Unusual uniform in Red army

[cuprum]

Soldiers of Chapaevsky 25 divisions - in the Italian hats!

Fighters of the Estonian division

Red artillery




Red hussars and uhlans
At red there were many military divisions in a colourful and unusual uniform.

[Aaron]

Wow, thanks for sharing these. I had no idea the red uhlans wore the czapskas!

[Remington]

There it is!   Wow, brilliant!

That Red artillery looks amazing!

[Hammers]

Lovely. After this I will not be surprised to see a regiment of Reds in bowlers, fedoras or anything millinery.

[ts]

Interesting pictures.

[cuprum]

On the top photo (at me it is a lot of photos of soldiers of this division) red soldiers carry the Italian military hat (bersalie). These headdresses have been grasped in warehouses of interventionists.
For the Estonian division the special uniform has been made - it reminded a suit of the fisherman.
To some red military units and training courses from warehouses of imperial army the smart regimentals the hussar and the uhlan stood out. There were such parts and in the First Horse army.
It only a small part of the information collected by me on unusual regimentals of Red army. It looked often not less picturesquely, than White army.

[twrchtrwyth]

Is the photo of the artillery missing? I'm assuming that the artillery is not the lance armed cavalry under the title.

Edit, the missing picture has now appeared.

[sepoy1857]

Very interesting. Thank You for sharing.

[Mark Plant]

Wow, thanks for sharing these. I had no idea the red uhlans wore the czapskas!

They, and the artillery, are a training unit in parade uniforms. Helmets with plumes! Lances with pennons! Dress swords! No-one wore that in the field, not even the Poles.

They are old Tsarist stock taken out for the day. (A giveaway is some of the greatcoats still have the collar tabs, which were abandoned in the Soviet army.)

The colours can be seen in Plate E of the Osprey on the Reds.

The Hussar jackets were, it seems, sometimes worn in the field in the early days.

[ts]

Many Polish regiments, especially the Poznan regiments, wore the chapka, the socalled rogatywka, in the field.
Also the Polish lancers often used lance pennons in the field.
Coloured cap band and dark blue trousers with coloured stripes were also very often worn by the Polish cavalry regiments in the field.

[cuprum]

Mark, yes photos much of THESE - red cadets.
But similar uniforms often rushed and at the front.
There is a weight of examples.
Here article where many memoirs on an unusual uniform of Red army are collected. Article, of course, in Russian.
http://voencomuezd.livejournal.com/15792.html
1 Horse Petrograd regiment. Petrograd. On July, 19th, 1920

Trotsky on review of the Zavolzhsky red hussar regiment. Kharkov, 1920.

Fighters of 24th Iron division G.D.Gaja, Simbirsk, 1918.

Budyonny's 1 Horse army.

[Mark Plant]

Many Polish regiments, especially the Poznan regiments, wore the chapka, the socalled rogatywka, in the field.
Also the Polish lancers often used lance pennons in the field.
Coloured cap band and dark blue trousers with coloured stripes were also very often worn by the Polish cavalry regiments in the field.

Coloured bands and trousers were not unusual, true. The Russians, both Red and White, wore them.

Rogatywkas were exceedingly common. In cloth. But that is more or less practical. The Reds in the original post are wearing helmets only ever intended for show. They have no field value at all, and the Red Army was notorious for being unconcerned about show. How long would it take for a Red Cavalryman to "lose" such an item?

I've never been convinced about pennons in the field. What possible reason would they have to carry them? They are a huge impediment and add nothing to combat operations. We know they liked them on parade, but that means very little.

I too have read all the stories of fancy Red Army uniforms. But you very rarely ever read from their opponents about seeing them. I've seen occasional references to red trousers, but that's about it. Find me a White, Polish or Estonian narrative about well dressed Red Army and I will be rather more convinced. Rather, accounts tend to say how very poorly the Red Army was dressed, except when wearing captured material.

[ts]

Also "stiff" rogatywkas were used in the field, which can be seen from contemporary photos and soft rogatywkas were often stiffened with wire, card board and whatever.
The low M.1919 rogatywka is stiff, but the troops preferred often to make them into soft caps, so an order came from Pilsudski to retain the stiff caps.
When the Reds attacked Ukraine, their leader is described in a white hussar uniform, guess it only has been the pelisse being white.

[Hammers]

Coloured bands and trousers were not unusual, true. The Russians, both Red and White, wore them.

Rogatywkas were exceedingly common. In cloth. But that is more or less practical. The Reds in the original post are wearing helmets only ever intended for show. They have no field value at all, and the Red Army was notorious for being unconcerned about show. How long would it take for a Red Cavalryman to "lose" such an item?

I've never been convinced about pennons in the field. What possible reason would they have to carry them? They are a huge impediment and add nothing to combat operations. We know they liked them on parade, but that means very little.

I too have read all the stories of fancy Red Army uniforms. But you very rarely ever read from their opponents about seeing them. I've seen occasional references to red trousers, but that's about it. Find me a White, Polish or Estonian narrative about well dressed Red Army and I will be rather more convinced. Rather, accounts tend to say how very poorly the Red Army was dressed, except when wearing captured material.

On the other hand, why would the enemies of the Reds describe their enemy in anything but derogatory terms. The cliche, even then, seems to was that the Reds were a rag tag band of walking compost piles.

[cuprum]

I was not engaged in special selection of mentions of a uniform of Red army in memoirs of White Guards. But here that is near at hand.
Here that ataman Shkuro wrote about fights under  to the «Notes of the white guerrilla»:
«However at this time Terek cossacks have been really attacked, and besides absolutely suddenly, a red horse part. It was a regiment of red Petrograd cadets in structure about 1000 sfords. Horsemen sat on excellent horses and have been dressed in leather jackets, dark blue breeches with edgings and red peakless caps with a Bolshevist star. Their success was not long-term for approached Don division Sekretev has struck to cadets directly in back. Recovered Terek cossacks too attacked them. The cadets overturned and pressed to the river, despite desperate defence, have chopped up it is universal».