Italian camouflage cloth on eastern front

[charlie don't surf]

That's very interesting, I've never heard of zeltbahns made from that cloth. Do you think you could post some pictures? This sounds very interesting.

best regards/ daniel

[PaulW]

Ostfront, are these Italian Army shelter capes or Heer pattern Zelts?

[Ostfront]

The Zeltbahns and remains thereof, that I have seen were Italian Pattern, Italian camo material with Italian maker marks. Interesting but then the German Army in WW2 was less uniform that most people want to believe

[David Gregory]

This is an example of a 1945 dated shelter quarter made of Italian material and is not one of the post-war surplus items that are frequently offered at militaria shows and via online auctions.
I also have another example which can be seen at http://www.zeltbahn.net/it_camo.htm with a piece of Luftwaffe splinter pattern material used as the reinforcing panel. The text on the Italian camo page only refers to one Zeltbahn, but there are two different ones actually shown.
You can also see some images of privately tailored uniforms made of Italian material worn by members of a Polizei unit at http://www.zeltbahn.net/pol_gal.htm. Please forgive any typos on the site, but it is still very much under construction at the moment and a lot more will be added in the next two weeks.

If anyone has any good period images of Italian camouflage or can provide details of manufacturers and date stamps, I would be very glad to have a look at them.

David Gregory,
Germany