Two buttons on the hat of the Eighth Route Army
The two buttons on the hat of the Eighth Route Army, do you know what the effect is?
It is not difficult for people who often watch war dramas to find that in every film and television drama, the two buttons on the hat of the Eighth Route Army are particularly conspicuous.
So why sew two buttons on a hat? Is it for aesthetics, or is there something special about it?
Strictly speaking, the hats in some film and television drama works are not enough to restore history, and simply sewing two buttons on the hat makes people unclear, so they think that it is superfluous.
In fact, those two buttons are not only redundant, but also very useful.
Throughout history, after the establishment of each unit, there will be a different military hat, in order to distinguish it from other armies, the design of the military hat is particularly important.
Most military hats will be sewn with badges on the front of the hat, on the one hand, for aesthetics, on the other hand, to show their identity, so that the other party can see at a glance whether they are friend or foe.
Since the fall of the Qing government, various revolutionary forces in the country have sprung up, and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was also established during this period.
At that time, different revolutionary forces in the country had different uniforms and hats, and because the Red Army was founded relatively late, and most of them were peasant classes and working classes, the clothing was not unified under the condition of small armed forces.
To distinguish other armies, some would wear red armbands and some would wear red scarves.
Later, with the growth of the Red Army, unified and standardized management must be paid attention to, in addition to the need to change the army structure, everyone must be equipped with uniforms exclusive to the Red Army.
At that time, the Uniform of the Red Army adopted a uniform gray cloth with two red marks on the collar, but there were differences in how the Red Army hat was designed.
In the end, it was decided that the hat of the Red Army was transformed in the style of Lenin's octagonal hat, with a five-pointed star and a sickle hammer representing the workers' and peasants' revolution sewn in front of the hat.
The hat of the Red Army represents both identity and is a memorial to Lenin.
Later, the Japanese devils invaded China, the War of Resistance Against Japan began in an all-round way, and the second cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists was ushered in, and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was transformed into the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.
The reorganized army must also have a unified set of management standards, and redesigning the new uniform is also an important thing.
It is not difficult to observe carefully and find that there is not much difference between the uniforms of the Red Army and the uniforms of the Eighth Route Army, and the biggest difference is still the hat.
The biggest feature of the Eighth Route Army hat is that it is simple and practical, no longer uses the octagonal hat of the Red Army period, and the five-star badge on the front of the hat has become two buttons.
Such a hat design is a reference to the German mountain hat at that time, and the German hat also has two buttons in front of it, and above the button is a badge.
German mountain cap
Later, our army designed the hat of the Eighth Route Army according to the head shape of the Chinese.
Moreover, the Hat of the Kuomintang at that time was also of a similar style, and the top of the button was the national army insignia.
Since there was a rift in the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists later, the hat of the Eighth Route Army directly abandoned the badge and retained only two buttons.
For the Eighth Route Army, those two buttons are of great significance, some people say that the two buttons are lined up side by side, just to form an 8 character, representing the Eighth Route Army, which is a symbol of status.
In addition to their symbolic role, those two buttons have a practical purpose.
The actual role of the buttons
Do the two buttons on the hat of the Eighth Route Army have any special effect?
In fact, those two buttons can be unbuttoned, and its original role was to fix the cap ears.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese devils' military hats were all wearing a circle of cloth curtains, although it looked ugly, but the effect was not small.
The hat lugs on both sides of the Eighth Route Army hat are also similar.
In general, the hat ears will be buttoned on the front of the hat two buttons, in the face of special circumstances, the hat ears can be put down to play a certain role.
One situation is that when fighting, you can avoid flying sand and stones to block your ears, and you can also protect your ears from the sound of gunfire.
After all, on the battlefield, the power of the explosion is huge, the shrapnel is very sharp, and if you are not careful, you will be scratched, especially the ear part, which is particularly fragile.
Lowering the cap ears can play a protective role.
Moreover, in the battlefield where the sound of guns and cannons is deafening, protecting hearing is also extremely important, and the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army are used to hold guns with both hands, and they cannot free their hands to cover their ears.
Lowering the cap ears can effectively weaken the high decibels produced by the sound of gunshots. Although that effect is not decisive, an extra layer of protection still has a certain effect.
In addition, in the cold winter months, you can put down the hat ears to resist the cold.
The reason why the Eighth Route Army was designed in this way was also to take into account the problem of insufficient materials.
In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang and the Communists reached cooperation, and although all military expenditures were paid by the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek had always had a grudge against the Eighth Route Army, and the military expenses allocated were all limited by the head.
Moreover, out of selfishness, the Kuomintang tripped up the Eighth Route Army in all aspects during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and later directly eliminated the allocation of military expenses, and the Eighth Route Army's military expenditure was self-sufficient.
It was precisely because of this that the Eighth Route Army at that time was very poor, not as rich as the national army, and the military expenditure was tight, and it would also choose to save materials in military uniforms.
According to normal, military uniforms are divided into spring, summer, autumn and winter, and military hats will also have obvious distinctions with the change of military uniform thickness, but in wartime, materials are scarce, cloth is expensive, the Eighth Route Army is even a winter uniform, it is very thin, and military coats are even rarer.
In order to save money, the hats of the Eighth Route Army are the same style all year round, the same thickness, and the thin hats are worn in spring, summer and autumn.
However, in the cold winter, it was impossible to resist the cold, there was no surplus material in the army, and hats that could be protected from the cold and warmth were produced in large quantities, so the hat ears were designed on both sides of the hat.
Although the material of the hat ear is very thin as the material of the hat, the hat ear cover the ear also plays a role in protecting the cold to a certain extent.
Moreover, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese devils plundered a large number of ordinary people's crops, resulting in a further reduction in cotton production that was originally not high.
The cotton that ordinary people use for themselves is very limited, even scarce, let alone sold.
There was less cotton flowing in the market, the price naturally rose, and the Eighth Route Army did not have much money to buy enough cotton to make cotton hats for all the eighth route army soldiers.
So when designing hats, decorative and wear-resistant was taken into account.
The front of the hat is sewn with two buttons, which is also simple and beautiful as decoration, and if there is no embellishment, it will look very abrupt.
Moreover, hats are also consumables, the Eighth Route Army will wear hats every day, even if it does not do anything, over time, the hats will also have different degrees of wear.
Moreover, on the battlefield, the hat is more likely to rot, the service life will be greatly shortened, the two sides of the hat lugs, buckled on two buttons, not only played a thickening effect on the hat, but also equivalent to adding a layer of protective cover to the outside of the hat, reducing the hat in the battle is seriously worn.
This also reduces the loss to a certain extent, saving a lot of money.
The two buttons on the hat of the Eighth Route Army are only known after understanding how clever they are
The role of the two buttons on the Hat of the Eighth Route Army, in addition to fixing the ears of the hat, also has a role as a substitute.
The military uniform of the Eighth Route Army is in the style of Zhongshan clothing, the lower body is the style of suit pants, and the Zhongshan clothing is designed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, which is a landmark product of the new era of clothing on the mainland.
Zhongshan suit is very rigorous in design, and every detail represents a different meaning.
The four pockets designed in front of the body represent etiquette, righteousness and shame, the design of a complete and strict back, indicating the peaceful reunification of the country, and the five buttons designed on the chest also symbolize the separation of the five powers of legislation, justice, administration, examination power, and procuratorial power.
And the three buttons at the cuffs also represent the Three People's Principles and republican ideas.
During the revolutionary period, zhongshan suits are of great significance to revolutionaries, and everyone will wear zhongshan suits to express their unswerving faith in the revolutionary cause and their commemoration of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Wearing a Zhongshan suit on the body also represents rigor.
Such an important piece of clothing, there is a torn part is not perfect, especially the important buttons.
Moreover, on the battlefield, it is inevitable that the military uniform will be damaged and the buttons will be lost, and if it is not dealt with in time, it will affect the image of the entire army, and if a button is missing, the clothes will appear loose and sloppy and not rigorous enough.
Therefore, the buttons on the hat of the Eighth Route Army are also kept in reserve, and the damaged military uniform can be taken at any time to emergency, after all, when there is a shortage of materials, it is unlikely to change a new set of clothes, and it can only be sewn and repaired.
Military uniforms represent the image of soldiers, and in a well-disciplined army, military uniforms are also sacred.
Nowadays, the uniforms of mainland soldiers have been changed for several generations, and they are divided into different categories, and there are strict distinctions between what kind of clothes to wear on what occasions.
Without the difficult situation of being stretched at the beginning, although the era of the Eighth Route Army has passed and the military uniform has undergone earth-shaking changes, the meaning it represents will never change, and the Hat of the Eighth Route Army with two buttons is both a microcosm of the times and a commemoration of the times.