The Golden Idol said:
This is a bit off topic, but why are some German uniforms in ROTLA green and others tan?
It really breaks down to whatever unit they were in but they're such a mish-mash that it's not easy to tell.
What they
appear to be is a mix of Afrika Corps with a few, regular Wermacht troops here & there...
The lower ranks are predominantly Afrika Corps (ex. truck chase, Bantu Wind and Ark procession)
but there are some oddities. I intend on continuing the dissection of these guys in Kooshmeister's thread:
The other officer with Gobler
Kooshmeister said:
Actually I've always thought that the soldiers in the tan shirts are just the green-jacketed soldiers without the green jackets on: the guys in green are wearing actual jackets that come down over their legs whereas the guys in tan are jacketless, with a uniform shirt just tucked down into their pants.
I think Dietrich let his men be a little lax in the heat of the Egyptian desert and some of them chose to take off their jackets. You'll note that all of the guys who board the Bantu Wind are wearing green jackets, implying this is in fact the regular, full uniform. Then, on the island, when marching to the Tabernacle to open the Ark, Dietrich's guys took their jackets off again because of the heat
You are right about Dietrich most likely being lax since dressing down for tropical work detail was standard practice
but...the men in the green tunics are not wearing the collared shirt underneath. (Only the officers wore that.)
Although they were probably issued collared, khaki shirts, the men in green/olive jackets are wearing gray/white
T-shirts underneath (Well of the Souls, Bantu Wind & throughout the film) which was normal.
kevblee said:
Historically, and I could be off...you use what you have in a time of war. The different colors in fabric may have to do with what was available at the time. I do know for fact that with US GI's you see this sort of thing showing up with WWII uniforms all the time. Variations in Paratrooper Jump Outfits. Some were an OD green...some were Khaki. I think some of it is based on the year they were made as well. This is why some M42 field jackets are "green" and some are "khaki tan" colored.
Kevblee, you are absolutely correct which is why the public definition of khaki is so largely misunderstood.
Many people I've met believe that khaki is olive drab when, in fact, it's an Arabic word for "sand", thus, beige.
c.1850-1880, British colonial troops would have their uniforms dyed with tea (or even mud) so you can imagine
the variations. By the time of the 2nd Boer War (1899-1902), khaki was standard camouflage and during WW1
the word became any colour between sand-coloured & olive. At that point, it all depended on the manufacturer.
