M43 Post War officer

[iannima]

As those of you who frequent the DDR section of this forum already know, I am a motorised man,

Or to be more precise... I am... on the rare occasions when my vehicle decides to behave
Now there are some shows up my end of the country, where it is preferable not to wear a Germanic looking uniform. The insignia on the vehicle being on magnetic backing, I am quickly able to change from the NVA to the Grenztruppen, and I shall soon be in a position to sport Soviet Army insignia too.
It is admittedly true that my vehicle was in service with the NVA and there are a few signs that would testify to that, but I am practically the ONLY one in the UK to know such things ... so I think I can easily get away with re-badging my vehicle as Soviet as and when.
Now this being a 1959 vehicle, I can obviously wear an M69 uniform and I have already assembled one (or two ), but I thought it would be fun to put together an M43 for a junior officer in the 1950s or 1960s..

[iannima]

I have been studying the regulations and the period photographs but I have come across some items on Ebay on which I have some doubts.
Firstly this woollen Gym:

What is that red at the collar?
It seems to sport an impressive array of ribbons. Probably too many for a junior officer. What rank would I need to be to wear such a uniform?
What are the correct trousers to wear with it? It comes on its own. Would the trousers be piped in red or was that a 1969 addition?

[iannima]

I also need to find the appropriate shoulder boards.
These are advertised as being of 1950s vintage:

From the photographs of period and reproductions wartime shoulder boards I have seen, it seems that the difference is that these are not piped at the edges. Is that the distinctive feature I should be looking for?

[iannima]

I should have said earlier that I only intend to have a field uniform. As for head gear I have a helmet which is of appropriate vintage, but am also looking for a field visor cap. Now I have noticed from photographs that the 1950s/60s version differed from the wartime one in the shape of the visor itself (rounded as opposed to squarish with rounded corners). It seems also to differ from the 1969 one in having a much smaller crown, and possibly the insignia not being subdued. has anybody got a photograph that would show it to full effect?

[iannima]

To give an idea this is what I am trying to put together:

This photograph was taken from a website dedicated to border incidents between the Soviets and the Chinese. All safely post war.
And this other interesting example of a Soviet officer conferring with an East German one.

You will notice that whilst the officer is wearing an M43, at least one of the soldiers is already wearing an M69.

[iannima]

Just to show that the Gaz69A and the M43 go together

Dated 1965

[Kozlov]

I should have said earlier that I only intend to have a field uniform. As for head gear I have a helmet which is of appropriate vintage, but am also looking for a field visor cap. Now I have noticed from photographs that the 1950s/60s version differed from the wartime one in the shape of the visor itself (rounded as opposed to squarish with rounded corners). It seems also to differ from the 1969 one in having a much smaller crown, and possibly the insignia not being subdued. has anybody got a photograph that would show it to full effect?

Comrade!

The website you need is Under The Red Star - the perfect place for information on everything furazka related

The postwar period is covered on this page:

http://www.undertheredstar.com/army46.htm

All of your questions are answered here

That page does not show a subdued field variant, but they did exist AFAIK. Whether or not you ever saw them is another question - there is always that thing whereby unless people are really trying to kill you, they liked to wear the full colour stuff. Pictures from Hungary etc show them in service dress!

[iannima]

Right... This is the best I can manage under the circumstances...


It is meant to be an officer in the 1960s, beginning of the 1970s at most. I got the M43 complete suit from SovietPower and it is dated 1963. The helmet is dated 1956. I have not got the proper visor hat yet with the smaller crown, so I had to make do with a 1970s one. The dates on belt and map case are not legible.

[Drugo]

Matteo, I am impressed!!

It looks like your Russian collection is growing fast, and those uniforms look beautiful!!

I can't comment any further because it's not my field, but congratulations!!

Cheers,
Drugo