A guide to Soviet visor hats Judging by the enormous variety of the ex-Soviet headgear floating around, you’d think that there were as many different uniforms in the Soviet Union as there were men-at-arms. Until recently, I haven’t had access to much reliable material on Soviet uniforms and thus have found it difficult to identify many of the things I’ve found—and I assume others are having this problem, too. What follows is relevant for all caps made after 1969.

At any rate, a friend of mine gave me a copy of a handbook put together by the Danish Ministry of Defense back in 1982, which describes in detail the military uniforms of the USSR, Poland, and the DDR. Much of this information seems to have come from the Soviet Union’s own uniform charts from 1971/72, after they introduced new designs in 1969. Having gone through this document very carefully, I’ve made a few discoveries that I’d like to share. Of course, there is no guarantee that the Danes got their information right, so if you have anything to add, please let me know. After I wrote this article, I finally discovered a couple of excellent Web sites related to Soviet headgear, which have helped me correct a number of mistakes. You’ll find them listed under links.

Cap colors
Chinstraps
Hat badges
Side buttons
Hat guide in color

Types of uniforms
Soviet uniforms (from 1970 on, at any rate) fall into four basic categories: Parade (on duty), Parade (walking-out), Service, and Field. Moreover, many uniforms were also available in both winter and summer versions, plus special uniforms for extreme climatic conditions. That said, there is usually little or no difference between Parade (duty) and Parade (walking-out) uniforms except in the case of generals.

On-duty parade uniforms were for official functions (like standing on Lenin’s tomb on May Day). These uniforms almost always featured riding breeches and high jackboots, whereas the closely-related walking-out (off-duty) uniforms were mainly for social engagements, worn with regular pants and shoes. Service uniforms had a lapelled tunic and were usually worn with a shirt and tie, much like American Class A uniforms. These were the normal "going to work" outfits. Field uniforms, on the other hand, featured tunics that buttoned to the neck and were often fitted with a Sam Browne belt.

Cap colors
Each branch of the service had its own special color combinations for crown, band, and piping. The color of the crown often depended on the type and color of uniform being worn (parade, service, summer, winter, etc.), although exceptions do occur. The piping and hat band, however, were usually the same for all uniforms, except for field use, in which case the entire hat—including the visor and badge—was usually olive drab. Here’s a rundown of the most common piping/band combinations.

Piping		Band		Function
Red		Red		Army motor rifles (infantry) and police*
Red		Black		Army technical services
Sky blue		Sky blue		Air Force
White		Black		Navy
Dark blue		Dark blue		KGB
Red		Black		KGB border troops
White		Red		Officer candidates (Suvorov schools)**
Red		Black		Officer candidate (artillery)
Olive drab		Olive drab		All field uniforms
Maroon		Maroon		MVD (internal army)

* Police caps have gray crowns and different badges
** These colors were also used by traffic police with the miltia cap badge.

  
Technical services included: artillery, armored corps, engineering, motor transport, railway, supply, topographical, railway, road building, construction, pipeline, and signals. Service caps are identical for all these groups, although parade caps for members of the Armored Corps had black velvet bands, rather than ordinary felt bands.

Generally speaking, if soldiers had a red arm-patch, they had a red cap band. If the patch was black, the band was black, too.

Chinstraps
Although chincords of gold braid were often used to indicate officer rank, this was not always the case. Prior to 1970, officers had black vinyl chinstraps. After 1970, these were replaced with gold cords, although warrant officers continued to wear the black straps. Although enlisted men usually have a black vinyl chinstrat, enlisted men in honor guards had the privilege of using officer’s chincords. In short, a gold chincord doesn’t mean a whole lot without seeing the rest of the cap—the hat badge in particular.

Hat badges
Virtually all Soviet hat badges of the past 70-odd years featured the hammer-and-sickle enclosed in a red star incorporated somewhere in the design. The following scans have been shamelessly stolen from Soviet uniform charts.

Enlisted men had either of two basic types of badge: a small enamelled star for use on a garrison cap, and a star enclosed in a gold wreath, which is also seen on many Navy "Donald Duck" hats. Please note: the wreathed enlisted badge was never used by officers and is only seen in combination with a braided chinstrap for honor guard duty (along with a special badge on the crown). However, many collectors mistakenly think that this particular enlisted man’s badge indicates an artillery officer.

Enlisted man's badge

Army and Air Force officer badges always featured a small oval cockade with an enamelled red star on a painted, white field. This cockade, first introduced in 1955, signified officer rank and was often used without other embellishments by Army officers for all uniforms except those for parade use. The Air Force, however, enclosed the cockade in a small gold wreath for service uniforms. A somewhat larger wreath for parade use was used by both Air Force and Army officers.		Officer's parade badge Officer's service cockade
The smaller wreath is usually quite yellow in color, while the larger parade wreath is often a whiter shade of gold, particularly on Air Force hats. In addition to the normal badge placed on the hat band, Air Force officers also wore gold wings topped by a gold star on the peak of the cap.		Air Force officer's service badge Wings for Air Force cap

Naval officers used a badge that featured a foul anchor and wreath with a small star just above the anchor. This, too, is a gold badge that is very white in color. Chincords and badges that actually are silver are for naval administrators. Apparently, some full captains wore embroidered badges rather than metal badges, but this is unusual.

Navy officer's badge

Generals, admirals and marshals are by and large the only ranks to use bullion wreaths in combination with the metal cockade—all other badges are metal. The cockade for general officers never has the white, painted-enamel background seen in other officer’s cockades but is gold like the rest of the badge.

For on-duty parade use by marshals and generals, badges were generally larger and more flamboyant, with a stalk of embroidered wheat or leaves on either side of the cap band and on the visor. All of these large badges are identical, with the exception of those for Air Force generals, which have a minor pattern variation around the center cockade.

Parade uniforms for admirals also featured larger bullion leaves on either side of the badge (though in a unique naval pattern), and fleet admirals had bullion leaves that covered most of the front of the hat band. Admirals also had visor decorations, but with a stylized oak-leaf pattern.

By the way, a lot of hats sold by street vendors these days have rows of metal stars stuck along the hat band to make them look more interesting. This is never seen on genuine caps for general officers.

One final note: each of the three branches had a marshal who was THE marshal—the man in charge of the who shebang. Each branch of service had a unique (and very large) bullion badge for this particular fellow.

Honor guard personnel of all ranks in Berlin, Moscow and elsewhere, wore officer-style caps (braided chinstrap, etc.) but with either enlisted or officer badges according to their rank. With the exception of Air Force personnel, who retained the golden wings on the crown, all other honor guard hats featured an elongated five-pointed star on the crown. Genuine honor guard caps often feature a practical chinstrap made of thin black elastic cord which is attached to the inside of the side buttons.

KGB enlisted men on honor-guard duty at Lenin’s Tomb, however, were entitled to wear officer’s parade badges. A unique honor guard badge for the crown was introduced in the late 1980’s.

Bandsmen were fitted out along the same lines as honor-guard personnel, though with a special "lyre" badge rather than the special honor-guard badge. Officers (band leaders) wore caps similar to officer parade caps; enlisted men work caps similar to officer service caps.

Side buttons
All navy caps feature a foul anchor on the side buttons. Other service branches have a star with a hammer and sickle in the center. Generals, however, have side buttons featuring the Soviet seal (gerb). Admirals had a small gerb over crossed anchors. In all cases, the side buttons matched the uniform buttons. This is good to know if someone is trying to pass off a lesser hat as that of a general officer.

Hat guide
Here’s a rundown of the various color and badge combinations for the visor caps that went with different uniforms, although there are a few exceptions, plus some seldom seen caps that I have not mentioned. I’ve used the following abbreviations for the cap badges:

EM		Enlisted man's enamelled star with metal wreath
C		Gold/white officer's metal/enamel cockade
ODC		Olive-drab officer's cockade for field uniform
SW		Small metal Air Force wreath with officer's cockade
LW		Large metal wreath with officer's cockade
W		Wings for Air Force personnel
NO		Naval officer's metal wreath
SBD		Small bullion device for general officers/admirals
LBD		Large bullion device for general officers/admirals
V		Visor decorations

Army hats

Parade and walking-out (wave-blue)		Service (olive-drab used as parade for EM		Field (olive-drab)		Walking-out (light gray, generals only)

Rank		Uniform		Chinstrap		Badge
EM		Parade		Black vinyl		EM
Officer		Parade		Gold cord		LW
Officer		Walking-out		Gold cord		LW
Officer		Service		Gold cord*		C
Officer		Field		Olive vinyl		ODC
General or marshal		Parade		Gold cord		LBD** + V
General or marshal		Walking-out		Gold cord		SBD
General or marshal		Service		Gold cord		SBD or C
General or marshal		Field***		Olive vinyl		ODC

* Older caps may have a black vinyl chinstrap.
** The Marshal of the Soviet Union had a unique badge.
*** Generals retain red piping on field caps.

Other variations on army-style hats

Army technical services: hat band is black. Armored corp officers may have velvet band on parade caps and very early service caps.
Army border guards: hat band and piping is green. Although this cap appears in the guide, it doesn't really exist. The color combination, though is used for the customs service, GTK (Gosudarstvennoye Tamozhennoye Kontrol).
KGB: hat band and piping is royal blue. A wave blue crown is for parade use by officers only.
KGB men in border guard units had green crowns, red piping and black band. Hat badges identical to army.
Militia/police: crown is medium gray for most uniforms. Piping and band is red. Badges are unique to the militia with a small blue circle containing the hammer and sickle in the center of the cockade. Size and shape is otherwise identical to Air Force badges (SW badge on service caps and LW badge on parade caps). Enlisted men used EM badge on all visor caps.
MVD: hat band and piping is maroon.
Honor guards: special elongated star on crown and gold chincords for all ranks. These hats also feature a thin, black functional chincord attached to the side buttons from the inside. Hat badges otherwise identical to Army.
Warrant officers: identical to visor hats for commissioned officers but sometimes with vinyl chinstraps.

 
Air Force hats

Parade and walking-out (dark blue)		Service (olive-drab)		Field (olive-drab)		Walking-out (light gray, generals only)

Rank		Uniform		Chinstrap		Badge
EM		Parade		Black vinyl		EM
EM		Service		Black vinyl		EM
Officer		Parade		Gold cord		LW + W
Officer		Walking-out		Gold cord		SW + W
Officer		Service		Gold cord*		SW + W
Officer		Field		Olive vinyl		ODC
General or marshal		Parade		Gold cord		LBD** + W + V
General or marshal		Walking-out		Gold cord		SBD + W
General or marshal		Service		Gold cord		SBD or C + W
General or marshal		Field***		Olive vinyl		ODC

* Older caps may have a black vinyl chinstrap.
** The Air Marshal of the Soviet Union had a unique badge.
*** Generals retain sky-blue piping on field hats.

Navy hats

Summer		Winter

Rank		Uniform		Chinstrap		Badge
EM		Parade		Tally		EM
Warrant officer		Parade		Black vinyl		NO
Officer		Parade		Gold cord		NO*
Admiral		Parade		Gold cord		LBD** + V
Admiral		Service		Gold cord		SBD +V

*Senior officers also have gold-tone metal oak-leaf trim attached to the black plastic visor.

** The admiral of the fleet has an extra-large bullion device.

Navy parade, service, and walking-out uniforms are virtually identical. I am uncertain as to the use of a gold chincord with a plain black visor for junior naval officers. I recall having seen photos that show this combination, but my magic book doesn’t indicate them. Naval administrators have silver-colored badges and cap cords.