Alpenflage is the commercial/collector name applied to Swiss Army Kampfanzug 57/70 ("combat dress") and Taz 83 (Tarnanzug, i.e. "camouflage dress") military surplus camouflage clothing that came on to the army surplus market in the 1990s. The pattern is based on an experimental all-terrain pattern that saw limited service in World War II by Germany's Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht called Leibermuster. Kampfanzug 57/70 is a six-colour camouflage pattern consisting of a tan-coloured background with white random flecks with light green body overprinted with a green, red/reddish brown and black leaf shapes. The choice of red and green would at first glance seem to make this pattern very bright for something intended to conceal, but it works well for FIBUA (fighting in built-up areas) environments and alpine terrain. Swiss soldiers have referred to it as "Vierfrucht-Pyjama", which translates loosely as four colour pyjamas. Kampfanzug 57/70 was issued from 1957 to 1993 (after 1970 with a textile daypack) and the lighter Taz 83 with different pattern from 1983 to 1993 for non-combat troops, when both dresses were replaced by Taz 90, a print in colours of green, brown, and black.
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