"WWII Chinese colors" Topic

The China Army Compendium for BFE World at War has me looking at that theater. I've seen at least one reference on re-enactment sites (often Korean, oddly enough) to three uniform colors amongst the Chinese "resistance" forces against the Japanese. One reference puts the Chinese in a slate grey or blue-grey in the northern areas, "grass green" in the midlands, and a khaki color in the southern areas. Other details like boots also vary, with at least one of those areas not using boots due to limited availability.

So my question to those who have looked into this a bit more involves the relative commonness of the color schemes. Is any one of these going to be more common in, say Mid-War, or more persistent throughout the supply stages of the Chinese War?

Which Chinese are you asking about? The Maoists? The Nationalists/Kuomintang? The seeds of the Chinese Civil War had already been planted before the outbreak of the war.

My informations come from Osprey MAA 424 – The Chinese army 1937-49.

Standard summer tunic and trousers during the Sino-Japanese war wer light khaki, in various shades (from green to brown).
Most common footwear were brown or black leather shoes, or traditional canvas shoes, or even straw sandals.

Standard winter clothing were blue padded jacket and trouser, that soon faded into light blue-grey.

They started with either blues or khakis as you stated. These would fade immediately and unevenly so no one soldier would have the same look as the rest of his buddies If you want more variety you can even mix the blue and khaki (top, trousers) on some figures. Of course the puttees would be in an even greater variety of colors.

You can expect some degree of uniformity among some of the model KMT German-trained divisions but as these were mostly chewed up in Shanghai most troops would have had a rag tag appearance through much of the war. [In the south some troops had British supply for a while and of course the Burmese divisions were US supplied and so paint those accordingly.]

The Communist forces often assimilated surrendered KMT forces with a token change in cap badge that is too small to register for our purposes.

The colour scheme described would be true for a good part of the war; towards the end of the war,especially in southern China, a fair bit of US-supplied clothing was provided, which as I recall was olive drab

The uniforms also varied enormously depending on the supply source. Stilwell's Chinese armies in Burma were by 1944 mainly dressed in British/Indian Khaki Drill uniforms with shorts, often with knee-length, blue-grey puttees and British Mk II or US M1 helmets. Webbing was usually British/Indian, though US items were also fairly common, as was the earlier Chinese-issue German-type leather kit.

I find the legitimate variation in colours is also some of the appeal!

I'm looking at the Eureka 15mm WWII Chinese, specifically, if that helps.

The Eureka Chinese are a wonderful bunch that constitute a mix of everything!
The book I am currently writing will have a rought guide to uniforms and equipment of the Chinese in it.

Republic of China
KuoJun (National Revolutionary Army) of the Kuomingtang (Chinese Nationalist Party)

The armed force that kept the Japanese military tied up more than any other (including
the USMC) was the armed men and women of China.

The uniforms of the three armies were similar in pattern, different in color. The tunic
was very simple and practical, consisting of a five-button front, four, button closure
patch pockets, and a high fold-down collar that was secured with two hook and loop
clasps. The high waisted trousers were straight legged, had two waist pockets, and
waist belt loops. Woolen or cloth puttees where worn with each uniform combination.

The field cap used by the KuoJun was similar to European military ski caps, most
notably German M43. Versions existed that had functional pull-down sides or mock
protective sides. A Nationalist Chinese roundel was affixed to the front of the cap.

The differences in uniforms are as follows:

Northern Army:
British MkII steel helmet
M1929 (Republic Year 18 Pattern) Blue-Gray Uniform
Footwear: Cloth shoes

Central Army:
German M35 steel helmet
M1936 (Republic Year 25 Pattern) Grass-Green Uniform
Footwear EM: Black leather ankle boots,cloth shoes or straw sandals. Officers: Black
leather shoes, ankle boots, or jackboots

Southern Army:
French M15 Adrian helmet
Khaki-tan summer fatigues (similar to the other uniforms)
Footwear EM: Straw sandals. Officers: Black leather shoes, ankle boots, or jackboots

Basic Equipments:
Brown leather belt and bayonet frog.
Cloth ammunition bandoleer
Bread bag (Similar in pattern to German version)
Canteen
Gas mask Carrier & Respirator (French/Belgian version imported, used by Central
Armies)

Basic Weapons:
Hanyang Type 88 Rifle [version of Gew.88]
Zhong Zheng Shi (aka Chiang Kai-Shek) Rifle [licensed copy of Mauser "Standard
Modell"]
Mauser Kar98k Rifle
Brno Vz-24 Rifle
FN Mle 1924/Guangdong Arsenal Type 21/Zhejiang Iron Works Type 77 Rifle

link

Yes, that looks a lot like the list I found.

Were all three patterns common in the 40-43 period?

Hi,

I have got 600 point FOW Eureka 15mm WWII Chinese army to fight their japanese figures. I am doing armies for 1938/39.

I have the Osprey books on the chinese.

I use Vallejo model paints as would be intrested in a painting guide like they do in FOW. ie the paint numbers.

This is because I am colour blind with blues/purples and brown/greens

makes it hard to look at the osprey book and get the right colours.

Many Thanks

Rich.

Intersting information thinking about this army myself.
richinq do you have any pictures of your figures?

If you're interested in Stilwell's Chinese armies in Burma, this is a superb resource (including colour photographs in places):

link

le2001

I got the figures from fighting 15's and they have pics on their website.

link

rich.

Those are the Eureka Miniatures I mentioned riching!
Very nice too.

Thanks for the link riching. I have some of the eureka balkan wars figures and like them very much. I was actually wondering if you had any pictures of your painted army as I have never really seen a 15mm Chinese WW2 army before?

Many of the QRF Korean War Chinese work very well for WW2 if you want guys in winter outfits. There is something rather nice about the way the winter gear has been done by the designer.

I have mentioned a couple of years ago, that these figures look awful when seen in bare metal. But are delightful when painted up. They are real Jeckel and Hyde stuff. I'm not sure why that is, but they seem to go through a transition under the brush, with detail not seen in raw metal, coming up looking great.

There are quite a few items in the QRF range that go well with Chinese WW2.

le2001

I have not painted them yet, need help with the colours
if someone can match up the colours with Vallejo model paints, i get get on and paint them.

Thats why i like FOW so much.

Rich.

Here's my own take on the summer uniform:

Uniform Base – Green Ochre (119)
Uniform Highlight – Dark Sand (847)
Canvas Equip. Base – Khaki Grey (880)
Canvas Equip. Highlight – Light Sand (837)
Helmet – Olive Grey (888)
Leather Base – SS Cam. Black (822)
Leather Highlight – Beige Brown (875)

picture

Cheers for the info. figure looks great.

Mal has some very good info

link

Rich

Very nice Last Life in the Universe! That's ONE variation.

Now you just have to paint up a couple hundred more with variations of that and you have a genuine looking Chinese army!

For more inspiration check out the following:

link

Very inspiring! But i'll bet they are not 15mm scale!!!!