The attitude towards outer protective clothing in the army is reverent. Still would! After all, it helps to protect from bad weather, and sometimes literally becomes a "mini-house" for a soldier. Even in "The Lay of Igor's Regiment" epancha - "Japanese woman" is mentioned:
Ort'mami and Japanese, and casings starting bridges to pave the swamp and muddy place.
Cloth epancha was worn in the rain, impregnated with linseed oil. In the 17th century, the epancha from an additional wardrobe item in case of bad weather turned into formal clothes, which were trimmed with fur and jewelry. Such a cloak was worn at receptions, and only boyars and wealthy nobles could afford it.
Everything changed in the 18th century, when in Petrine Russia the epancha again became an attribute of military equipment. Of course, it is not worth comparing the epanchu of the Petrine era with the modern raincoat-tent, but nevertheless it was already something similar. In 1761, the ammunition of the Russian army included capes-epanchi with a collar and a hood, and at the end of the 19th century, capes appeared.
In 1882, an individual tent was included in the camping equipment of a soldier of the Russian Imperial Army as an obligatory element. When setting out on a campaign, the soldiers carried light gray parcels behind their backs, tied with belts to overcoat rolls. These were mini-tents. Included with them were wooden pegs and a rack, which were pushed by the soldiers between the tent and the roll-up.
The importance of such a piece of equipment was difficult to underestimate. After all, through such a tent, the soldier was able to protect himself from bad weather, and also greatly facilitate his rest. If the soldiers' tents were transported in a second-class wagon train that followed 20-30 versts behind the regiment, then the soldiers carried individual tents on themselves and, accordingly, could use them at any time. After the introduction of an individual tent, the soldier no longer needed to wait for the arrival of the convoy with the main tents - he could put up his own small tent and shelter from the rain.
The individual tent of a soldier of the Russian Imperial Army was a panel with holes for installation and was used only as a tent. However, the soldiers themselves immediately realized that the tent can also be used as a raincoat - in order to hide from rain and snow during the transitions. The command quickly drew attention to the soldier's initiative and in 1910 the individual tent was slightly changed. From that time on, it was called the "soldier's raincoat". The bundle was still attached to the greatcoat fold behind the right hand, but now the soldier could use the raincoat not only as a tent, but also as a raincoat.
As early as July 14, 1892, the cape was approved by Emperor Alexander III as a component of equipment in a number of special formations and in the navy. The cloak-cape was sewn from a rubberized fabric of a protective or black color and was a cloak with a turn-down collar, but without sleeves. On the shoulders, the cloak was fastened with a braid, fastened with buttons, and there were two slots to release the hands.
The cape remained in the Soviet Army as a component of the uniform of officers and warrant officers (warrant officers) for use in rainy times. It was assumed that a cloak-cape could be issued not only to officers, but also to sergeants and sergeants of the conscript service, if they perform certain official duties.
The raincoat-tent gained real popularity already in Soviet times. In 1936, the raincoat-tent was introduced as a piece of uniform for private (Red Army men) and command personnel in the rifle units of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. The set of the raincoat-tent included: a 180 × 180 centimeters cloth, a collapsible stand of two 65 centimeters long rods, two pins, a lacing rope.
The uniqueness of the Soviet raincoat-tent was that it was rather not a raincoat as a piece of clothing, but a primitive awning tent that could perform several functions at once. If in the everyday life of a soldier or officer, the raincoat-tent did not have much significance, then its role changed immediately, as soon as a part was put forward for training.
With the help of raincoats, a subdivision of the Red Army could operate in any geographical and climatic conditions - in the mountains, steppes, on a snowy plain. Weapons were cleaned on raincoats, they were used as a bedding during shooting practice or lunch. They slept on raincoats, using them both as a bedding and as a blanket. Even as a comfortable hammock, a raincoat tent can be used by stretching it between trees. Therefore, the Red Army men and commanders immediately fell in love with the new item in their uniforms and treated it rather reverently.
If from a raincoat tent you can build a shelter for one person, then from several raincoats you can assemble a tent that can accommodate up to twelve people. If you use it as a canopy, then even from one raincoat tent, you can make a shelter for four people. By the way, about using it as a raincoat - criticism of a raincoat-tent is quite common. They say that this product is not suitable as a raincoat, since it does not cover a person well from rain. But it is not so. You just need to be careful about how to put on a raincoat-tent. True, although the tarpaulin of the raincoat tent really protects against water, over time, water still begins to seep. But the raincoat also dries quickly, especially in the sun.
The Great Patriotic War made its own adjustments to the use of raincoats. Now they are often used not only for sheltering soldiers in the rain or as bedding for lunch or shooting in field exercises.
The raincoats made good stretchers for carrying wounded soldiers. They covered open trenches, covered the entrances to dugouts. There are numerous examples of how Soviet fighters crossed water barriers on raincoats. For this, raincoats were stuffed with straw or hay. It turned out to be a kind of mattress, on which a soldier could easily swim across a small river or body of water.
Interestingly, the Wehrmacht also used its own version of the raincoat, which, to be fair, was quite good. Therefore, our soldiers greatly appreciated the captured German raincoats that fell into their hands. We are talking about the Zeltbahn 31 raincoat, which was adopted to equip the Reichswehr in 1931, even before Adolf Hitler came to power. This model replaces the gray square raincoat used since 1893.
Unlike its predecessor, the German cape-tent of the 1931 model was not square, but triangular, could be used as a field table, tent, raincoat, bedding. In addition, it was not gray, but camouflaged. In North Africa, there were also samples of special tropical camouflage - greenish-yellow or light beige, but in general, even the African units of the Wehrmacht used the usual 1931 camouflage raincoat-tents.
By the way, taking the German raincoat-tent as a model, in 1942 the Soviet industry began to produce domestic camouflage raincoats. But the red army never adopted the triangular shape of the German raincoat-tents, although the German raincoat-tents were clearly more convenient than the Soviet ones, and it was for these qualities that Soviet soldiers valued them.
The two sides of the German raincoat were 203 cm long, one side 250 cm long. Along each of the short sides there were 12 buttons and loops, and along the long side there were six holes with metal edging and also six buttons. Through the holes, the structure was set up like a tent with the help of a special tension cable. Like the Soviet raincoat, the German raincoat could be used as a blanket or bedding, and two raincoats could be used to make an awning to protect from the rain.
Four raincoat tents joined together made it possible to create a pyramidal four-man tent. Eight and sixteen-person tents could be made. The set for installation included, in addition to the cloth itself, a two-meter black rope, a wooden post made of four parts of 37 cm each and two pegs. The accessories were placed in a special sack made of gabardine or a thin tarpaulin, which was closed with a flap and fastened with one or two buttons.
And yet, although the Soviet raincoat was inferior to the German one in a number of parameters, it was still loved and appreciated by our soldiers. The raincoat-tent became one of the symbols of our army. On many monuments, in many paintings depicting the Great Patriotic War, our infantrymen are dressed in unchanged raincoats.
In the Soviet Army, the raincoat-tent existed practically unchanged in the post-war period of Russian history. It was borrowed by the countries of the Warsaw Pact Organization. In addition, in some units and subdivisions of the Soviet Army, there was also a SPP on equipment - a special raincoat-tent, which had one very interesting feature - its back part could be inflated like a mattress, which made it possible to use the raincoat-tent as a sleeping bag and even as a floating one. means. However, such raincoats were not massive and fully justified their name "special" - they were given out only in special forces, in units of the Airborne Forces.
However, in the second half of the twentieth century, soldiers began to face the fact that the raincoat-tent less and less met modern requirements and this is due, first of all, to the size of the cloth. When a raincoat-tent was being developed, the average height of a man was in the region of 160-165 cm. Thus, having a panel length of 180 cm, a raincoat-tent fully satisfied his needs.
Now the situation has changed. The average height of a soldier, in comparison with a century ago, increased by at least 20-30 cm. And if a man with a height of 160 cm in a raincoat-tent 180 cm was enough, as they say, "with his head", then for modern fighters 180-190 cm in height, this size of a raincoat - the tents are already too small.
In the 1980s - 1990s. the Soviet and Russian armies again had to fight - first in Afghanistan, then in a number of armed conflicts in "hot spots" in the territory of the former Soviet Union. And in all these conflicts, a raincoat-tent came to the aid of the soldiers again and again. In Afghanistan and Chechnya, military personnel used it to carry the wounded, served as a raincoat and all previous auxiliary functions, making the daily life of personnel in the field easier.
Finally, do not forget that the raincoat is used by tens, if not hundreds of thousands of civilians up to the present time. The time-tested product is in great demand among fishermen and hunters, tourists, in geological and archaeological expeditions, in construction organizations. In general, a raincoat tent is in demand by all those categories of our fellow citizens who often visit the field and need high-quality and reliable equipment.
Although a large number of a wide variety of items of tourist and camping equipment have now appeared on sale, including quality products from world famous companies, the good old raincoat tent does not lose its relevance. Indeed, it combines good protective qualities and low price, light weight and the possibility of universal use for a variety of purposes.
