Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

However, the colorful units had their own, often flamboyant, uniforms and insignia, which contrasted starkly with the dull khaki of others. The Kornilovtsy wore black tunics and breeches, with white piping on the collar, breast, pocket flaps, cuffs, and trouser seams. Their caps had a red crown and a black band, again with white piping, and were peaked for officers and unpeaked for others. Pogony were half red and half black. The uniforms of the Markovtsy were similar, except that the crown of the cap was white, with black piping, and the pogony were predominantly black. The Alekseevtsy wore black (or sometimes white) uniforms, with facings in light blue, and a white-crowned cap piped in light blue and with a light-blue cap-band piped in white. The Drozdovtsy wore khaki tunics, without piping, and gray-blue breeches piped in red, with crimson-crowned caps piped in white and with a white cap-band piped in black. As these regiments grew into divisions over the course of 1918–1919, only the original members—usually the 1st or Officers’ companies or regiments—displayed these colors, the rest of the men wearing Russian or British khaki.

In all units of the Armed Forces of South Russia, the most senior officers (notably General P. N. Wrangel) were often clad in a long, narrow-waisted, and collarless cherkeska (Circassian coat) and a tall papakha (Circassian hat) of black or white fur or astrakhan.

Siberia: As the Siberian Army was gathered in the summer of 1918, during the Democratic Counter-Revolution, it at first deliberately avoided the pogony, cockades, and other regalia of the imperial army. Also, to display the regionalist credentials of the Provisional Siberian Government, the army adopted as its field sign (displayed on badges, patches, chevrons, and armbands) the white and green colors of Siberian regionalism (symbolizing the snow and forests of Siberia). By September 1918, however, as the military sought to assert itself over the civilian authorities, tsarist patterns were being reintroduced; the army commander, General P. P. Ivanov-Rinov, even decreed that officers could be arrested on sight for failing to display their insignia of rank.

Uniforms of the Siberian Army and later the Russian Army of Admiral A. V. Kolchak were generally khaki, on the imperial model, although British uniforms became increasingly common in 1919. Sleeve patches generally had the unit cipher stenciled in oil paint on the lower portion, with a branch-of-service badge on the upper portion (embroidered or of metal for officers, stenciled for others). The patches were of a variety of colors: dark blue (cavalry), crimson (riflemen), black with red piping (artillery and engineers), white (headquarters staff), black with white piping (general staff), and dark green (administrative services). Some units, however, had quite distinct uniforms and insignia. For example, the men of B. V. Annenkov’s forces in Semirech′e wore a skull-and-crossbones device on cockades, hat badges, buttons, and sleeve patches.

UNION FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.See CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, UNION FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE.

Union for the Defense of the Fatherland and Freedom. This underground anti-Bolshevik organization was founded in February 1918, by B. N. Savinkov. According to its charter, its aims were “the overthrow of the current [Soviet] government and the organization of a firm authority that will unyieldingly guard the national interests of Russia and re-establish the old army, together with the rights of the former commanding staff, with the aim of continuing the war against Germany.” According to Savinkov, in the formation of the union he was acting as the certified representative of General M. V. Alekseev and the command of the Volunteer Army. The organization’s headquarters were in Moscow, but branches were soon established in other centers of northern and eastern European Russia, notably at Kazan′, Iaroslavl′, and Murom.