Uniform of General Pepelyaev's 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

Material and reconstructions by A. Karevskiy

Despite the existence of three works devoted directly to the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade information about the features of this unit's uniform is extremely fragmentary.

Sitnikov, M. G. "1st Siberian Assault Brigade named after Lieutenant General Pepelyaev", Perm, 2015.

Sitnikov, M. G. "Colonel E. I. Urbanovskiy and his Assault Units // White Army, White Cause, No. 12", Ekaterinburg, 2003.

Krasnoshchekov, A. A. and Sitnikov M. G. "Once More About the Siberian Assault Troops and Their Commander // White Army, White Cause, No. 13", Ekaterinburg, 2004.

Two currently known photographs of the brigade's officers allow us to reconstruct the features of the uniforms:

1) A group photograph of officers, dated 28 February 1919, was published in "White Army, White Cause, No. 12".

2) A family photo portrait of a lower-ranking brigade officer, originally at www.sammler.ru/index.php?showtopic=77056.

In addition, there is a banner of the brigade's 3rd Battalion, captured by the Red Army and stored in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, which depicts the primary symbols of the unit.

Uniforms of the commanders of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade:
1 – Colonel E. I. Urbankovskiy; 2 – his chief of staff; 3 – sleeve chevron

An interesting detail is that both senior officers (in the centre of the photograph noted) wore regular field uniforms with standard shoulder-boards, unlike the rest of the brigade's personnel, and did not use any assault or Siberian symbols.

Judging by the photographs, the chevron combination was worn only by the 1st Siberian Cavalry Assault Divizion; all other units used only the red and black chevron, without the cloth skull.

Shoulder-boards of the officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade:
1 – captain (monogram and cipher); 2 – Lieutenant; 3 – 2nd-Lieutenant;
4 – captain in a communications unit

The 1st Siberian Assault Battalion, and then the entire brigade, were among the first in the Siberian Army (after the 16th Ishim Siberian Rifle Regiment) to start using black cloth shoulder-boards with white piping. Officers had silver stripes, while NCOs had white braid. Judging by the available photographs, the lower part of the shoulder-board was marked with the cipher "1.Сб.Ш.Б." in white paint. Brigade headquarters, as well as the brigade komands, cavalry, artillery and engineer divizions), added a stylised monogram "П" (for Pepelyaev). The codes varied – some shoulder-boards had cipher and monogram, others only the monogram, and on others even that was absent. The illustration reflects that variability.

Shoulder-boards of officers of the assault battalions of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

The brigade had four Siberian Assault Battalions, each of which had its own banner with the battalion number on the front. Based on this, it is assumed that the same numbers were also placed on the shoulder-boards; in addition, to distinguish them from the brigade shoulder-boards, the letter "б" was not capitalised but written in lowercase to indicate "battalion".

Uniform of officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

Distinctive elements of the assault troops' uniform were the zaletka cap (as they were called at the time) with a high front, black piping around the brim and white piping along the seams of the upper folds, with white-green cockades or ribbons in various arrangements. All servicemen had a red and black ("assault") chevron sewn onto their left sleeve. Despite the considerable variety of colours of the trousers (black, dark green and khaki), all of them had a single silver braid stripe.

Uniform of officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

The brigade, like other units of the Civil War period, was characterised by a huge variety of cuts of the "French" tunics and blouses worn. Some of its servicemen in the photographs can be seen wearing ceremonial silver officer's scarves. Figure 1 above shows wound bars on the left sleeve. Figure 3 shows leather breeches without a stripe.

Uniform of officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

Judging by the photographs, the insignia on the shoulder-boards varied greatly, but most officers preferred to do without monogram and cipher. Figure 4 shows an officer of the 1st Siberian Assault Artillery Divizion (he is the only member of a technical unit in the group photo).

Uniforms of officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

Another interesting detail is that most officers used old-style cockades, wrapping them diagonally with white and green ribbons, as was customary in the Siberian Army. However, some added ribbons in addition to the cockade, sewing them onto the front of their zaletka caps in various ways. See also Figures 2 and 3 of the previous scheme.

Uniform of officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

Another characteristic uniform difference of the brigade was the wearing of zaletka hats with greatcoats.

Shoulder-boards of the lower ranks of the Assault Battalions
1 – sergeant-major; 2 – sergeant; 3 – lance-corporal; 4 – private

Uniform of the lower ranks of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

For the uniforms of the lower ranks the silver braid was replaced with white cloth braid. Their trousers were often plain black.

Shoulder-boards of the 1st Siberian Assault Artillery Divizion

Shoulder-boards of the 1st Siberian Assault Engineer Divizion and Machine Gun Komand of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

Shoulder-boards of the 1st Siberian Assault Cavalry Divizion

Figure 4 is a private of the brigade communications team

Uniform of officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Cavalry Divizion

Figures 1 and 2 show the aiguilettes seen in the photograph, with the colours of those aiguilettes clearly differing from each other.

Among the features of the uniform characteristic of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade, captured in the above group photograph, are the original Hungarian-style coats worn by many of their officers: they are khaki with black "hussar" style cords on the chest and hussar-style toggles instead of buttons, and the same cords on the cuffs. All of them have a red and black ("shock") chevron on the left sleeve, with some having a black skull (without crossed bones) visible between its ends. These Hungarian coats were worn with black breeches or jodhpurs with a single silver stripe, and zaletka hats, the same as in other units. Presumably, this uniform was assigned to the brigade's cavalry divizion.

Uniform of officers of the 1st Siberian Assault Cavalry Divizion

In addition to the most common "standard" style of Hungarian uniform, the photograph shows many differences: some in darker material, five rows of breast cords instead of six, variation in the cord braiding on the cuffs, and the presence of braid on the stand-up collar. It remains unknown whether there were cords on the back, similar to those on hussar dolmans.

British-style uniform of the 1st Siberian Assault Brigade

Judging by isolated references in memoirs, British uniforms were supplied to the brigade and worn with the appropriate "assault" insignia.

In Memoirs and Historiography

Black shoulder-boards with snow-white piping,

A black and red chevron – a symbol of combat,

A peaked cap, courage, a clear gaze,

A skull and crossbones – an oath to fight to the end.

Sitnikov, M. G. "Colonel E. I. Urbanovskiy and his assault units" pp.28,44, citing Verkholensky, V. in "The Liberation of Russia", 30 March 1919

Perm, 24 December 1918

They said that a very frail old woman met a Siberian soldier with a white and green ribbon on the street and asked him:

"Who are you, father, to be like this? What should I call you?"

"A Siberian, a soldier of General Pepelyaev's Assault Brigade."

Kirilov, A. A. in "The Siberian Army in the Struggle for Liberation // Free Siberia, Vol. 4", Prague, 1928, p.63.

Kopchikovo village, Perm district, July 1919

A fair-haired ensign ran past, throwing off his tunic as he ran. ... According to the enemy's soldier's records, we had defeated two companies of the "death battalion" from General Pepelyaev's assault brigade.

Orlov, A. V. in "We were driven by youth... // The Defeat of Kolchak", Moscow, 1969. p.71.

...I met him two weeks later and was surprised by the changes. He looked dashing, with black shoulder-boards and red and black chevrons that complemented his handsome face. Another one, also an assault soldier...

"Thoughts Out Loud, Korsakov // Siberian Riflemen [newspaper]", 15 April 1919, p.2.

The hospital director, noticing that I could walk, reported me to the military commandant of Motovilikha. Two armed soldiers in grey papakhi with cockades, English greatcoats and black shoulder-boards came for me. Skulls and crossbones were embroidered on their sleeves.

Noskov, S. I. in "In the Revolutionary Ranks //In the Gunpowder Smoke: Collection of memoirs of participants in the Civil War in the Kama Region", Perm, 1961, p.148.

I was interrogated by a staff captain in black shoulder-boards (assault trooper).

Noskov, S. I. in "In the Revolutionary Ranks // In the Gunpowder Smoke: Collection of memoirs of participants in the Civil War in the Kama Region", Perm, 1961, p.173.

Perm, April 1919

I. Presence of Military Units in Perm

1) The General Pepelyaev Assault Brigade, consisting of: a) four regular battalions of no more than 3,000 men, dressed in greatcoats; b) cavalry – three hundred to 1,200 men in their own clothing; c) artillery – 17 three-inch guns, artillerymen dressed in greatcoats; d) two machine gun komands and machine gun training units, dressed in greatcoats; and e) a horse-mounted demolition team of thirty (30) men.

The assault brigade was formed largely from volunteers, but mostly from soldiers seconded specifically for the formation of the brigade from the 1st Novo-Nikolaevsk, 2nd Barabinsk, 3rd Barnaul, 4th Yeniseysk, 5th Tomsk, 6th Mariinsk, 7th Kuznetsk and 8th Biysk regiments.

From the interrogation of A. A. Kamenskiy, a high school student and spy in Kolchak's army, dated 11 April 1919. TsDOOSO. F.41 Op.1 D.82 L.224-224ob. Material kindly provided by Ekaterinburg researcher D.V. Kadochnikov.