Cossack
and Native Uniforms
We
have
now covered all the
Cossack and Native uniforms of the Russian Civil War, although
information is
slight on many units.
Also included are non-Cossack units that fought alongside the Host
armies. Sometimes Host armies were given
regulars (usually infantry) and they often recruited native tribesmen.
The information presented usually mentions the situation in World War
One, often at some length. This is because the Whites usually kept
previous traditions into the Civil War, but also to help people
interested in armies from that period. In particular we have given full
details on shoulderboards and hat colours, when we can find them, even
while knowing that few Civil War units will have been able to produce
them.
Corrections
and suggestions for improvements are very welcome: pygmywarsATgmailDOTcom
Caucasian Dress
What many think of as the "Cossack" dress was in fact the traditional
style of the mountain peoples of the Caucasus.
Only two Cossack
hosts, the Kuban and the Terek, dressed this way.
However, these two hosts and the Caucasian "mountaineers"
themselves formed a considerable part of the White armies of southern
Russia, especially the early Volunteer Army, which was largely formed
in the Kuban.
Steppe Hosts in the AFSR
All
these Cossack units wore a uniform basically similar to standard
Russian military dress.
The Steppe Cossack Hosts were all more or less anti-Bolshevik, but in
Siberia were not
always aligned particularly closely with the main White forces.
Steppe
Hosts (and related units) in the East
From
here on is new and still in the process of being revised.
The history of these hosts are not very well known, so in some cases
more extensive historical notes have been added separately.
Other
Cossack Units
A large number of Cossacks were reformed into new units in the Far
Eastern Army in TransBaikal in 1920. There were official changes made
to uniform regulations by Ataman Semenov, which isn't to say that they
were obeyed:
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