Russian World War One Uniforms

Uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army during WW1

After the disaster in the Russo-Japanese War, one of the many reforms of the Russian Army dealt with the uniforms and equipment of the troops. So when WW1 started the Russian infantry had been given a much more practical outfit and much lighter field kit.

The new uniform (which was a sort of green-ish khaki from 1908) incorporated a military version of the traditional Russian pull-over shirt-tunic, the so called gymnastiorka, trousers with a semi-breeches type cut, and a visored peaked cap badged with a oval shaped cockade in the Romanov colours of black, white and orange. Note that the shade of green-ish khaki varied a lot, especially after heavy use and many washes, sometimes into light brown, sometimes into a very light green-brown. The breeches were cut to fit inside the long boots. They were dark green for infantry and other dismounted troops. Cavalry officers wore blue-grey. However, khaki trousers became more end more common during the war, up to a point when they became almost standard issue. In cold weather a long, double-breasted greatcoat was used – it was blue-grey for officers and grey-brown for the others. In this weather the peaked cap was substituted for the famous M1910 shhepskin cap, papakha, made by either natural or artificial fleece in a grey-beige colour.

Rank, service branch and unit number was indicated on shoulder straps worn both on the gymnastiorka and greatcoat. It was possible to reverse these shoulder straps, with one side being uniform khaki and the other coloured. They were worn on both greatcoat and tunic.

From 1912 officers had a kit with a brown Sam Browne-type harness, with two braces strapped vertically up front and crossed on the back, a sword on the left hip, on the left strap a whistle, on the right a pistol holster. Soldiers and NCO:s had a brown or black leather waist belt, with two 30-round ammunition pouches (each containing 6 5-round clips) and a brass buckle plate, and on the right an entrenching tool, type “Linneman”, often worn with a cloth or leather cover. In combat stick hand grenades were sometimes carried fastened to the waist belt, suspended in rings with the explosive cylinder down. Worn over the right shoulder was a waterproof canvas haversack, with clothing, supplies and other personal things. The greatcoat was rolled together and carried in a typical horseshoe-fashion over the left shoulder. A water flask made in aluminium and a brass mess tin could be seen suspended over the right shoulder. The soldiers often carried parts of a tent and tentpoles with them, attached to the “horse-shoe”.

During the course of the war some alterations were made to the uniform and kit. Officers tried to make themselves less visible by for instance using very plain rank insignia, wearing shirt-tunics of the soldiers and dropping the swords. From late 1916 the army introduced the famous pilotka, that was supposed to be worn under steel helmets. These steel helmets were of the French Adrian pattern, with a badge showing the Imperial eagle on the front. (However, these steel helmets were not very popular.) The long boots were also often substituted for ankle boots and puttees. Another item also introduced during the war was the Zelinski type gas mask, carried in a flat and long metal container, painted green or turquise blue.

The standard rifle of the Russian Army was the 7.62mm M1891 Moisin-Nagant. It had a magazine of five rounds, was 1.29 meters long and weighed some 4.2 kilos. The bayonet, that was carried more or less permanently, was 51cm long. The muzzle velocity was 620 meters per second, a bit low, reducing the effective killing range to just about 500 meters. (As a comparison, it can be mentioned that the french Lebel rifle had an effective killing range of some 675 meters.)

The standard machine gun was the 7.62mm Maxim M1910.