Uniforms of the Omsk Student Battalion, Autumn 1919

Material and reconstructions by A. Karevskiy

The student battalion was the last to enter the square. The Omsk students, in blue shoulder straps sewn on light gray greatcoats, marched with Japanese rifles.

Cherkashin, N. A. in "Admiral Kolchak // Admirals of Rebellious Fleets", Moscow, 2004, p.221.

As the Omsk Student Battalion was mentioned as a military unit only in the late autumn of 1919, this reconstruction proceeds from the concept that its volunteer ranks continued to wear the uniforms of their former educational institutions, with appropriate insignia. The tertiary institution jackets have, instead of the usual shoulder-boards of soldiers, transverse shoulder markings, such as were assigned to civilian educational institutions (Tomsk University had a uniform without shoulder straps). Presumably the imperial monograms were removed from those after February 1917 and replaced with departmental insignia (in the first case here, a crossed hammer and wrench, in the second, a crossed axe and anchor). Despite the fact that the greatcoats in the quote above are said to be light gray, they are show as dark green ("bottle green"), that being the colour assigned to higher educational institutions (with appropriate piping and tabs). Since it is known that greatcoats were in short supply in the army of the Supreme Ruler, they would hardly have been able to take militia ones.

Omsk Student Battalion: uniforms of the Tomsk Institute of Technology (short coat and greatcoat) and Petrograd Institute of Railway Engineers (short coat and greatcoat)

Omsk Student Battalion: uniforms of Tomsk University students (frock coat, greatcoat and short coat)

Omsk Student Battalion: 1, 2 and 3 – uniforms of gymnasium students;
4 – uniform of real [high] schools