Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery uniform

[Komandir RKKA]

I know the officer wearing M35 belt in 80-ies, but we are talking here about military charter and it says - black velvet is for tank troops.
I have never seen tank troops officer wearing cloth wool visor or collar tabs - because black velvet is Soviet armour troops tradition.

[vvadim]

I know the officer wearing M35 belt in 80-ies

Perhaps you are referring to this type of belt?
This is not M35, even though later served as inspiration for this belt.

[Komandir RKKA]

I know what M35 is :-)
The belt you show is late postwar Soviet general dress belt.

[vvadim]

I know what M35 is :-)
The belt you show is late postwar Soviet general dress belt.

I’m hope today you know what M35 is, because it seems still confusing to you.
Belt in question is officer M69 belt, not general's. In 1969 both officer’s and general’s new everyday belts were approved by top soviet official and went into production. But for some reason they were never officially adapted by any act of soviet government and despite the fact that these belts in the seventies were issued to officers of Soviet Army in relatively large quantities most people have no idea what they are.

General’s M69 belt looks very similar in design, but has seal of Soviet Union in the center.

[Komandir RKKA]

When I told about M35 I meant M35 and not items you show (doesn't metter is it M69 or any other postwar issue)

[Al-muell]

I know the officer wearing M35 belt in 80-ies, but we are talking here about military charter and it says - black velvet is for tank troops.
I have never seen tank troops officer wearing cloth wool visor or collar tabs - because black velvet is Soviet armour troops tradition.

How many m69 parade (wave-green crown) officer's caps have You seen with non-velvet black band?
I have seen one in 18 years and it was a very late (post-91?) manufacture - silver lining and transparent plastic label. Altough You can find everyday caps with both velvet and non-velvet bands easily, it seems that someone has decided that velvet looks beter on a parade cap.

Of course a serviceman would be punished for an obvious regulations violation (like e.g. black gloves instead of brown ones), however things happen - In the 1973 and 1988 regulations You will find that only one type of badge was to be worn by NCO/EM on ushanka (regardless if parade, field, everyday or work uniform), but when You look at the era photographs, You will notice that some soldiers wear the full wreath-and-star badge, some - just the star for pilotka, and some don't wear any badge at all (If I remember correctly, there was even a photograph of this type in Osprey "Inside the Soviet Army Today", altough this one could be from some transition period with pre-73 draftees wearing the old style and post-74 - new style). It could be because m69 regs said that the only badge for ushanka is "simple star" badge, but some of the photographs are very post-73.
Another example: according to 58 regulations, the generals should have parade gold shoulderboards on their everyday gray tunics. And yet, You can find lots of such uniforms with silver/gray shoulderboards (Engineer title could be an explaination in eg. artillery or air force, but in infantry? And if I remember correctly from 58 regs, the rule applied only to some officers).

And what about officer's belt's shoulder strap going under a shoulderboard? I have come across only 4 or 5 uniforms with a hole left under right shoulderboard for a shoulder strap (and of course a bit more examples of that on the photographs) and the rmajority of the officers didn't care (and it includes even m74 field uniform for general - original one for sure).

You can find more examples of that phenomenon.

Of course, for not following the regs You could get a fine or at least a notice, but it was realy hard to find out wether someone was an artilleryman from Armor troops unit or just an artilleryman from artillery unit who had deceided that velvet looks cool or didn't notice he was issued wrong tabs. The regulations are clear, but it's hard to identify a unit only by number and also it was hard to determine, even after looking in one's service booklet, wether he had the right to wear velvet or not.

[Al-muell]

Perhaps you are referring to this type of belt?
This is not M35, even though later served as inspiration for this belt.

This belt on a photograph is pre-1969 generals' belt (not sure if introduced in 1958 or 1955). The belt with full seal was generals' belt introduced in 1969 (or 1973 - don't remember exactly right now). Some generals continued to wear pre-1969 belt after the new belt was introduced, but they were probably ones who got general rank before new belt was introduced. Post-69 officer's belt was just the same as post 43, only in dark-brown leather.

There were a lot of generals before 1969 and leather survives better than cloth, and that is why there are a lot of this belts available, not because they were meant to be officer's belts.

I can belive that a late post-war general would wear m35 officer's belt - esp. If he was an officer before 1943 and e.g. wanted to save some money (generals were ussualy given a financial equivalent to buy a uniform in Voentorg) after receiving promotion to major-general.

[Komandir RKKA]

2 lenin501:
According the visor cap and collar tabs your set belongs to Soviet artillery officer who served with tank unit.

[CtahhR]

To be very honest to all and sundry. I wear one of these uniforms to work. They are hard wearing and definitely not holding much historical importance. If you get it for beans and wear it to death you are doing better than the original owner. This type of uniform is not going to make anyone rich unless you buy a lottery ticket whilst wearing it.

[Tretov]

To be very honest to all and sundry. I wear one of these uniforms to work. They are hard wearing and definitely not holding much historical importance. If you get it for beans and wear it to death you are doing better than the original owner. This type of uniform is not going to make anyone rich unless you buy a lottery ticket whilst wearing it.

Until the day a Suvorov I with document and research fall from the sky into my knee making me rich, at least I will happily keep collecting uniforms like this and feel satisfied owning a piece of cold war history. I personally think the forum will do fine without disrespectful comments like yours on other members new acquisitions, thank you.