I'm not sure if they are so comfortable, at least not that crappy Miltec Sturm repros. From what i've heard german soldiers didn't like'em too much and called them "retreat boots" or something like that.
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What do you think a German / Russian Veteran soldier should look like?
- Thread starter sturmfuhrer
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I'm not sure if they are so comfortable, at least not that crappy Miltec Sturm repros. From what i've heard german soldiers didn't like'em too much and called them "retreat boots" or something like that.
Regarding what the Russian veterans would look like, Beevor has this to say
"New boots, uniforms and equipment were reserved for new armies being formed in the rear. For front-line soldiers at Stalingrad, replacement items did not come from the quartermaster's store, they came off the bodies of dead comrades. Nothing was wasted when it came to burial. Men were even sent forward at night into no man's land to strip corpses to their underclothes. The sight of fallen comrades, left semi-naked in the open, revolted many.
When winter came in its full force, snow-camoflage suits became especially precious. A wounded soldier would try to take off the white coverall before it became bloodstained. It was a well-known occurance for a soldier, too badly wounded to remove his snow-camoflage suit, to apologize for any marks to those taking it from him." (Stalingrad p174, Chp 11, Traitors and allies)
This suggests that the veterans inside Stalingrad would be wearing progressively worn out clothing until they could steal... I mean recover... newer items from the dead and wounded. Thus I'd expect Russian veterans to have a mixture of old and new clothes.
on p148, Beevor says of fighting in built up areas "Often an enemy was unrecognisable, with every uniform impregnated with the same dun-coloured dust"
On p 283, of the Germans:
"Many soldiers had still not received proper winter clothing before the encirclement, so they resorted to improvisation with varying degrees of success. Under their uniforms, more and more of them wore articles of Soviet uniform - buttonless tunic shirts and baggy quilted trousers and the highly prized quilted jackets. In hard frosts, a steel helmet became like a freezer compartment, so they wore puttees, scarves and even Russian foot bandages wrapped round their heads as insulation. Their desperation for fur gloves led them to kill stray dogs and skin them. Some even tried to make tunics out of amateurishly cured horse hide from the knacker, but most of these articles were uncomfortably crude, unless a former saddler or cobbler could be bribed to help"
This is mostly about the winter wear of the encircled Germans, so battles the previous summer or involving better supplied troops might see more regular uniforms.
If I find more quotes, I'll post them too.
"New boots, uniforms and equipment were reserved for new armies being formed in the rear. For front-line soldiers at Stalingrad, replacement items did not come from the quartermaster's store, they came off the bodies of dead comrades. Nothing was wasted when it came to burial. Men were even sent forward at night into no man's land to strip corpses to their underclothes. The sight of fallen comrades, left semi-naked in the open, revolted many.
When winter came in its full force, snow-camoflage suits became especially precious. A wounded soldier would try to take off the white coverall before it became bloodstained. It was a well-known occurance for a soldier, too badly wounded to remove his snow-camoflage suit, to apologize for any marks to those taking it from him." (Stalingrad p174, Chp 11, Traitors and allies)
This suggests that the veterans inside Stalingrad would be wearing progressively worn out clothing until they could steal... I mean recover... newer items from the dead and wounded. Thus I'd expect Russian veterans to have a mixture of old and new clothes.
on p148, Beevor says of fighting in built up areas "Often an enemy was unrecognisable, with every uniform impregnated with the same dun-coloured dust"
On p 283, of the Germans:
"Many soldiers had still not received proper winter clothing before the encirclement, so they resorted to improvisation with varying degrees of success. Under their uniforms, more and more of them wore articles of Soviet uniform - buttonless tunic shirts and baggy quilted trousers and the highly prized quilted jackets. In hard frosts, a steel helmet became like a freezer compartment, so they wore puttees, scarves and even Russian foot bandages wrapped round their heads as insulation. Their desperation for fur gloves led them to kill stray dogs and skin them. Some even tried to make tunics out of amateurishly cured horse hide from the knacker, but most of these articles were uncomfortably crude, unless a former saddler or cobbler could be bribed to help"
This is mostly about the winter wear of the encircled Germans, so battles the previous summer or involving better supplied troops might see more regular uniforms.
If I find more quotes, I'll post them too.
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I heard that story too, maybe there is some truth behind it
IIRC this is an urban legend. The second "watch" is actually a wrist compass commonly worn in WWII.
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