Uniforms of the Russian Army
The officers and enlisted men of the Russian Army formerly had a great variety in uniforms for the different corps and branches of the service; the infantry of the regular Line wore uniforms of green cloth with red facings; the hussars wore green jackets trimmed across the front with white stripes and loops, red breeches and black high boots; the guards wore green uniforms with yellow facings; the Don Cossacks wore uniforms of dark gray, the coat being long and the breeches very loose and the headdress being a black shako; and the Kuban cossacks wore a uniform of similar design of reddish brown cloth.
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 an effort was made to standardize the field service uniforms with the result that the present service uniform is of cloth of a gray-brown shade. The Cossacks have to some extent preserved their distinctive dress.
The service uniforms for officers consists of a single-breasted sack coat with a standing collar, a pocket with flap on each breast and closed by a row of gilt buttons down the front; breeches of the same color with stripes down the outer leg seams of varying widths according to rank and of different colors according to the corps or arm of the service; a bell-crowned cap with sloping visor, and black boots.
Russian Army. Officers’ shoulder straps indicating rank
The straps are of black cloth covered with gold or silver lace, depending upon the rank and corps of the officer. Those for General Officers are of gold lace with silver stars
| 1. General | 2. Lieutenant General | 3. Major General |
| 4. Colonel | 5. Lieutenant Colonel | 6. Senior Captain |
| 7. Junior Captain | 8. First Lieutenant | 9. Second Lieutenant |
The rank is indicated by the trimming and ornamentation of flat shoulder straps, those for the various grades of rank being shown in the accompanying [illustration]. It will be noted that there are no grades of Brigadier General or Major in the Russian Army, but that there are two grades of the rank of Captain, called First and Second or Senior and Junior Captain. The duties of the Senior Captain correspond in a measure to those of Major in the United States services. Line officers of the rank of Colonel and below wear the number of their regiment in the center of the shoulder strap.
The Russian officer’s service cap is similar to that worn by officers of the United States Army except that the top of the crown is relatively greater in diameter. The band is of the distinctive color of the corps or arm of the service. A medallion made up of the national colors is worn at the center of the band in front and the visor and chin strap are of brown leather. In some of the regiments gray sheepskin shakos are worn by both officers and men instead of the cap.
The arm of the service or corps is indicated by patches of colored cloth on the front of the collar on each side of the neck opening.
The sword belt is of tan leather with a cross strap from the right shoulder to the left side at the waist although in some corps the sword is suspended from the diagonal cross strap only, the waist-belt not being worn by officers.
The uniform of the enlisted men is of similar cut to that of the officers except that the coats are looser and in some corps are closed by a row of buttons down the right side.
The rank of the noncommissioned officers is indicated by stripes and other insignia upon narrow flat shoulder straps worn from the base of the collar to the top of the sleeve shoulder seam.
The Russian Army has an officer of Warrant rank, intermediate between the commissioned officers and enlisted noncommissioned officers. These Warrant officers wear one broad stripe across the shoulder strap near the collar end.
The noncommissioned officers wear narrow stripes on their shoulder straps in the same position; a sergeant major having three such stripes, a sergeant two and a corporal one.
There have been various corps and specialty insignia but as these are now in a process of being changed they cannot be given accurately.
The Russian noncommissioned officers wear swords suspended from tan leather belts and the privates wear a tan leather belt with cartridge boxes of the same material. All of the enlisted men carry their extra clothing in a blanket roll over the right shoulder and diagonally across the body to the left side at the belt.