket of diesel fuel and a rag. This is a classic cinematic stunt actually used during World War II.
But there were also "naval scale" smoke in the history of the war. There was even a special order on the use of smoke (order on the Western Front of October 26, 1943 "On the massive and daily use of camouflage smoke").
When crossing the Dnieper, chemists created a camouflage smoke 30 km long! And when Berlin was captured, more precisely, when Marshal Konev's troops crossed the Neisse, the river was simply hidden in smoke. The artillery struck a powerful blow on the second line of defense, raised huge clouds of dust, and the troops crossed the river under a smoke screen. How many tens of thousands of lives were saved then is unknown. But exactly preserved.
But smokes are also used “vice versa”. There is a great variety of ammunition that interfere with the effective work of the enemy right in his positions. These are artillery shells, and aerial bombs, and other methods of moving smoke towards enemy positions (in particular, special machines that create a powerful smoke screen in a favorable wind).
In general, aerosol camouflage remains relevant today. The emergence of new substances that are used by military chemists makes such a camouflage rather long-term and resistant to the vagaries of the weather. So, during the exercises there was a case when the smoke covered a group of troops for two days continuously!
Blinding camouflage
Unfortunately, this type of camouflage is used very little today. The reason is simple: the emergence of a variety of instruments that allow you to see what is in reality. This is probably why few people think about this type of disguise. Even when it is meters away from an object that is masked in this way. The essence of this masking is not in complete fusion with the terrain, but in the distortion of the real image of the object. What is it for?
The answer to this question must be sought in the history of the First World War. The British fleet then suffered huge losses from German submarines. It is impossible to hide ships from submariners' periscopes. But it turned out to be possible to prevent German torpedoes from hitting the ships. The task was to create an illusion for the submarine commander. That's right, an illusion. By the size of the ship, by the range …
The problem was solved with the help of … the coloring of the warships. British naval officer Norman Wilkinson came up with a special livery for ships. He offered to paint warships in the style of … Cubism. Moreover, the coloring should be bright enough.
Those who have seen paintings by Cubist artists of the early 20th century at least once remember the strangeness of this style of painting. Paintings are perceived differently by different people. And even the smallest change in the lighting of the picture completely changes this perception. Ghost paintings, or "living" paintings.
The first ship, which in a new livery went on a military campaign, was the HMS Alsatian. It happened in 1917. The spectators on the shore were amazed that the ship, at a short distance from the shore, suddenly turned into a heap of some incomprehensible, different-sized parts.
Moreover, the ship has become larger. But most importantly, the audience could not determine even such a simple thing as where the stern is and where the bow of the ship is. With the help of a special paint job, the battle ship has turned into a ghost!
By the way, Soviet armored trains and armored cars of the Great Patriotic War were sometimes painted using the technology of blinding camouflage! The blurred dimensions of the train significantly reduced the efficiency of the enemy aircraft. One of these armored wagons in yellow-green paint is now in a museum in St. Petersburg.
Today, such coloring is little used. More precisely, it has been modernized. Think of naval combat boats and small ships with their coloring. Wilkinson's idea with a modern twist. Camouflage that combines the effect of a camouflage mesh and the disappearance of dimensions, blurring the appearance of blinding camouflage.
By the way, the sailor's idea was taken up by the British army. The British painted several of their tanks using the same scheme. For the infantry, a new helmet paint was proposed. Visually, such a soldier made a terrible impression: a kind of analogue of the "headless horseman" …
All in all, blinding camouflage is a thing of the past. Today, the use of weapons, especially in the navy, has little to do with the visual perception of the object. The commander today has little focus on his own perception of the enemy ship. This is done by smart devices that do not react to visual special effects.
Imitation of military equipment and weapons
Probably, there is no person among the readers who would not know the saying about a needle in a haystack. Indeed, finding a small needle in a pile of dry grass is difficult. But there is an even more difficult and impossible task. Find a needle in a bunch of other needles!
The next type of disguise is exactly the same needle in a pile of other needles. It will be about fake equipment and weapons that mislead the enemy about the opposing forces and means.
In general, ways to "increase" one's own power and thereby frighten the enemy have always been used in war. Remember the famous bonfires that were burned by soldiers before decisive battles on the orders of Macedonian, Suvorov, Kutuzov and many other commanders? Purely visually, the number of bonfires increased the number of troops at times and sowed uncertainty in the ranks of the enemy.
Even earlier, the knights used about the same disguise. Huge armor, various wings, horns and the like, wide cloaks created the illusion of a knight's power in the enemy. Huge rider versus little infantryman.
The modern version of the knight's wings is inflatable weapon models. It is doubtful that the pilot who noticed the S-300 complex will not react to this installation. Especially when the instruments confirm that this is a real car.
The beginning of the use of "balloons" is considered to be the Second World War. It was then that the Americans first used inflatable models of the Sherman tank. By the way, the layout was made very high quality. It was difficult to distinguish the "swindle" from a real tank.
By the way, the Americans handed over several of these "machines" to the USSR. The effect pleased our command, and the production of inflatable tanks was established in the USSR on an industrial scale. Even special teams of artists were created, which painted the models as close as possible to those machines that were used in this sector of the front.
On the one hand, making inflatable dummies is easy and not particularly expensive. But on the other hand, in a war, every penny is counted. And it was here that ingenuity came to the rescue of the Soviet soldiers.
Remember the recent film "Panfilov's 28"? An episode with an imitation of a German tank that must be destroyed, and an episode with an artillery battery made of logs a couple of hundred meters ahead of real positions. These are real episodes, more than once described in the memoirs of front-line soldiers.
Soviet commanders did the same during the war. Artillery batteries, tank units in waiting areas, headquarters and even airfields were built from the material at hand. There were even sapper units that were constantly engaged in this.
In an old Soviet film about the idiot soldier Ogurtsov and the mother sergeant major Semibaba, called "Restless Economy", one of these airfields is shown. Wooden airplane models that take on enemy air strikes.
But let's move away from history into the present. Today, with a large number of identification devices, it is difficult to deceive the enemy with wooden or even inflatable models. It is necessary to bring the layout as close as possible to reality in many ways.
Those mock-ups of S-300 launchers or aircraft of various modifications, which sometimes flicker on TV screens, create a complete picture of reality for the devices. Radars capture models like real machines (special fabric is used), thermal imagers "see" hot motors (special simulators), and so on.
Probably the only drawback of layouts today is their limited "assortment". In the Russian army, T-72 and T-80 tanks, Su-27 and MiG-31 aircraft, and S-300 air defense systems are "at war".
Prospects for the development of modern means of camouflage
Much of what is used today to effectively camouflage troops in the Russian army has remained behind the scenes. The format of the article does not allow to touch upon all aspects of this activity of the Russian military. And the work of camouflage specialists requires keeping your mouth shut.
The rivalry between intelligence and those who oppose it has always been and will continue. The value of information from the enemy camp in war is determined by the thousands of lives of their own soldiers. If we consider the experience of the Great Patriotic War, then it should be noted: there are many examples of just such mistakes.
The episode of the crossing of the Neisse River by the troops of Marshal Konev was mentioned above. But there was one more episode that is little voiced by our historians. The crossing of the river by the troops of Marshal Zhukov. And this episode is directly related to the topic of this material. When the German camouflage masters surpassed our scouts and instead of real troops substituted mock-ups under attack.
Realizing that the Russians would advance in large forces, the Germans created many imitations of firing positions on the first line of defense. And immediately before the start of the offensive, the troops were withdrawn to the second line. The most powerful fire raid fell on the mock-ups. And our soldiers were advancing on the raised dust, illuminated from behind by anti-aircraft searchlights. And the Germans saw the attackers at a glance.
The emergence of new detection systems, new weapons, new methods of warfare will always lead to the emergence of countermeasures systems. This means that the art of disguise will not only live, but will constantly develop. These are interrelated processes.
