Need to Vent...

[panzerfaust60]

Why do so many Red Army reenactors wear post war ammo pouches? Why do they wear early war gas mask bags, breadbags, y straps, bayonet frogs, etc to post 1943 events? Why does everyone need a grenade pouch when there is little to no evidence that they were used in large numbers? Why don't units acknowledge that m43 Gymnasterka's with pockets were only seen on EM in large numbers in 1945? And lastly, why aren't there any good uniforms and equipment makers?!!

I hope someone can help answer these questions, instead of calling me an a**hole or saying "who gives a s***" like other places...

[sasha]

We work to the "Build it and they will come" formula, Comrade. I'll talk about what we're doing to illustrate this.

After about two years of discussion in the group we're leaving the period 1943 to 45 behind and moving firmly into Obr1935 uniform and equipment to go with it.

This won't be overnight, none of us has that much disposable income, but we've researched the early war equipment set and chosen a standard we want to get to. Most of this can be seen in bef's posts on here. Then we chose a main supplier (Schuster as it happens but they're not the only one out there).

Now we are working towards the goal small steps at a time - e.g. we've decided to replace all our gas mask bags with the BN type this year. If people want to do more they can but all the unit is asking is to change that one item. Next year we'll pick something else.

We can do this without losing gigs because the scene here in the UK is different. There are less private battles in general. And if you're reenacting RKKA there's a lot less. Most of what we do is Living History displays for the public. We of the 34GRR/13GRD try to do these as moving tableaux, I suppose, rather than laying stuff out on a groundsheet. We do interact with the public as well - talks, specific 'action' displays yada yada.

Remember, Comrade, the journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step.

[horsesoldier176]

Sasha is absolutely correct, but I would add, based on my experience here in the U.S., that few Red Army units are composed of people who do Red Army as their primary impression. Most of my unit's members do Red Army as a secondary, or tertiary impression at best. It is hard to convince them to spend the extra money to get all the nick knacks to make their impression absolutely correct. The other problem is that many of them get started, by buying on E-Bay, without really knowing what they are looking for. As a result, if the Russian seller says the uniform is WWII, then they believe it, after all, he would know, wouldn't he? When I tell them, sorry, that is post war, they argue with me, because they bought it from a Russian, and he would know.

As to the kirza ammo pouches, you get a set with every Mosin you buy, so...they must be correct. When I tell them, no, sorry, the kirza pouches were a very late/post war issue item, you need to go out, and buy the leather ones, they scoff at me.

I do the best I can, but unlike the real military, I can't force them to do anything, so we just try to give them the correct info, and encourage them to upgrade.

Boridin

[sasha]

Oh yeah, on the issue of MN pouches we have banned the kirza ones. But we accept the leather Polish ones, of which quite a few became available here in the last couple of years, as an interim measure. They look about right at a distance. We'll retire them to the slop chest in due course.

Photo attached.



Some dealers advertise these as Soviet manufacture but they're not.