Mysterious “jump smock”?,

[Ostfries]

This tunic was purchased by a good friend of mine in a lot of Russian WWII items, it has some minor similarities to the German WWII knochensack what made us think that this perhaps could be a Russian paratrooper smock if such exist?. One indication of this being some sort of jump smock is the way you can put the ends of the tunic/smock around (Unfortunately there are some buttons missing) the legs similar to the German jump smocks, also the false pockets to give the opportunity to reach for some equipment underneath the tunic indicate it being some sort of smock. There is no provenance at all that this is indeed a WWII area smock, and not in the least of being a Russian WWII para smock, only that it came in with a lot of WWII Russian items and that the fabric definitely is old with no syntactic fabric at all. I’m convinced that Russians should have used camouflage tunics on a wide scale during. WWII and that its a undervalued issue of discussion and collection just because lack of information about it. Regarding the outcome of age and origin of this tunic discussed here this thread could perhaps start a interesting discussion about this subject, thanks in advance.

[Ostfries]

Reverse,

Reverse,

[Ostfries]

Collar,

Collar,

[Ostfries]

Pocket,

Pocket,

[Ostfries]

Sleeve and fabric,

Unfortunately the pictures are not of a very good quality, they are made with my simple two mega pixel digital camera, my apologies about that, but if you would like to see additional pictures feel free to ask and I will do my best to make them, thanks in advance.

[Ostfries]

Jump into this subject,

Perhaps our Russian fellow members, or other members from the east, could/would give some opinion about this mysterious assumed “jump smock”, thanks in advance.

[Ostfries]

similarities,

Reversible winter parka in similar camouflage pattern, look at the similarities with the German sumpf and splinter parkas.

[Ostfries]

Thanks,

Thanks Adrian for placing the thread in your section of the forum, many thanks already for your help and effort in trying to unsolve this mystery.

[Kozlov]

In WW2 the VDV had no cammoflaged uniforms.

They were issued the MKK oversuits like other Soviet units issued with cammo.

I suggest this item is early post-ww2 eastern-bloc, where many German cuts of uniform items appeared with variantions on Soviet and German cammo patterns. They were using patterns for kit they had made under German occupation and using a different cammo print so as to not look like nazis...

[Ostfries]

Professional input,

In WW2 the VDV had no cammoflaged uniforms.

They were issued the MKK oversuits like other Soviet units issued with cammo.

I suggest this item is early post-ww2 eastern-bloc, where many German cuts of uniform items appeared with variantions on Soviet and German cammo patterns. They were using patterns for kit they had made under German occupation and using a different cammo print so as to not look like nazis...

Thanks for your input Andy, I was hoping someone with your knowledge about this subject would give his opinion in this thread. The outcome maybe not satisfying, of course we had hoped that it would be some kind of Russian WWII “jump” smock but realised the possibility of it being post-war. Of course its difficult to see differences between 60 or 65 years old fabric but if it is post-war then it must be very early concerning no synthetic fibre was used in both tunics and the fabric it self is very old. Its still interesting to know its origin, so if there is anybody who know more about the origin of both tunics pleas feel free to post your comments, thanks in advance.

[Kozlov]

Don't be that surprised about the lack of synthetic material in something like this... there was a distinct lack of anything synthetic for quite some time in Eastern-Bloc gear apart from the infamous "Dayderon" (sp?) from the DDR in the 60's onwards...

The trouble you will find in id'ing this uniform is that there is a big gap in knowledge and collecting of Eastern Bloc stuff (especially anything that isnt a medal!!) between 1946 and the 1980's. There is interest in WW2 and interest created from the motherload of kit dumped post 1989 (which will be generally 70/80's pattern) but when you get into the early postwar period there is little material or knowledge out there... except perhaps with the DDR where German habbits of having everything written down help the historical record immensely!

[Ostfries]

Information gap,

Don't be that surprised about the lack of synthetic material in something like this... there was a distinct lack of anything synthetic for quite some time in Eastern-Bloc gear apart from the infamous "Dayderon" (sp?) from the DDR in the 60's onwards...

The trouble you will find in id'ing this uniform is that there is a big gap in knowledge and collecting of Eastern Bloc stuff (especially anything that isnt a medal!!) between 1946 and the 1980's. There is interest in WW2 and interest created from the motherload of kit dumped post 1989 (which will be generally 70/80's pattern) but when you get into the early postwar period there is little material or knowledge out there... except perhaps with the DDR where German habbits of having everything written down help the historical record immensely!

Thanks again for this explanation Andy, did not realise my self that there could be a shortage of material in the former Eastern Bloc, it would well explain the lack of synthetic fibres in these two tunics. In the search of looking for the origin of these tunics I also realised that there is very little known about Russian WWII and post-war uniforms, especially camouflage tunics. Perhaps someone knowledgeable like your self Andy could jump in that “gap” and publish a book or launch a good website concerning this subject, I think something like that would be in great demand.

[Kozlov]

There is already a pretty damned fine work on cammouflage - "Cammouflage Uniforms of the Soviet Union and Russia" by Desmond. An expensive book from Schiffer, but an excellent reference....