Michael Starmer looks at the Caunter scheme used to camouflage military vehicles during World War Two
’The Caunter scheme was purely for desert use’
The colours and the disruptive patterns applied to military vehicles were regulated by a series of War Office instructions from well before World War Two.
In Britain, these instructions were issued as Army Council Instructions and military training pamphlets and in the Middle East as general orders. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of suitably coloured paints all manufactured to specified standards were purchased by the War Office, albeit with certain allowances imposed by a shortage of essential chemicals at various times once the war had begun.
The most enigmatic of the several different camouflage schemes used by the British Army during World War Two is the so-called Caunter scheme, devised by Brig John Alan Lyde ‘Blood’ Caunter of the 4th Armoured Brigade.
It was likely derived from the dazzle schemes used on ships during World War One in order to defeat optical range finding. It was effective by means of deceiving U-boat commanders as to the true range, course and speed of the target vessel. This was not necessarily true for ground forces, which were m…
