This type of military uniform is familiar to every soldier, and many civilians also hear it. Its appearance was due to the fashion of its time, but vital practicality and cheap manufacturing allowed it to survive its era. The rulers left, empires disappeared, wars arose and died, the type of military uniform changed several times, but the greatcoat remained at its combat post for a long time, and, remarkably, practically unchanged.
An overcoat is usually understood as a uniform coat made of dense woolen fabric with a fold on the back and a folded strap holding it. The word itself is borrowed from French, where "chenille" means morning dress. Now there is no reliable data on who and when invented the overcoat. There are only tentative dates.
The first overcoat, or better to say the great coat (greatcoatb), was put on by the British at the end of the 17th century. Her appearance, of course, differed from today's, primarily in the absence of sleeves. But the protective properties, thanks to which it warmed the owner well in wet and rainy weather, were quickly appreciated by the military. And at the turn of the century, she comes to the army of Her Majesty. So in 1800, the Duke of Kent, commander of the forces in Canada, issued a decree according to which all officers in British North America were supposed to wear a double-breasted coat made of blue cloth. Two years later, in 1802, these rules were issued for the entire British army.
Around the same time, the overcoat came to Russia. At that time, our state constantly participated in wars, therefore officials did not spare funds for the army and, speaking in today's language, introduced the latest technologies. But as it happens in our country, there were some incidents and sad stories.
The first mentions of the introduction of an overcoat in the army appear in the infantry regulations, according to which, the overcoat was relied on for all combatant and non-combatant lower ranks to be worn in cold and rainy weather over the uniform. For the ranks of the jaeger battalions, and later regiments, greatcoats were supposed to be built from dark green cloth, for all other regiments - from white. For each overcoat, 4 arshins of 4 vershoks of cloth were released and 3 arshins of canvas for the lining in the sleeves. Buttons, 6 pcs., Had to be wooden, covered with cloth. The term for wearing an overcoat was set at 4 years.
During 1797, part of the infantry regiments, whose terms of wearing the old Potemkin epanches (cloak without sleeves) had expired and who did not have time to build new ones by the end of the year, having received an order to extend the service life of the epanches, began to build overcoats according to a new model provided by the charter. Overcoats, according to eyewitnesses, quickly began to gain popularity. This is how one grenadier of the Butyrka regiment describes it: “Overcoats with sleeves. It was very convenient; unlike against raincoats; especially in inclement weather or winter. You can put on all the ammunition on top of an overcoat, but you can't do that with a raincoat: it was sleeveless."
But for some reason, all these obvious advantages of overcoats were ignored by Emperor Paul, and he ordered to return to the old cloaks. Why he did this is still unclear. Either for reasons of cheapness of the latter, or out of imitation of the Prussians, but one way or another, in the new states and tables of field infantry and cavalry regiments, "Most Highly from His Imperial Majesty, confirmed on the 5th day of January 1798", were again for all combat lower ranks coats of white cloth were introduced, with the exception of only the combatant and non-combatant ranks of the jaeger regiments and the non-combatant musketeer and grenadier regiments, to which the overcoats were left, the first dark green, and the last white cloth.
It is not known who initiated the return of the overcoat to life, but the fact remains that already at the beginning of 1799. His Imperial Highness, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, presiding over the Military Department, presented new samples of greatcoats for testing to the emperor, which all ranks were supposed to have instead of cloaks. After the positive decision of Paul I, Alexander Pavlovich sent these samples directly to the commander of the Commissariat Expedition, General of Infantry and Cavalier Vyazmitinov, and announced on January 30 to the State Military Collegium: cloaks of white cloth were laid, instead of those cloaks, they had overcoats according to the highest approved new samples, assuming the proportion of cloth was the same as that on the cloak; ie: in cavalry regiments 5, and in other foot troops 4 arshins 4 vershoks for each overcoat."
This decree was received by the Military Collegium on January 31, and already on February 5, the State Military Collegium issued a decree to the troops and all the appropriate authorities: to these the proper number of canvas in the sleeves."
Two years later, the overcoat was firmly established in the army.
There is an entry in the multivolume Historical Description of Changes in the Clothes and Armament of the Russian Troops, published in 1899, which contains all the decrees on military uniforms from the time of Prince Vladimir to Nicholas II, confirming the presence of an overcoat in the army of that period.
“On April 30, 1802, a new report card was confirmed for the uniform, ammunition and weaponry of the Grenadier regiments, on the basis of which and the above four decrees, the privates of the first, or the Shef's, proper Grenadier battalions were assigned: uniform or caftan, pantaloons; boots; tie; fodder and grenadier hats, SHINEL, sweatshirt; sword, with a lanyard; harness; a gun with a bayonet, a belt, a fire case and a half-vest: a cartridge case with a sling; satchel and water bottle.
According to the same document, the overcoat looked like this:
“… Made of unpainted cloth, dark or light gray, if only the whole shelf is the same color, - with a collar and shoulder straps in the color and cut of uniforms, and with gray, round cuffs. It was built in such a way that it could be put on not only on a uniform, but also on a sweatshirt or short fur coat. In front, it was fastened with seven copper, flat buttons, sewn at such a distance from one another that when the overcoat was worn with a harness, the lowest button fell under the harness, and the upper half of the rear flaps came out over the harness. " Modernization was ongoing. From October 19, 1803, "all non-commissioned officers of the Musketeer regiments, in uniforms and greatcoats, instead of one shoulder strap, were ordered to have two."
For privates, the overcoat was made from the cheapest cloth at the price of 65 kopecks per arshin, it was gray or, as they said, bread color. The overcoat required a lot of fabric - it took about three meters for one thing, and even more for a cavalry overcoat - about four meters. The fact is that the cavalry was longer, with a lot of folds on the back. And when the rider was in the saddle, he unbuttoned the back strap and straightened the hem of his greatcoat like a blanket. The edges of the overcoat were not processed in any way - the thick cloth, unlike the thin one, does not crumble.
Overcoats were sewn from a special woolen cloth, which had excellent thermal insulation properties - in field conditions, soldiers would wrap themselves in it, like in a blanket. Modern amateurs who reconstruct historical military events have also tried: they say that it is not cold, especially if you take “front-line” one hundred grams beforehand. The cloth is very durable, it does not burn even in a fire: for example, if a spark from a fire hits, it will not flare up, but will slowly smolder.
A good example that the overcoat has earned love among the soldiers is the appearance of anecdotes, fairy tales and fables with her participation. Here's one of the stories:
The master spoke with the soldier. The soldier began to praise his greatcoat: "When I need to sleep, I will put my greatcoat on, and put the greatcoat in my heads, and cover myself with the greatcoat." The master began to ask the soldier to sell him an overcoat. Here they bargained for twenty-five rubles. The master came home and said to his wife: “What a thing I bought! Now I do not need featherbeds, pillows, or blankets: I will put on my greatcoat, and I will put my greatcoat in my heads, and I will put on my greatcoat. " His wife began to scold him: "Well, how are you going to sleep?" And indeed, the master has put on his greatcoat, but in their heads there is nothing to put and dress with, and it’s hard for him to lie down. The master went to the regimental commander to complain about the soldier. The commander ordered to call a soldier. A soldier was brought in. “What have you, brother,” says the commander, “deceived the master?” “No, your honor,” the soldier replies. The soldier took his greatcoat, spread it out, put his head on his sleeve and covered himself with a blanket. “Where's how good it is,” he says, “sleeping on an overcoat after the hike!” The regimental commander praised the soldier.
On the other hand, there is an opinion that it was not very convenient to fight in an overcoat. Long floors tangled underfoot and impeded movement. At one time, soldiers in the ranks were allowed to tuck the edges of their overcoats by the belt to make it easier to march.
Throughout its "service" in the Russian, then the Soviet, and then the Russian army, the overcoat has repeatedly changed in length and style, adjusting to the needs of the military.
In the Red Army in 1919, the following style of overcoat was approved: single-breasted, made of khaki cloth, with colored flaps (depending on the type of troops). For some reason, the chest flaps were called "conversations." Then the "conversations" disappeared, they began to fasten the overcoat with hooks. Since 1935, the overcoat has become double-breasted, with a turn-down collar. On the back there was only one opposite fold (there used to be 6–7 folds), apparently to save material. The length was determined simply: they measured 18–22 cm from the floor and cut off. The color of the overcoat in the army has always remained close to either a protective one or to a steel one. But even if the overcoat was of the same sample, in different regions it could differ in color - the dyes in different factories gave their own shade. And only the servicemen of the Navy have always sported the same black greatcoats.
As in the tsarist army, infantry and cavalry (floor-length) overcoats were adopted in the Red Army. They were sewn from rough gray-brown cloth. For officers and senior command personnel, greatcoats were sewn from the highest quality cloth. General's greatcoats had lapels lined with red material and red piping in the seams. For aviation generals, these piping and lapels were blue. The dress officer's overcoat was sewn of steel-colored cloth. In the navy, an overcoat was sewn of black cloth.
In Soviet times, especially in the pre-war and war years, a whole industry worked for the production of greatcoats and cloth for them - millions of meters of cloth were made per year. Each overcoat took about three meters of fabric. All this, of course, came in handy during the Second World War, where the overcoat had to go through all the hardships and hardships with the soldiers. Moreover, it was used not only by the Allied countries, but also by the Germans.
One of the best memories of what the greatcoat was for people of that time is the story of the same name by Viktor Astafiev.
“… She regrets her soldier's overcoat. In this greatcoat, she crawled along the front line and carried on her the one who became the father of her only son. She slept under this greatcoat, loved and gave birth to her child.
Once she had nothing to feed her son, there was nothing to buy out hot meals from the children's kitchen. It was March outside, and she decided that the cold weather had already ended, took the overcoat to the market and gave it for nothing, because at that time there were many overcoats on the market, almost new and with straps … The son lay in the dark and thought about how that the mother's first gray hair probably appeared on that day,when she sold her overcoat. And he also thought that he had to live a very long life and do an awful lot to pay in full for that soldier's greatcoat without a strap."
After the Great Patriotic War, the greatcoat was in service for a long time. A radical turning point came during the Afghan campaign, where she had to gradually give way to more modern clothing, say, a quilted jacket and a camouflage pea jacket. Although quilted jackets appeared during the Finnish war - they were all put under the same greatcoat for warmth, only in the 70s did they become independent clothing. Sadly, but the time of the overcoat, despite all its merits, is a thing of the past.
In the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the overcoat as a type of uniform has disappeared. It was replaced by a double-breasted olive-colored woolen coat (black for the Navy), which is worn with epaulettes, a chevron and emblems of the type of troops. For officers and warrant officers, a detachable fur collar (for generals and colonels from astrakhan fur) and lining are provided. Of course, they are also called an overcoat out of habit, but practically nothing remained of the properties that a thing with such a name should have. It does not heat up and wrinkles very much. On the other hand, the requirements for it have changed. If earlier it was necessary to go on the attack in it, now this was not required, since the coat is positioned as a type of everyday or dress uniform. In addition, a uniform coat of the same tailoring began to be worn not only by the military, but also by employees of the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Rostekhnadzor, Russian railways and other organizations. Only their color is different.
But if the coat of the 90s model still somehow resembled an overcoat in appearance and material, then in the new version from Valentin Yudashkin it finally acquired the status of its true name - a coat with shoulder straps. It is in this form that it is used in the armies of other countries.
Regrettably, the greatcoat gradually disappeared from military use, although it will probably be remembered for a long time.
