"There are few subjects better calculated to get tank historians and model makers at one another’s throats than the matter of colour." - David Fletcher
If you are a model maker of my vintage, it is likely that your first introduction to the camouflage painting of the Mk.I tanks came during the 1960s, from artwork on the instructions stapled to a plastic bag containing an Airfix model. The story of how the first tanks were camouflaged by a popular Edwardian artist is one of the better known anecdotes about the first tanks, but how did Solomon J. Solomon paint them? There are a few dozen monochrome photographs of tanks on the Somme and at Arras, and a few written descriptions. A number of paintings, drawings and museum exhibits, of variable reliability, depict the scheme. But how accurate are they? Period artwork, especially when it corresponds to the photographic and written evidence, might potentially be helpful. What primary references exist from which we can authentically recreate Solomon’s camouflage?
In early June 1916, it was decided that the Mk.I tanks, soon to be emerging from the factories, should be delivered in an overall light grey colour.1 Prior to this, it had been realized the tanks would need to be camouflaged for the battlefield, and Lt. Col. Solomon J. Solomon R.E., a 55 year-old Royal Academician was recommended by General Kiggell.2
Lt. Col. Solomon
Employing a society portraitist to camouflage an engine of war may appear amateurish; in fact, Solomon was one of the most knowledgeable figures in Britain on this subject, and had already been employed by GHQ and the War Office on various projects. He had also toured the French Army’s camouflage establishment. Solomon’s own account of his involvement with the tanks is drawn from diary entries quoted in his biography. He met with Col. Swinton on May 25, 1916 and discussed the project at length. 3 His immediate impression was that the dark shadow under the tank’s bow would be visible at long range and difficult to camouflage. He suggested that a painted scheme would help reduce visibility in certain conditions, as would breaking up their outline with "silhouettes of perforated zinc". He also noted that mud and dust would form a natural camouflage, and that employing the tanks during conditions of reduced visibility would be advisable. Solomon saw Mother at the Elveden training ground on May 31, and immediately set to work.
He was provided with two scale models, upon which he worked out his camouflage scheme. In 1919, these models were displayed to the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, and were subsequently presented to the Imperial War Museum (when it was located in South Kensington.). Recent enquiries have confirmed that the models no longer reside in the I.W.M. collection. In 1949, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (who later founded a motorcar museum) donated two models which match Solomon’s description, to the R.A.C. Museum at Bovington. One of the models was destroyed in 1966. The other model is in storage at the Tank Museum. David Fletcher describes it as having a pattern different from that which is commonly recognised as the Solomon scheme.
Solomon personally arranged for the provision of paint and brushes, presumably from civilian suppliers, since he comments that he was unable to obtain them from army stores at Woolwich. It is possible to see the colours commonly used for house paints during this period by visiting the Dulux Company’s Heritage Paint website (www.heritagepaints.co.uk). These colours hint at the potential palette which would have been available for his camouflage. Neither Swinton nor Solomon knew precisely where the tanks were to be employed on the Western Front. With a view to ensuring a suitable scheme, Solomon was sent to France on June 5, to divine this information from GHQ. Such secrets were not forthcoming from General Butler, Haig’s deputy chief of staff. Instead, Solomon spent three days touring the Front in France and Belgium, observing landscapes. Butler led him to believe that the scheme which eventually resulted would be acceptable, and Solomon returned to Elveden.
Mother was the first tank to be painted, on June 16. Solomon had a detachment of six men to assist him, but preferred to personally paint the machines. In his 1937 memoir, Basil Henriques, an officer of C Company, recalls him painting "..as if he were covering a canvas for the Royal Academy." A rather indistinct photo of Mother, probably taken in the winter of 1916-17, shows her in this camouflage scheme 4.
Mother in camouflage (Coventry Transport Museum)
Solomon’s diary does not describe his camouflage scheme, but Henriques recalls that "The effect was a kind of rather jolly landscape in green against a pink sunset sky." Camouflage covers for the tanks were also painted. The tank crews were instructed to copy his design, which they did "..with great care but little skill."5 Trevor Pidgeon has noted that a well-known photograph of a Mk.I, usually captioned as going into action at Flers- Courcellette, must have been actually taken at Elveden.6 If this is the case, it may be the only known photograph of camouflaged Mk.I taken before the tanks were sent to France, and shows a camouflage pattern similar to Solomon’s scheme as seen on Mother..
A Mk.I at Elveden (IWM)
The painting seen below, "A Tank in Action" was commissioned by Wm. Foster and Sons Company, and painted by John Hassall R.A. in 1917. David Fletcher has suggested that Hassall used Mother as a model.7 Detail differences from the production Mk.I tanks which are unique to Mother, such as the sponson apertures (not well appreciated in this low resolution reproduction) are evident in the painting. Mother was repainted in a monochrome scheme prior to the Oldbury trials in March 1917. It is possible that Hassall saw Mother while she was still in her Solomon colours, but after the removal of her steering tail. In any case, the artist’s colour scheme accords nicely with Henriques’ description.
"A Tank in Action" (Tank Museum)
Despite missing the company of his family, Solomon spent a pleasant summer at Elveden, touching up the camouflage on a few tanks every day, riding his bicycle and pony, and enjoying the services of a renowned bartender in the mess. He socialized with Lord Iveagh (whose commandeered estate the training ground occupied), and Lloyd George and Albert Stern during their visits. The first tanks, from C Company, were despatched to France on August 15.
Henriques recalls with chagrin that "..no sooner had we disembarked in France than… we were immediately ordered to paint over our landscape with a bold pattern of brown, broken by broad black lines." 8 A camouflage expert with the B.E.F. had judged Solomon’s scheme to be unsuitable. In fairness to Solomon, he had made his observations of largely intact landscapes in springtime. No one could have foreseen the appearance of the Somme’s shattered wasteland in late summer. Lt. Head, of D Company, also comments that the tanks were camouflaged at Yvrench. 9. Perry Robinson, a war correspondent for the Times, closely observed the tanks after they had been repainted, on the eve of their first engagement. Writing in 1917, he states that "The brutes were all painted in blotched reptilian colours, hues of rattlesnake and iguana, yellow and dull grey and black and mottled brown, and in the failing light, against the brown-green earth, they were strangely invisible." 10 When comparing the photographs taken in France to that of the Elveden tank, it is evident that Solomon’s irregular, blotched pattern had been largely retained, despite the change of colour scheme. A close examination, however, reveals subtle differences in pattern from this vehicle, and between the tanks of A, C and D Company. This may be the result of each company’s arrival in France at a different time. It must be conceded, however, that a considerable overlap in camouflage style exists within the companies which fought on the Somme, and only a minority of their 85 machines seem to have been photographed. The predominant C Company pattern bears the most resemblance to the Elveden vehicle. The colour blotches are interspersed with broad bands of black , of varying thickness and irregular border. Some of the blotches appear to contain small daubs of a lighter colour, perhaps as a result of hasty over-painting, although this can also be seen on the Elveden tank.
C.19 (Tank Museum)
D Company seems to have favoured using more uniform black stripes to outline the patches of colour.
D.17 (AWM)
The few available photographs of the tanks of A Company, show a variation having jagged black lines within the colour patches.
A.13 (Tank Museum)
The Australian war artist George Benson, while serving with the A.I.F., depicted a wrecked Mk.I in his painting "On the road to Flers, February 1917". The wreck, probably one of D Company’s vehicles destroyed near Flers on September 25, can also be seen in a contemporary photograph. The "bold pattern of brown" may be contrasted to the "landscape in green" seen in the Hassall painting.
On the road to Flers, February 1917 (AWM)
On the road to Flers, February 1917 (AWM)
W. T. Topham served on the Somme with the 1st Canadian Siege Battery, painting at night by moonlight when the guns were not in action.11 This may account for the dark tones of his painting "A Tank at Montauban" (1916). His tank is depicted in colours similar to Benson’s painting.
"A Tank at Montauban" (Beaverbrook Collection)
Another Australian artist, Charles Bryant, attached to the 2nd A.I.F. Division, painted the wreck of C.4 "Chablis", abandoned on the battlefield a year after the attack on Courcellette.
"Tank near Pozieres" (1918) (AWM.)
C.4, 1916 (IWM.)
Photographs taken later in the fall of 1916 show the tanks becoming progressively covered in mud. It was realized that an elaborate disruptive paint scheme was unnecessary. Frank Mitchell states that, from January 1917 onwards, the tanks were painted in an overall "neutral brown”" colour. (12) This can be seen in a well-known photograph of a Mk.I male tank at Arras in April, 1917.
C.6 ditched on the St. Laurent - Athies Road, April 1917 (IWM)
However, at least some of the tanks retained their Solomon camouflage in the spring of 1917, as can be seen in a photo of a tail-less wrecked Mk.I with track extension plates, which was disabled at the Battle of Arras. Some of the Mk.II female tanks at Arras carried sponsons which retained Solomon’s camouflage, presumably scavenged from the better-armoured Mk.I machines, and not repainted.
716 in 1918
A single Mk.I tank remains, whose specific identity and service record are unknown. 13 Prior to its donation to the Bovington Tank Museum it was in a monochrome colour scheme. This tank has been repainted to represent the Solomon camouflage scheme, but its pattern does not accord closely with any of the photographed Mk.I tanks, particularly its namesake C19, "Clan Leslie". It is interesting to speculate that an original camouflage scheme, applied at Elveden or Yvrench, may exist beneath subsequent layers of paint.
The Hatfield Park Mk.I, now at Bovington (Tank Museum)
The Mk.II tank at Bovington, which would not have received an original Solomon paint scheme, was modified and painted to resemble a Mk.I, and was on display in Chertsey the 1940s. 14 This vehicle seems to have been the model for the Airfix kit, and its artwork.
The Hatfield Park Mk.I, now at Bovington (Tank Museum)
The camouflage scheme, now much faded, bears some resemblance to Henriques’ description of the tanks at Elveden., but its accuracy is unknown.
The Mk.II as presently displayed (Knut Erik Hagen)
I wish to acknowledge the generous assistance of Mike Cooper, Mark Hansen, Stephen Pope and David Fletcher.