Kirz boots are more than shoes. Ivan Plotnikov, who set up their production before the war, received the Stalin Prize. After the war, everyone used to wear "kirzachs" - from old people to schoolchildren. They are still in use today. Because they are reliable
By the First World War, the long army confrontation between boots and boots was brought to an end. The boots definitely won. Even in those armies where there was not enough material to make boots, soldiers' legs were still wrapped almost to the knee. It was a forced imitation of boots. Mustard-colored windings have gone through the war, for example, British soldiers. The soldiers of the Russian army, by the way, in the First World War were the only ones who could afford to flaunt in real leather boots.
As with any cult item, there are a lot of speculations and rumors about tarpaulin boots. So, one of the misconceptions is that "kirzachi" got their name from the "Kirov plant", which established their production. In fact, the legendary boots got their name from the Kersey wool fabric from which they were originally made.
There are also a lot of misconceptions about who first created tarpaulin boots. The priority in this matter belongs to the Russian inventor Mikhail Pomortsev. Since 1903, Pomortsev began to conduct experiments with rubber substitutes, and only with those components of which were produced in Russia. Already in 1904, he received a waterproof tarpaulin, which was successfully tested as a material for covers for artillery guns and forage sacks. He received a canvas cloth impregnated with a mixture of paraffin, rosin and egg yolk in 1904. The material had properties almost identical to leather. He did not let water through, but at the same time he "breathed". For the first time, the tarpaulin "sniffed gunpowder" in the Russo-Japanese War, where it was used to make ammunition for horses, bags and covers for artillery.
Samples of fabrics developed according to the Pomortsev method were exhibited by the Ministry of Industry at international exhibitions in Liege (July 1905) and Milan (June 1906). In Milan, Mikhail Mikhailovich's work was awarded the Gold Medal. In addition, for the development of methods for obtaining leather substitutes, he received an encouraging review at the Aeronautical Exhibition in St. Petersburg (1911) and was awarded a Small Silver Medal at the All-Russian Hygienic Exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1913.
When the First World War began, M. M. Pomortsev offered to use free of charge substitutes for leather invented by him for the manufacture of soldiers' boots. In conditions of an acute shortage of footwear, the troops were supplied with any kind of footwear from bast shoes to "canvas boots" and boots, that is, boots with tarpaulin tops. Based on the results of tests of experimental batches, the Military-Industrial Committee recommended making a large batch of such boots for the troops, but it was not profitable for the manufacturers of leather shoes, and they in every possible way obstructed the transfer of the order, and after the death of Mikhail Mikhailovich in 1916, they completely buried this business.
The boots were “put on the shelf” for almost 20 years.
The production of tarpaulin was revived already in 1934. Soviet scientists Boris Byzov and Sergei Lebedev developed a method for obtaining cheap artificial sodium butadiene rubber, which was impregnated with fabric, which made it acquire properties similar to natural leather.
We owe the further development of the production of tarpaulin boots to Alexander Khomutov and Ivan Plotnikov. It was thanks to their efforts that the production of "kirzach" was established in the country. They passed a combat test back in the Soviet-Finnish war, but this experience ended unsuccessfully - in the cold the boots cracked, became hard and brittle.
Plotnikov's daughter Lyudmila recalled how her father told her about the commission at which the "debriefing" of the use of the new material took place. Ivan Vasilyevich was asked: "Why is your tarpaulin so cold and does not breathe?" He replied: "The bull and the cow have not yet shared all their secrets with us." Fortunately, the chemist was not punished for such insolence.
After the outbreak of World War II, an acute shortage of footwear became apparent. In August 1941, Ivan Plotnikov was appointed chief engineer of the Kozhimit plant, put at his disposal several scientific workers and set the task of improving the technology for making a tarpaulin. Kosygin himself supervised the issue. The deadlines were extremely tight. Many Soviet scientists and researchers worked to improve the leatherette, and about a year later, the production of the material and the sewing of boots were established.
Shoes made of improved tarpaulin turned out to be lightweight, durable and comfortable, perfectly kept warm and did not allow moisture to pass through. On April 10, 1942, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, Alexander Khomutov, Ivan Plotnikov and seven other industrial workers were awarded the Stalin Prize of the 2nd degree for fundamental improvements in production methods in the production of leather substitutes for army boots.
Kirz boots gained well-deserved fame during the war. Tall, almost waterproof, but at the same time breathable, they allowed soldiers to march for miles on any road and off-road. How good the tarpaulin boots were can be judged by comparing them with American military boots (probably not with the boots themselves, but with the approach to equipment).
General O. Bradley, author of The Soldier's Story, wrote that due to constant dampness, the American army lost 12,000 combatants in just one month. Some of them were never able to recover after that and return to the front.
O. Bradley wrote: “By the end of January, the disease of rheumatism of the legs had reached such a large scale that the American command was at a standstill. We were completely unprepared for this disaster, partly as a result of our own negligence; by the time we began to instruct the soldiers on how to take care of their feet and what to do to keep the boots from getting wet, rheumatism had already spread through the army with the speed of the plague."
Without high boots and footcloths on the autumn and winter fronts, it was hard.
It can be admitted that footcloths are no less ingenious invention than tarpaulin boots themselves. However, they are inseparable. Those who have tried to wear tarpaulin boots with a toe know that socks will surely roll down the heel sooner or later. Then, especially if you are on a march and cannot stop, write wasted … Feet in the blood. In addition, footcloths are also convenient because if they get wet, it is enough to wind them with the other side, then the leg will still remain dry, and the wet part of the footcloth will dry out in the meantime. The spacious top of the "kirzach" allows you to wind up two footcloths in cold weather (it is easier to use winter ones), plus put newspapers in them in order to keep warm.
This 1950 ad was perhaps optional. After the war, Kirz boots became a "national brand". To date, these shoes have produced approximately 150 million pairs. Despite the talk that soon the army will be changed into ankle boots, the soldiers continue to wear "kirzachi", make "screws" out of them (rolling them with an accordion) and dress them up on the occasion of demobilization. Somewhere at the genetic level, the memory of how our soldiers in tarpaulin boots marched to the Great Victory lives in us.
