Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

Urals Cossacks

1571

blue tunic

none

blue with crimson stripes

crimson crown

crimson

Terek Cossacks

1577

gray-brown cherkesska

light blue

gray

light blue crown

light blue

Kuban Cossacks

1864

gray-brown cherkesska

red

gray

red crown

red

Orenburg Cossacks

1744

green tunic

none

green with light blue stripes

light blue crown

light blue

Astrakhan Cossacks

1750

blue tunic

none

blue with yellow stripes

yellow crown

yellow

Siberian Cossacks

1750s

green tunic

none

green with red stripes

red crown

red

Transbaikal Cossacks

1851

green tunic

none

green with yellow stripes

yellow crown

yellow

Amur Cossacks

1858

green tunic

none

green with yellow stripes

yellow crown

green

Semireche Cossacks

1867

green tunic

none

green with crimson stripes

crimson crown

crimson

Ussuri Cossacks

1889

green tunic

none

green with yellow stripes

yellow crown

yellow

UNIFORMS (NATIONALIST ARMIES). The uniforms of non-Russian units were as varied as the myriad political and national forces involved in the civil wars. What follows is a brief description of the uniforms and insignia of the major non-Russian nationalist forces only.

Finland: White Finnish detachments initially wore the uniform of the Imperial Russian Army, with a white armband on the left sleeve that sometimes bore the Finnish arms: a gold lion rampant on a scarlet shield. These badges also began to appear on caps and helmets in 1918–1919. Swedish-style uniforms were also introduced in 1918–1919.

Estonia: General Johan Laidoner’s Estonian Army initially wore the uniform of the Imperial Russian Army, with armbands in the Estonian national colors of white, blue, and black. In 1919, they were issued with British uniforms, which were modified with a standing, German-fashion collar (in black cloth for officers) and decorated on the left sleeve with a shield-badge in the national colors: blue cloth with black border and white piping, plus devices indicating the branch of service. Ranks were indicated by five-pointed, German-style pips on the collar and shoulder straps. The cap was locally made and featured an oval cockade in Estonian colors.

Latvia: Throughout the Latvian War of Independence the uniforms of the Latvian Riflemen of the Imperial Russian Army continued to be worn by Latvian forces, with caps and sleeve badges decorated with devices in the red and white national colors of the new Latvian state. The latter were retained when British uniforms began to be supplied to the Latvian Army in 1919. Ranks were indicated by gold bars on shoulder straps for NCOs, five-pointed Russian-style stars for junior officers, and four-pointed German-style pips for senior officers.

Lithuania: As in the other emergent Baltic States, uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army predominated in 1918, with a triangular cloth badge in Lithuanian national colors (red, green, and yellow) on the right sleeve. British uniforms were introduced in 1919 and were worn with peaked caps.

Ukraine: The UkrainianCentral Rada introduced a cockade in Ukrainian national colors (light blue and yellow, symbolizing the sunny sky and abundant wheat fields of the country), which members of the Ukrainian Army wore on uniforms from the tsarist era in 1917–1918. It also adopted a new method of rank distinction, using lace chevrons on the cuff. In 1918, the forces of the Hetmanite Army of P. P. Skoropadskii wore a long blue coat (zhupan) and wide Ukrainian trousers (sharovari). Ranks and branch of service details were initially indicated by blue collar patches, stenciled in yellow (crossed rifles for infantry, crossed swords for cavalry, crossed cannons for artillery). From June 1918, this was changed to colored piping around the cap crown, collar, shoulder straps, and so forth (crimson for infantry, yellow for cavalry, red for artillery, etc.).

The Ukrainian Galician Army of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic wore uniforms of Austrian-style gray-blue cloth, with a Galician peaked cap of the same color with blue (infantry), yellow (cavalry), red (artillery), black (engineers), crimson (military police), or gray (technical units) facings. The cap also featured a cockade of light blue and yellow, with a silver trident device of Ukraine, while the branch-of-service colors were repeated on “wolf’s teeth” patches (zoobchatka) worn on the collar.

The Sich Riflemen were distinguished by their Mazepynka cap (with outward sloping sides and a V-shaped cutout at the front) and a blue collar patch with the stenciled yellow initials “SS” (“CC” in Cyrillic) for Sichovi Striltsi.