Original Cold War Soviet Lieutenant General Dress Uniform with Mannequin Original Items

Original Items: Only One Available. Cold War, circa 1980s Lieutenant General’s Uniform Grouping with Display Mannequin. Service Dress Uniform Jacket with awards and ribbons. Matching Lieutenant General’s Rank Boards on each shoulder. Comes with matching General’s trousers with inseam stripe and corresponding Junior General’s Visor Cap. Comes with a display mannequin.

1989 – 1991 Soviet Uniforms: 1989 regulations promulgated many interim uniform changes introduced after 1970, and continued in effect until completely new Russian military uniforms were introduced in 1994. Parade and service uniforms remained largely unchanged. Officer service caps now sported gold cords introduced in 1975 under a change to the 1969 regulations. Visors on officer and enlisted caps got larger, and were universally manufactured from plastic (or by special order and for generals – patent kid leather) instead of the painted cardboard/fiberboard used from 1917 into the 1970’s.

Generals’ caps were further standardized, with tank and artillery generals forced to trade in their black velvet banded ones for a “one fits all” red band (although lesser officers and enlisted retained their black bands). However, it does not appear this simplification of generals’ caps was implemented before the collapse of the USSR. The 1980 uniform change that replaced the light gray dress cap with the regular wave-green parade cap was reiterated. Changes in naval uniform caps included the final elimination of the ornament color distinction between “line” and “service” officers with all cockades and buttons now standardized in gilt.

Although not specified in regulations, exaggerated saddle-form caps began to appear with even larger diameter crowns with higher front peaks. These seem to have appeared first within the Navy, and expanded thereafter throughout the Ministry of Defense and other non-military ministries. During this time as well, more and more officers (and even some enlisted personnel) purchased privately-made caps which were once the sole prerogative of generals and colonels expecting promotion to that rank. These custom made caps with their patent leather visors and superior linings are usually indistinguishable from general officer caps except for the ornamentation, cockades and buttons used.

One last note on uniforms. In my discussions, I have followed standard Soviet Army practice in breaking out the types of uniforms into Parade (two types), Service and Field – although this varied somewhat by uniform period. Winter and summer variations also existed for all these uniform types. The Navy further broke uniforms down with a numbering system not used by the rest of the Soviet military.

Parade- (In Formation and Walking Out) – Two versions of parade uniform worn either in or out-of-formation. Parade-In Formation uniforms apply to participants in actual parades or military ceremonies. Out of formation (walking-out) wear covers all other formal occasions, both military and civilian. The major difference between the two is that while in formation, belts, boots and breeches are typically worn, while shoes and straight trousers (no belts) are worn out-of-formation. The Navy had both white and black versions of this uniform (summer and winter respectively) while Army and Air Force generals had a special gray uniform for Walking Out or “gala” wear.