USSR

The Soviet Army had been experimenting with the concept of camouflage for individual troops as early as 1937, the first issue uniform being a solid white oversuit for winter wear. By 1938, the first Soviet-designed camouflage pattern was being fielded by specialized personnel such as paratroops, combat engineers, and snipers. Additional camouflage designs, such as a printed pattern that mimicked leafs and twigs, and a unique disruptive design utilizing large geometrical shapes with a "stair step" edging, had entered Soviet service by the end of the Second World War. Virtually all of the wartime patterns were mass-produced in huge quantities and continued in service with the Soviet Armed Forces for decades, whilst large stocks of certain uniforms were also given to other socialist nations such as Albania and Romania.

During the immediate postwar period, Soviet military designers continued to work with existing concepts (such as the disruptive "stair step" design) to create more practical camouflaged combat clothing for specialized troops. The early Soviet uniforms were lightweight, cheaply-produced and not very hardy, but in 1981 a much more durable combat uniform was introduced that incorporated many of the features of American and NATO field uniforms. The six-pocket khaki airborne uniform, widely distributed to Soviet personnel operating in Afghanistan, was soon manufactured in a newly-designed three-color camouflage pattern (nicknamed "woodland," although having no relationship to the US pattern of the same name) and initially distributed to Soviet airborne and special forces personnel. The six-pocket combat uniform in a tricolor camouflage pattern would eventually become the standard combat uniform of the Soviet Union and the postwar republics, remaining essentially unchanged until the early years of the 21st century. Soviet camouflage designs, although not terribly sophisticated, were nevertheless effective for their time and have been reproduced in a multitude of variations by most countries of the former USSR. They have seen service with numerous Marxist and pro-Soviet insurgent movements, particularly in Africa, and constitute and important chapter in the history of camouflage development.

In December of 1991, following a failed military coup d'etat, the USSR was dissolved into 15 independent states, including Russia.

Soviet Camouflage Patterns

• The first mass-produced Soviet camouflage uniform was the makirovochnyi kamuflirovannyi kostium or MKK, printed with large reddish-brown amoeba shapes on a light green or khaki background. Introduced in 1938, the MKK (also issued as a one-pieced coverall or makirovochnyi kombinezon - MK) was in service with engineers, snipers, airborne forces, forward artillery observers and reconnaissance units throughout the Second World War. It continued in service sporadically for the next couple of decades, and even longer with reservists and cadets. This camouflage design is often called Soviet "amoeba" pattern.

• In 1941 a different type of camouflage design was introduced, utilizing a printed pattern of dark leaves & twigs on a khaki-colored field. Referred to in some period literature as letniy kamuflyazh (summer camouflage), surviving examples suggest the colored overprint was likely produced in at least two variations (green or grey/brown) for wear during different seasons. The issue uniform was the same MKK/MK type, and saw service well into the 1960s with some Soviet units. Following the Second World War, large stocks were given to Romania, where it became the only camouflage uniform in use until the 1990s. Not to be confused with ERDL-derivative patterns, this style of camouflage is also often called "leaf pattern," for obvious reasons.

• Entering service later in the war (1944) was the tritsvetnyi makirovochnyi kamuflirovannyi kostium or TTsMKK uniform, printed in a unique three-color disruptive camouflage. The overlapping pattern of dark green and foliage green on a yellow-tan base incorporated a "stair step" concept that would classify many Soviet designs for years to come. As with the earlier uniforms, the same MKK/MK style uniforms were issued in this pattern, generally reserved for reconaissance, sniper & border units during the war and into the 1950s. This pattern was later exported to Albania where it served with their elite units into the 1990s.

• Toward the end of the Second World War, a short-lived camouflage pattern emerged that combined features of the TTsMKK with the original "amoeba" pattern. It was essentially the standard TTsMKK design with an overprint of brown amoeba shapes in the same style as the 1938 pattern. This apparently saw service between 1945 and 1950, but not beyond.

• Circa 1948 a reversible camouflage pattern was introduced, printed on a one-piece lightweight coverall (MK). The design featured tan leaf shapes on a bright green background, and reversed to a grid-like pattern reputedly intended to render early night vision equipment less effective. There is little evidence to suggest this was much more than a trial pattern.

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• Soviet camouflage design did not make much progress during the 1950s, and it was only in the following decade that some new styles of uniform entered into service with the Soviet Army. The "splatter" design, incorporating large irregular tan blotches on a grass green field, was the earliest of these to emerge, and was printed on the reverse side with the same grid pattern that emerged alongside the 1948 leaf print. Worn as a one-piece lightweight hooded coverall with face mask called the kamuflirovannyi letnyi maskirovochnyi kombinezon or KLMK, and issued primarily to airborne, reconnaissance and GRU spetsnaz units, this pattern began to gradually die out of service in the 1970s.

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• A revival of the "stair step" design nicknamed solnechnye zaychiki (sun bunnies) was also issued as a reversible KLMK uniform, with the same grid pattern on the opposite side. The pattern of jagged tan shapes on a grass green field would later be fielded on a variety of non-reversible two-piece camouflage uniforms (kamuflirovannyi komplekt), which included accessories such as a beret, field cap and sun hat. This stair step design, known also as "sun-ray" pattern, would continue to be used (with only slight changes) by Soviet and ex-Soviet republics well into the present era.

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