Uniforms of the 12th Ural Rifle Division
Material and reconstructions by A. Karevskiy
The shoulder-boards of the 12th Ural Rifle Division, formed in December 1918 from the 2nd Ural Reserve Division of the Omsk Military District, were khaki coloured. Unlike the 7th Ural Mountain Rifle Division, everything in R. K. Bangerskiy's Division was much more modest. In the division's Order No. 7 of 24 October 1918, paragraph 6, it said:
Everyone is to replace the white-green ribbons on the cockades with tricolor white-red-blue (national) ones. Sleeve insignia is to be replaced with khaki shoulder-boards. Officers should not wear gold or silver until further notice.
Later, Order No. 40 of 6 December 1918, paragraph 2 says:
To distinguish the regiments, apply stencils with the number and the starting two or three letters of the regiment name to the shoulder straps, namely: "45 Сбр.", "46 Ис.", "47 Таг.", and "48 Тур.".
RGVA F.39629 Op.1 D.6 L.7ob-8 and 68. Material kindly provided by Ekaterinburg researcher A. M. Kruchinin
Belebey, May 1919
The Supreme Ruler expressed his desire to see the units of the 6th Ural Corps at Belebey Station. It seems that he was shown units of the 12th Ural Division being withdrawn to the rear at Davlekanovo Station. They looked terrible. Some were without footwear, some were wearing only outer clothing over their bare bodies, and most were without greatcoats. They marched very well.
Petrov, P. P. in "From the Volga to the Pacific Ocean in the White Ranks, 1918-1922 // Admiral Kolchak's Eastern Front", Moscow, 2004, p.33.
Shoulder-boards of the lower ranks of the 12th Ural Rifle Division:
45th Siberian, 46th Isetsk, 47th Tagil and 48th Turin Rifle Regiments
Shoulder-boards of officers of the 12th Ural Rifle Division and national cockades with tricolour ribbon.
Shoulder-boards of the 12th Ural Rifle Artillery Divizion in the 12th Ural Rifle Division:
1 – artillery staff-captain; 2 – artillery private;
Uniforms of rifle regiments: 3 – ensign; 4 – rifleman.
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Pygmy Wars Notes
The original for this page is at kolchakiya.ru/uniformology/12_shooter_div.htm.
The ciphers transliterate as "45 Sbr.", "46 Is.", "47 Tag." and "48 Tur." respectively.
Discussion on the translation choices I have made can be found here.
Flags
A banner of the 47th Tagil Rifle Regiment is known. See here. A printable version is below:
Other former East Siberian Rifle flags were distributed, and would be suitable for the other units in the division. This is a generic printable one:
History of the 12th Ural Rifle Division
Mostly taken from Volkov:
Formed in October 1918 in Ekaterinburg as part of the 3rd Ural Army Corps as the 2nd Rifle Reserve Division, with the 4th, 6th and 8th Ural Reserve Mountain Rifle Regiments. It was mainly conscripts. The regiments were soon renamed the 5th, 6th and 8th Reserve Rifle Regiments, and the 2nd Reserve Engineer Company and the Ural Reserve Artillery Divizion were included.
In December 1918 it was renamed the 12th Ural Rifle Division with new regimental names: the 45th Siberian, 46th Isetsk, 47th Tagilsk and 48th Turinsk Rifle Regiments (each of three battalions) and the 12th Ural Rifle Artillery Divizion.
From January 1919 it was part of the 6th Ural Army Corps. It was deployed to the front in late autumn-winter 1918, took part in the spring offensive. By the end of summer 1919 was severely depleted and understrength.
Following the disbandment of the 6th Ural Rifle Corps and the reorganisation of the Western Army, on 26 May 1919 it was incorporated into the Ufa Group of the 3rd Army. In September 1919 two rifle regiments and an artillery Divizion from the disbanded 6th Ural Rifle Division were incorporated into it.
It took part in the Siberian Ice March. Upon arrival in Chita most of the remnants of the division were consolidated into the 12th Ural Rifle Regiment, while some were merged with the Altai Horse Divizion to form the Ural-Altai Horse Regiment. After leaving Transbaikalia that cavalry regiment was disbanded, as it was impossible to transfer it to Primor'e due to a shortage of railway rolling stock. The first two squadrons (the Altaysy) were incorporated into the Cavalry Regiment, whilst the Uraltsy (the 3rd and 4th squadrons and the machine-gun team) were incorporated into the 4th Ufa Rifle Regiment. Having sold off their horses at Manchuria Station, some of the Uraltsy went to Primor'e, but the majority settled in Harbin.