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Comprising horizontally-aligned blue-grey and navy blue brushstrokes on a medium blue field, this so-called Yugoslav ‘blue tigerstripe’ camouflage was the first camouflage pattern ever to be issued to Yugoslav police. [Image: Boris Ladisic.]

Yugoslav 'blue tigerstripe'
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Starting in March 1981, Kosovar Albanian students began to demonstrate for the recognition of Kosovo as a republic within Yugoslavia. These organised protests soon escalated, to become violent riots. Although these first riots were quickly quelled, outbreaks of ethnically-motivated violence became an increasingly frequent occurrence thereafter, and tensions grew to the point where Kosovo Serbs, and other ethnicities, started to emigrate from the province en masse.

By the end of the 1980s, the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia could no longer ignore the calls for increased control in the crisis-torn province. In 1989, police units from Serbia and Voyvodina were dispatched, to suppress the riots.

Members of the Province of Voyvodina Special Purpose Police Battalion were issued this blue tigerstripe camouflage pattern. Comprising horizontally-aligned blue-grey and navy blue brushstrokes on a medium blue background, this so-called Yugoslav 'blue tigerstripe' camouflage was the first camouflage pattern ever to be issued to Yugoslav police. It was used only for the summer uniform.

The Voyvodina Special Purpose Police Battalion was disbanded at the end of 1991, when Slobodan Milosevic centralised all Serbian police.

kamouflage.net is grateful to Boris Ladisic and Dragan Sijacki, for their invaluable contributions to this article.

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