When today it comes to the heavy winter battles of the Great Patriotic War, then, perhaps, everyone imagine a Soviet soldier in a quilted jacket, an army hat with a badge in the form of a hammer and sickle and with a machine gun at the ready. And if the last two things were familiar to soldiers almost from the very beginning of the existence of the USSR, then the quilted quilted jacket ended up in the uniform of the red army, already having by that time a very unusual history of her journey through the vast expanses Soviet Union. For your attention 8 amusing facts about the Soviet quilted jacket.
1. Byzantine roots
Today, not only in the post-Soviet space, but all over the world, the quilted jacket is considered an unspoken "visiting card" of the Red Army, which has already gone down in history. And therefore, many will be surprised by the fact that this piece of clothing is not originally Russian, but was invented in the early Middle Ages in Byzantium.
It was there that the first cases of wearing quilted clothes, which became the prototype of the quilted jacket, were recorded. In those distant times, it was used not only by the civilian population, but also by soldiers, moreover, as a lightweight protection, which covered from enemy blows of a small ax.
2. Made in China
But the quilted jacket came directly to Russia from... China. During the Russo-Japanese War, units based in Manchuria noticed unusual quilted clothing, which was popular among the local population. The army team decided to buy Chinese quilted jackets for themselves, and they turned out to be very comfortable.
The war ended, but quilted jackets have already penetrated and established themselves in the Russian Empire. They were also worn by the army during the First World War and the Civil War. However, at that time this clothing had not yet gained great popularity.
3. Production according to a uniform standard
The first popularity for the quilted jacket came already in Soviet Russia, in 1932. It was then that the country's leadership truly appreciated the versatility of quilted jackets, in which it is equally comfortable to work and just walk along the street. In the same 1932, builders began to be massively dressed in quilted jackets, in particular, the Belomorkanal. And the Soviet government decided to "fit into one pattern" the production of quilted jackets.
The Committee for Standardization of the People's Commissariat of Light Industry of the USSR proposed the following type of quilted clothing: "Quilted jacket - jacket wadded single-breasted, straight cut, fastens up to the top with 4 buttons on the left side with four sew-on loops (with belt loops). Straight floors without darts, with side patch pockets, quilted through the top, cotton wool and lining with parallel machine stitches. The distance between the stitches is 6 cm. The back is straight, one-piece or with a seam in the middle, at the waist it is pulled together with drawstrings with a metal buckle. The back quilting is the same as the hem. The collar is upright soft, fastens with one button with a belt loop sewn to its left end. Collar height - 3 cm. Sleeves are single-seam, end at the bottom with a small slot and cuffs, fastened with one button with a belt loop sewn to the end of the upper half of the cuff. "
4. Clothes for the poor and prisoners
With the beginning of the mass standardized production of quilted jackets, the Soviet government ordered that this garment be popularized among the population. For example, the characters of various films, such as "Chapaev", are often dressed in quilted jackets. However, "advertising" in popular culture did not produce the expected results.
Until the end of the 1930s, the quilted jacket was popular mostly among low-income citizens, as well as marginal elements - vagrants and petty thieves. And with the arrival of the notorious 1937, when the number of prisoners in the camps increased many times, it was in places not so remote that quilted jackets began to be massively supplied. Quite quickly, the quilted jacket began to be associated most often with criminals.
5. Quilted jacket cult
The really popular love of Soviet citizens was given to the jacket, oddly enough, by the war. Indeed, in quilted jackets they began to dress massively soldiers of all branches of the military. And here the Red Army men, and after them the civilian population, were able to make sure of the comfort and versatility of the quilted jacket.
After that, the quilted jacket all over the world became a symbol of the Soviet army, and for the common population - a real salvation in the hungry and cold war years. The same trend continued in the equally difficult post-war decade. We can say that it was in the quilted jacket that the Soviet empire rebuilt itself anew, overcoming the terrible devastation.
6. Tankers without pockets
Despite the convenience and versatility of quilted jackets, experienced tank troops still preferred to "modernize" their quilted jackets. Moreover, such a transformation was carried out not for the sake of beauty, but solely to ensure their own safety.
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The thing is that the tankers ripped off their pockets from their quilted jackets. This was done in order not to accidentally touch the details of the tank. Moreover, the absence of pockets allowed soldiers to quickly get out of a wrecked or burning car, where, during smoke you could firmly cling to some protruding part and lose precious seconds for your own salvation.
7. Posthumous German trophy
War is always a harsh time, and sometimes, in order to survive, you have to make a deal with your own morality. And it happened that the latter simply did not exist, just as there was no respect for death among many soldiers of the Third Reich, who did not disdain... to undress the dead Red Army soldiers.
It turned out that the Hitlerite army was not quite ready for the prickly Russian frosts. And in order to better keep warm, some of the Germans simply removed their quilted jackets from the corpses of Soviet soldiers, and they were not stopped by the direct prohibition of their commanders on such activities. Therefore, these "trophies" were worn mainly under greatcoats. And yet, some officers were aware of the complexity of the situation of their soldiers, so they pretended not to notice the violation of the order.
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8. Double protection
As mentioned above, in ancient times, quilted jackets were worn as a protective element. Centuries passed, and in the conditions of the bloodiest war, quilted jackets suddenly returned to this function. Moreover, it did not happen anywhere, but in one of the hottest points of hostilities - in Stalingrad.
And it was like this: in order to protect, Soviet soldiers put on two quilted jackets at once and went into battle. And this tactic really helped: a double cotton layer softened the blows from pieces of breaking walls, and also sheltered them from glass fragments and ammunition. Moreover, according to Novate.ru, the protection in the form of a pair of quilted jackets could even stop a bullet if it was fired from a long distance.
One cannot but say that with the beginning of the Khrushchev thaw, the popularity of the quilted jacket could have come to naught, because a whole competitive environment of comfortable and new styles of outerwear appeared. And yet, this did not happen: time passed, and a good old quilted jacket could be found in the closet and a simple hard worker, and an intellectual professor, and even a party official who loves, for example, winter hunting. After all, a quilted jacket, which went through a war with a huge country, has become a kind of symbol of power and victory. Perhaps, imbued with the heroic aura of quilted jackets, Russian athletes in their stylized variations entered the opening of the Olympic Games in Sochi.
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Do you want to know about the history of another symbol of the Soviet military uniform? Then read: "Boots for the people": how tarpaulin boots appeared in the USSR
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/120919/51707/