Soviet 4 Pocket TTsKO Type I Uniform Identification – with photos

Jacket: 6 button front. 2 chest pockets with button closure. 2 upper sleeve pockets with Velcro closures. suspender slots – two in front and one in the back. button cuffs. internal pocket on the inside right side and internal pistol holster on the inside left side of the jacket. there is a lanyard with a clip attached to the holster that is used to secure a pistol. sewn-down shoulder epaulets. reinforced elbows.

Pants: 5 button front. 6 beltloops. 2 buttoned take-up tabs at the waist. fob pocket on left hip, suspender d-ring attachments – two in front and one in back, 2 hip pockets. 2 cargo pockets at the sides of the legs with the left pocket divided into 2 sections. reinforced knees. cuff ties on the pants with cotton strap “stirrups” to help keep pant legs in the soldier’s boots. the pants come with suspenders in the same camo coloration as the uniform.











Stamps are located on the inside lower left side of the jacket and left pocket inside the pants. Date stamps of 1991 and older designate Soviet uniforms.



Check to see if the factory stamps and control numbers on the jacket match the pants. If they do then you have a matched set.

Woah, thats really cool...GREAT info.

I love that integrated holster.

Soviet 4 Pocket Type II uniforms share the same features of the Type I uniforms except;

1)Instead of sewn-on shoulder boards, Type II uniforms have button-down shoulder straps.

2)Type II uniforms do not have suspenders so there are no suspender slots on the jacket or d-ring suspender attachments on the pants.



Here is a manufacturing stamp that shows the city where the uniform was manufactured, in this case the City of Gukovo. The “r.” before the city name is the Russian abbreviation for city. This city name can help identify whether a post-Soviet uniform was actually manufactured in Russia.



This is a photo of the inside of a Soviet 6 pocket TTsKO uniform.
You can see that there are drawstrings at the waist and the skirt of the jacket.
Type I and Type II 4 pocket TTsKO’s do not have these drawstrings.
If a 4 pocket uniform has drawstrings,then it is a modified 6 pocket uniform where the lower pockets have been removed.
There are some of these modified 6 pockets floating around.

If I may,I would make another classification please:
*Type 1: jacket with chest pockets,suspender slots,internal holster and sewn on shoulder boardsas illustrated.
*Type 2:same as above but with button up shoulder loops instead of sewn on shoulder boards.
*Type 3:same as typ 2 but without suspenders openings.
*Type 4:jacket with 2 chest pockets and 2 waist pockets (principally used by naval infantry)as illustrated.

I agree with the above, that would explain my oddball VDV 4-pocket uniform with buttoned epaulettes and suspender slots.

Erick, this is a great guide with very good pictures, thank you!

One rarely sees such mint soviet TTsKO sets! Congratulations!

Also, I agree with ОКП about the 4 types, when I'm home I will check my uniforms for identification.

Is there a chart about the different factories including their logos?
I would like to know about this, as I need to identify some of my stamps.


Cheers,
Kolja

I have a bunch of photos of uniform stamps that I can post. I wonder what the best way of organizing, identifying and posting them would be?

I guess something like a chart would hit it, where you can see the stamps and a little description.
Of course we have to collect stamps and information first.

ОКП wrote:If I may,I would make another classification please:
*Type 1: jacket with chest pockets,suspender slots,internal holster and sewn on shoulder boardsas illustrated.
*Type 2:same as above but with button up shoulder loops instead of sewn on shoulder boards.
*Type 3:same as typ 2 but without suspenders openings.
*Type 4:jacket with 2 chest pockets and 2 waist pockets (principally used by naval infantry)as illustrated.

I'm trying to establish a chronology for these changes, but I have only anecdotal evidence (my own uniforms and date stamps from other collections) to go by.

The "Type 1" was of course the first issue TTsKO. Desmond states that it was accepted sometime in 1982 as a culmination of the efforts to devise a standardized camouflage field uniform known under the mysterious project "Butan", and first circulated in 1985. A unique design drawing heavily on the features of the new M88 khaki uniform (which Desmond refers to as the M81 for some reason). I'm not entirely clear on this but the 6-pocket naval infantry version must have been introduced around the same time and is directly based on the M88 style, but printed in the new camo fabric.

I have an example of the "Type 2" as per the above classification, 4-pocket shirt with button-down epaulets + suspender slots, dated 1989, so it appears the changes came very late in the life cycle of the uniform.

Soon after came the "Type 3" 4-pocket uniform which saw the suspender slots removed while retaining the button-down epaulets. This is where it gets murky but the earliest I've seen all seem to go back to 1990. The 6-pocket marines uniform did not undergo any major changes to my knowledge and has become the standard form for all future Russian and CIS uniforms.

This is a great resource, but since the images originally used to illustrate these uniforms disappeared, I've gathered a few from my own collection.

Type I (4-pocket, 2 suspender slots on the front face):



Sewn-on epaulets:



Stamp (1985 production date):



Type II (4-pockets, notice the buttoned epaulets and suspender slots):



Stamp (1989):



Type III (4-pockets, buttoned epaulets but no suspenders; ignore the peculiar pink-brown colour):



Stamp (1992?):

Thanks for posting the pics. However, I would caution about using terminology that is contrary to Desmond's standards. Can be quite confusing otherwise, even though his system isn't exactly ideal.

In his system Type I has suspender slots and sewn on epaulettes. Type II has no suspender slots and buttoned epaulettes. The Type I Naval version has 6 pockets, no suspender slots, no internal holster, and buttoned epaulettes.

What you called a Type II (4 pocket, epaulettes, suspender slots) is something I have not seen documented before. At least it's not in Desmond's book. To me, based on the year, I'd call this a "Type I Transitional" since its features are neatly between Type I and II. Definitely a sweet set to have in your collection.

Steve

Yes, Desmond omits what I call the "Type II" from his book and I have no objection to calling it a transitional model either, as I have several times in the past.

What I'm not entirely clear on is the naval infantry 6-pocket version. I'm not sure why Desmond makes the distinction between Types I and II because in my opinion, he didn't really demonstrate convincingly that there were any differences between the two at all. I've been trying to get my hands on an early example to compare against; Desmond says they were issued as early as 1982, I've yet to see one for sale or otherwise.

I held a lot of TTsKO uniforms in my hands and none of them were dated ealier than 1985.

As I didn't see any picture of an uniform dated pre '85 I still think that's the first year these were issued.

A few photos of the first type in use, from Carey Schofield's book:

Very nice pictures, thanks for sharing them!

A few more:

This great thread got me looking into my TTsKO variants. I've got a mint 1989 Type 1 set and several color variations of Type 2 from 1991 and 1993 (can't read the date on the third set).

What's the deal with the 6 pocket Brown TTsKO set? I've had one since the mid 1990s (I'm guessing 1994??) that has only size and control numbers. I guess this was a commercial set? Dang. I noticed my "Moldavian" set also lacks the other marks. This set, unlike the other, is used and had metal badging on it at one point.

Steve

CollectinSteve wrote:
What's the deal with the 6 pocket Brown TTsKO set? I've had one since the mid 1990s (I'm guessing 1994??) that has only size and control numbers. I guess this was a commercial set? Dang. I noticed my "Moldavian" set also lacks the other marks. This set, unlike the other, is used and had metal badging on it at one point.

Which uniform are you referring to?

All brown TTsKO set in standard Soviet/Russian 6 pocket design. I got it around 1994. It has no military stamps on it. I'll try and take some pics.

Steve

Beautiful colors but just commercial

Yes, definitely commercial: no waist adjustment tabs, small, non-standard belt loops, different seat pocket design and the fabric looks Ukrainian.

A few more reference images from the early 1990s:





VDV cadet:

Paratroopers wearing the elusive VDV 4-pocket PV uniform:

Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing!