Last time I talked about the boots of the Soviet army, in fact, the magic weapon of the Soviet army not only has boots, but also shrouds. The word shroud is known to have a certain history as soon as you hear it. The Soviets had their shrouds from the time of Peter the Great and have been passed down ever since.
In World War II, if the Soviet army wanted to wear boots, one thing was indispensable, that is, the shroud. What role does this play? To put it bluntly, the Soviet army's shroud was their socks, which was very important.
In the harsh combat environment, if the dryness of the socks is not guaranteed, the mud and water on the road will seep into the shoes, so that the feet will always be soaked in them. Before the lack of socks, soldiers in various European countries kept their feet dry by taking a square shroud to wrap their feet, which was a necessity for them. Don't look at it as simple, but this method has a better quick-drying effect than socks.
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In addition, although soldiers from Germany, Britain, the United States and other countries wore socks during World War II, they were soon damaged due to neglect to trim their fingernails, and their toes were exposed from the socks. At that time, the Soviet army still used the foot wrap will not have such troubles, the Soviet army used the foot wrap is actually a square shaped flannel or cotton cloth with a side length of forty centimeters, and then wrapped on the feet according to a certain method, and then put on boots. The presence of a shroud can fill the gap between the foot and the boots sufficiently, and also prevent the rough workmanship of hard leather boots from causing abrasion to the feet.
Another advantage is that the manufacturing process is simple and inexpensive, and the shroud is usually made of leftover scraps from the garment factory, which greatly reduces the logistical pressure of the Soviet army.
And the foot wrap is not casually wrapped, there is still a certain technique, otherwise it is easy to rub the foot by the leather boots on the way to the march. Therefore, the Soviet army also developed a detailed tutorial on the use of the footshirt, and also required the soldiers to always take the footshirt out to dry, otherwise the smell would be comparable to a gas bomb. There was even a joke circulating: "If a footshiel that had not been washed for several days and dried was thrown into the German position, at least one platoon of enemy troops would be smoked by this footshirt." ”
In addition, Germany, which was once a big country with a shroud, stated in the 1869 German Army Hygiene Manual that "shrouds are very suitable for summer, but must be careful when wrapping, and there must be no seams." In contrast, clean, comfortable socks are much better. Later, although the shroud was replaced by socks, it did not disappear completely, and even after the end of World War II, the German army still regarded the shroud as a standard individual equipment, and it was not abolished until 1968.
In short, the shroud and boots were a perfect match for the Soviet army and provided great convenience for the battle, but in the same way, the smell they emitted would be a memory that the Soviet soldiers would never forget.