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A Bulgarian soldier, undertaking a Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) exercise at the Novo Selo training area in Bulgaria. He wears the 1997 version of the 'national' splinter camouflage pattern. [Image: Air Force Link.]

1991 splinter pattern camouflage
Republic of Bulgaria

After World War II, several nations adopted splinter pattern camouflages similar to those used by the German Wehrmacht. Also known as '1st pattern' camouflage, the 1953 Bulgarian splinter pattern is a case in point. The size of the splinter elements suggests that it was closely copied from the wartime German Luftwaffe-Splittermuster 41 ('1941 Luftwaffe splinter pattern'), although there were also differences, the most significant of which was the wavy appearance of the dashes. Less obvious, but no less distinctive, was the printing of the green splinter elements and dashes with the same roller, which reduced the Bulgarian splinter pattern to a three-colour camouflage.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, the Bulgarian splinter pattern continued to evolve. Eventually the splinter elements were made smaller and spaced more widely, while the dashes came to form a continuous fill in the spaces between. In spite of occassional departures, such as the 'frogskin' (Bulgarian: жабежка кожа, trans. zhabezhka kozha) camouflage pattern of the 1970s, this amended splinter pattern gradually became the 'national' Bulgarian camouflage pattern. Usually the only striking difference between successive designs is the background colour, although there were other differences, too.

Known also as 'Bulgarian woodland', the 1991 splinter pattern, shown here, is a typical, three-colour Bulgarian camouflage of dark earth and dark green elements printed on a green background.

kamouflage.net is grateful to Alexander Kolev, for his invaluable contribution to this article. Alexander works for ShopBulgaria.com — please visit their Web site.

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