Red Army insignia corrections - 1935 – 1940

[Eugen Pinak]

Well, here am I again :)

This time I browsed through Red Army pages.

Some general notes at first.

1. Greatcoat patches are shown incorrectly – see here: http://armor.kiev.ua/army/forma/rkka_35_1.gif

2. Specialty badges are too large and some incorrect.
For the full list before 1936 see here: http://armor.kiev.ua/army/forma/embl24-2.gif
For the full list from 1936 see here: http://armor.kiev.ua/army/forma/embl36-2.gif

3. Commanders’ chevrons (and commissars’ stars) were worn just above the cuffs – not on the forearms.

4. All specialty badges and rank insignia were made from yellow metal (or stenciled with yellow paint). Only Veterinary Service had white version of Medical emblem.

5. All rank insignia had dark-red enamel, not red as shown.

6. All sleeve chevrons were red, not vine-red as shown.

7. Officers pips are moved too far to the left.

8. All Commanders patches were edged with golden lace, there were no colored piping. Chiefs and Commissars had patches like other ranks. Only the commanders wore chevrons; Commissars had stars and Chiefs had nothing.
Note, that there were three branches of the officers in the Red Army: Commanders – who actually commanded troops in the field; Chiefs – non-line officer personnel (something like “E” and “T” grades in US Army); Commissars – political officers. Each branch had it’s own rank names – so there can’t be any “Lieutenant” in the medical service, for example.

9. General’s chevrons were as broad as for senior officers, while Commander of Army (1st class) and Marshal had their chevrons even broader.

And now more detailed about some patches:

Junior Lieutenant (Judicial Service) – this rank was introduced only for Commanders (Junior Lieutenant), Commissars (Junior Politruk) and Technical services (Junior Military Technician) – nobody else. No chevrons, of course.

Senior Lieutenant – black patches with black piping were used only for Chemical Service. Transport units had blue piping.

Captain – there was no Cavalry (and Infantry, BTW) emblem at this time. It had it’s emblem in 1922-24 and from 1943 on. But in any way it’s shown here incorrectly and upside-down.

Lieutenant Colonel – before 26 July 1940 it was Colonel, etc. Sleeve chevron is shown incorrectly – golden edging was only along the top and bottom, but not on the sides of the chevron. And for this branch there were no chevrons.

Colonel – note that this rank and insignia were introduced 26 July 1940 for Commanders and Commissars (Regimental Commissar) _only_! But together with the introduction of this rank, sleeve chevrons changed it’s shape, so put this rank here is nonsense, not taking into account that for this branch there were no chevrons.

Commander of the Brigade (Music Service) and Commander of the Army (2nd class) – red piping, no chevrons.

Commander of Army (1st class) and Marshal – red patches.

All the best,
Eugen Pinak

[Eugen Pinak]

Actually, bump. New insignia are well-made, but nothing was corrected so far on old pages.