[Bottom Gun]

In case anyone was terminally curious or has been losing sleep over this, I posted these on auction sites and got a reply from a gentleman who is the Director of the International Camouflage Uniform Society. I don’t think he would mind my passing his comments on to you guys so here they are:

On the Rhodesian shirt:

What you have is a South African, Commercially-made copy of Rhodesian camouflage. A quick comparison of the patterns should show you that the green colour is much more olive on the SA made camo than it is on the Zimbabwe re-issue. Furthermore, Zimbabwe issue clothing never had any commercial tags in it like this one. They are either unmarked, or have a crude stamp or hand-written tag inside with the size on it. Some are marked "Army Clothing Factory." None, however, were ever made in South Africa, of all places.

Without getting into greater details, there is a simple principle of logic that should be applied to determining whether this could possibly be a Zimbabwe issue shirt. It was made in South Africa. Following the so-called "election" of Robert Mugabe to the Presidency and the establishment of Zimbabwe, that country had no further diplomatic dealings with South Africa at all. The reasons should be obvious, as South Africa was the last remaining bastion of white-controlled Southern Africa, and Zimbabwe was now in the hands of the people, or at least the people who supported Mugabe. South Africa would never have permitted its products to be exported to Zimbabwe.

Adro was a well-known manufacturer of civilian outdoor clothing. They produced the copy Rhodesian camo, as well as a two-colour urban pattern, that are both commonly encountered on the collecting circuit.

On the green camo shirt:

The photograph you sent me in your last email is a Portuguese Army issue lizard uniform. Yes, loosely based on French, but with a vertical orientation rather than horizontal and of course made in Portugal. These were worn by Portuguese troops as well as Colonial African troops in Angola and Mozambique, although the example you have is probably a post-independence version made in the 1970s.

Very interesting. I had no idea there were so many different camouflage patterns made until I started researching these.