HATS AND SHOES USED WITH MILITARY UNIFORM M/36

Field cap m/36 (kenttälakki m/36) "verikauha":

This cap model that that was directly based to experimental field cap m/34 became the standard Finnish military field cap for World War 2. It was a Jaeger-cap style hat made from the same medium steel-grey wool cloth as tunic and trousers of uniform m/36. It sports a soft visor made from the same cloth as rest of the cap and the cap has sides which can be folded down and opened when necessary. This hat normally has a cotton liner, although also other fabrics, including silk, have been spotted in privately acquired hats. Unlike its predecessor experimental field cap m/34, this field cap was intended to for three seasons (spring, summer and autumn) only and lacked separate liner used with m/34 – although it soon proved too warm for warm summer days. All other soldiers besides conscripts normally had in front section of the hat colored piping that indicated service arm. Early production hats have leather sweatband, which at some point was replaced in wartime-production with burlap sweatband, with leather sweatband being re-introduced for hats manufactured in post-war era. In front of the hat above visor are two small buttons with the standard issue Finnish coat of arms lion emblem and on top of them white-blue-white roundel cockade. The hat design proved popular among Finnish soldiers who gave it a nickname "verikauha" ("blood scoop") probably due to its shape. Field cap m/36 did a very long career with Finnish military, in 1960’s its original version was replaced in production by its late production version often referred as field cap M/65. This late production version can be identified from its material, which is diagonal wool and having stiffened longer visor. Finnish Defense Forces continued to issue its conscripts field cap M/65 until late 1990’s and the cap model remained in use of officers and senior non-commissioned officers until finally retired in year 2013.

PICTURE: Finnish Army field cap m/36. The purple piping in front of the field cap indicates that the soldier who used it served in engineer corps (sappers). Fabric used for the hat (diagonal wool) and (fancier) enamel cockade version of national cockade suggest that the cap belonged to senior NCO or officer. Photo source Digitaltmuseum.se - original photo by Armémuseum (Sweden), CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (116 KB).

Uniform regulations from year 1939 contain also hat cover for field cap m/36. This hat cover was about 10 cm / 4 inches high cover made from oil-treated cotton and intended to be used with oilcloth jacket. The basic idea seems to have been to use the hat cover for making field hat m/36 rain-proof, while the hat cover's 13 - 15 cm / 5.1 - 5.9 inches long rear neck section was designed to keep rain water from entering inside collar. However the hat cover does not seem that the hat cover may not have been ever really fielded, what can be said for sure is that was never been fielded in any real scale. The likely reasons for this are that the oilcloth jacket that it was to be used with was only available for private purchases and that the whole hat cover design looks very goofy.

PICTURE: On the left early war field cap m/36 made from coarse cloth. The hats issued to enlisted men and non-commissioned officers during the war had no color piping in front of the cap and was used with painted tin cockade. In the middle the same cap with its sides folded open. On the right late production variation commonly referred as M/65, it is made from thinner diagonal wool and has longer stiff peak. The M/65 version of field cap m/36 seen here was manufactured in year 1984. Photos taken by JTV for Jaeger Platoon Website. Copyrights (c) Jaeger Platoon Website. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (106 KB).

During World War 2 there were some field cap designs rather similar to Finnish field cap m/36 being introduced in Germany and Sweden. The German field cap was einheitsmütze M43introduced in year 1943 and issued both Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, while the Swedish field cap had was known as skidmössa m/41 for Swedish Army and skidmössa m/41 hv for Swedish Hemvärnet (home guard). The German einheitsmütze M43 was based into bergmütze caps used by their mountain troops since World War 1, but when it comes to Swedish field cap, it may have been at least partially based to Finnish field cap m/36.

 

Summer cap m/39 (kesälakki m/39) "venelakki" / "suikka":

This is a side cap type hat intended for warm summer months. In a way this cap design got introduced as an afterthought of sort for military uniform m/36. Finnish military had originally intended field cap m/36 to be used also at summer, but the field cap proved to be so warm, that soldiers continued to use old field caps m/22 in warm summer days – even if the particular hat model was no longer officially supposed to be in wide-scale use. Since there was an apparent need for new summer cap, such a hat was developed, officially approved in May of 1939 and likely entered production still in summer of that year. The inspiration for this hat design were similar looking caps used by reserve companies for Army of Finnish Grand Duchy had in turn of 19^th – 20^th century, although it seems likely that field cap m/22 effected at least to selection of hat type. The hat was commonly referred as "venelakki" ("boat cap") even in manuals, while the hat design was also commonly less officially referred as "suikka". According uniform regulations from year 1939 originally this cap was intended to be used as part of field uniform or service uniform, unless ordered otherwise.

PICTURE: Photo composition showing two versions of Finnish Army summer cap m/39. The cap on the left was manufactured in year 1960, has been made from wool and has bright red piping referring to field artillery or anti-aircraft artillery. The cap on the right is probably from 1980's or 1990's, has made from very thin diagonal wool and has green piping referring to infantry or jaeger troops. Photo source for left side photo Digitaltmuseum.se - original photo by Armémuseum (Sweden), CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. Right side photo photographed by JTV for Jaeger Platoon Website. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (114 KB).

While on the first look this hat might resemble field cap m/22, profile of the hat is lower and it lacks the side buttons that field cap m/22 has. It is oval-shaped cap, which is slightly higher from the front than the back. Sides of the hat have been sown from two or four separate parts in such a manner that the inner parts are slightly higher than the outer ones. The side parts have a colored piping whose color indicated service arm sown in them. Inside the cap is a thin liner. Early on only caps equipped with leather chinstrap were those intended for units, which were expected to ride horses or bicycles - field artillery, cavalry and bicycle troops. But starting year 1941 similar chinstrap was included to all manufactured caps. Leather chinstrap is about 1.5 cm wide, attached to the cap with small standard issue buttons that have Finnish coat of arms lion emblem in them and equipped with a small steel buckle. Typically buttons used in wartime summer caps m/39 are either brass or copper. Cavalry units often wore chinstrap of their caps placed over the cap instead of normal manner.

While standard version of this cap used by Army and Coastal Artillery was medium shade steel grey with grey leather chin strap, Air Force had its own dark blue version with black leather chinstrap and some of the manufacturers used brown or black leather chinstraps in their standard version caps. But that was not necessarily even the most significant manufacturing variation. Since uniform regulations did not specify the type of fabric to be used for manufacturing it beyond "thin wool fabric", standard steel grey summer cap m/39 was manufactured from variety of fabrics of similar steel grey color as uniform m/36.

Summer cap m/39 proved apparently quite popular. Originally it was uniform item, which only officers and senior non-commissioned officers could privately acquire for their own use. But during World War 2 situation changed – during Continuation War (1941 – 1944) also junior non-commissioned officers and enlisted men were able to buy and use this cap. After the war that status changed even further becoming a summer hat issued for conscripts and remained in that sort of use until 1960’s. While use of summer cap m/39 ended with that, in 1980’s the cap design made a comeback and completed a full circle - returning to its original role as a summer hat that officers and senior non-commissioned officers could buy privately. It has also remained in that role to this day.

 

Fur hat m/39 (turkislakki m/39) "norsunvittu":

As mentioned field cap m/34 introduced with experimental military uniform m/34 had been intended for all seasons, but had proved not warm enough for winter use. Hence a separate hat design was needed for winter. That winter hat was fur hat m/39. Unlike sometimes claimed origins of Finnish Army fur hat m/39 are not in Russian ushanka, but it was in fact a development based on fur hats earlier introduced by Finnish military and Frontier Guard. The first of those fur hat designs was (white) fur hat m/19 from which all black version was developed and adopted by Finnish Navy in turn of decade as fur hat m/30. In early 1930's Finnish Frontier Guard had become so unhappy with fur hat m/22, that it introduced its own grey version of the Navy fur hat in year 1934. Finally in year 1939 Finnish Army decided to adopt the Frontier Guard’s steel grey fur hat as fur hat m/39 (turkislakki m/39), to which the Finnish soldiers gave a rather politically incorrect nickname "norsunvittu" – "elephant’s cunt". The hat is normally made from thick fake fur with rear section and ear flaps that are usually folded up and locked there with a hook, push-buttons of fabric string. Normally these hats have cotton liners, but also liners made from other fabrics such as silk were commonly used in privately acquired hats. There are two versions of the fur hat with version intended for officers, senior non-commissioned officers and military officials having shorter ear flaps, while version intended for junior non-commissioned officers and enlisted men have ear flaps so long that they usually meet on top of the hat when folded up. As mentioned these hats were mainly manufactured from fake fur, which had considerable color variations depending material used and manufacturer. In those cases when the hat was made from real fur, the fur used for it could also be just about any type. While standard version of this fur hat is grey, Air Force version has black sides and blue top.

PICTURE: Finnish Army fur hat m/39 version for enlisted men and junior NCO ranks. This hat is late production version manufactured in year 1981. It is made from fake fur and has grey cotton liner. Notice cockade made from plastic, wartime version issued in similar manner had painted tin cockade. Photos taken by JTV for Jaeger Platoon Website. Copyrights (c) Jaeger Platoon Website. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (99 KB).

Fur hat m/39 proved so successful that it has remained in of Finnish Defense Forces to this day. Admitted more modern hats of similar design have replaced it have now replaced it in wide-scale use. Those more modern fur hats of similar basic design are fur hats M/91 and M/05, which both have camouflage pattern similar to camouflage uniforms that they used with and are made from modern fabrics. There is a distinct possibility that the Soviet Red Army "ushanka" fur hat introduced in year 1940 was based on Finnish fur hat m/39, although it has somewhat different cut and is not as comfortable to wear as the Finnish hats. Also German Army introduced its own ushanka-based winter fur hat made with rabbit-fur in year 1942.

Shoes and belts used with military uniform m/36:

"Jackboot" type black leather boots continued to be a standard shoe type for soldiers of Finnish Army and also Laplander boots remained in its use. But in late 1930’s also black laced leather boots with shorter legs were issued in limited scale as experiment to some military units. These experimental black laced boots were known as short boots m/36 (varsikengät m/34), became the first laced combat boots issued by Finnish army. They were black laced leather boots with short laced legs and leather flaps that covered top section of laces. The leather flaps was closed with two buckles that were on outermost side of each boot. What is known originally these short boots were apparently introduced for the large part due financial reasons – namely leftover leather parts from manufacturing of standard issue "jackboot" type service boots could be used in production of short boots m/34, which reduced the material waste of leather in manufacturing of military boots. But the short boots m/34 seem to have also shown considerable potential in pre-war trials - marching test performed by Jaeger Battalion 3 in year 1936 indicated that on long marches soldiers equipped with short boots m/34 suffered much less chafes and blisters on their feet than soldiers equipped with standard issue "jackboot" type service boots. It seems possible that these may have particularly been intended for bicycle troops, since such a large percentage of units field testing them were bicycle troops. While the short boots m/34 apparently never entered in real mass-production, the boots had already been manufactured before the war saw use in World War 2.

PICTURE: Two pairs of Finnish army leather boots of the type most commonly used during World War 2. On the left standard issue "jackboots"-type black leather boots and the right laplander boots. Notice that there were several variations of Laplander boots, although this version likely may have been the most common in use of Finnish military. Source for the original photos Digitaltmuseum.se - original photos by Armémuseum (Sweden), CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (100 KB).

Also other boot designs were tested at that time with experiments continuing during World War 2. Conscripts of late 1930’s could also be issued laced leather shoes with leather gaiters. At least in theory conscripts of that era were to be issued with two pairs of boots, from which pair of boots intended for winter use was supposed to be shoe one size larger. But during World War 2 Finnish military found it problematic to supply even one pair of boots for all its soldiers with shortage of boots particularly during Winter War. Hence it is uncertain how common it was for the soldiers to be issued two pairs of boots during World War 2.

There was a multitude of shoe and boots designs tested in 1930's and various boot designs saw some limited or experimental use during World War 2. These included new (to Finnish Army) boot designs such as rubber boots and jackboot type boots in which boot's leg was leather, but lower part of the boot was made from rubber. These jackboot type boots of mixed rubber and leather construction are known in Finnish as (kumiteräsaapas). While they saw limited use, rubber boots and kumiteräsaapas apparently proved less than satisfactory and traditional jackboot type black leather boots continued to serve as standard boot model for Finnish military long into post World War 2 era.

Leather belt m/30 (nahkavyö m/30): One of the issues noted during development of new uniform items was that steel belt buckle used with leather belts m/22 and m/27 could make opening belt of wounded man difficult. This was presumably at least one of the reasons behind introduction of leather belt m/30, which was intended for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. This belt is 45-mm / 1.8 in wide dark brown leather belt with simple roller buckle with one prong. The belt was manufactured with both brass and steel belt buckles, from which the steel version was presumably late production version. While this belt design apparently did not totally replace earlier leather belts, it did apparently become the de facto standard issue belt design for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers during World War 2.

PICTURE: Leather belt m/30, notice dark brown leather, roller belt buckle made from brass with one prong and leather flap behind the belt buckle. This belt was also manufactured with steel belt buckle of similar design. Photo sourceDigitaltmuseum.se - original photo by Armémuseum (Sweden), CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (76 KB).

 

Items originating from earlier military uniforms used with military uniform m/36:

While in principle Finnish military did not like mixing of items from several military uniforms and in particular did not like (brown-green-grey) field uniform m/27 items to be mixed with (steel grey) items of military m/22 and m/36, there were some exceptions. From the start numerous uniform items earlier introduced with uniforms m/22 and m/27 were officially approved to be also used with military uniform m/36. These items included:

• Trousers m/22: Originally use of dark grey trousers belonging to military uniform m/22 with uniform m/36 was to be limited into for field use, combat exercises and other maneuvers with intention of wearing the old pants off, while saving new ones for events that required soldiers to be more presentable. But in year 1939 with mobilization for Winter War and shortage of uniforms that Finnish military faces this changed and old uniform pants remained in use until they were no longer in usable condition. Also according uniform regulations issued in May of 1939 riding parts were exception to this earlier rule - with use of riding breeches m/22 and m/36 being allowed with either tunic m/22 and m/36 from that on.
• Greatcoat m/22: Greatcoat m/22 remained in common use with military uniform m/36 to post-war era.
• Fur overcoat m/22 and officer’s fur coat m/27: These fur coats were high-prize items difficult to replace even before the war, which may explain why their use with uniform m/36 was not limited in any manner. During the war even getting materials for new fur coats would have been difficult to obtain, hence already existing fur coats seem to have remained in use as long as they were in serviceable condition.
• Officer’s cloak m/22: Officer’s cloak m/22 was listed among items that could be used as part of dress/visit uniform with military uniform m/36. Although year 1942 orders were issued to remove old rank markings from collars of officer’s cloaks – presumably because new rank markings used in collar of military tunic m/36 clashed with the older style rank markings used in it.
• Leather belts m/22 and m/27: Earlier standard issue leather belts m/22 and m/27 remained in active use along newer leather belt m/30. In addition officer’s leather belt remained in use of officers, military officials and senior non-commissioned officers.
• Fur hat m/22 and officer’s cap m/22: From all hats issued with previous uniforms only fur hat m/22 and officer’s cap m/22 were originally seen fit to be used with military uniform m/36 and even their use was limited. More precisely officer's cap m/22 was to be used only as part of field uniform or service uniform ensemble, although generals were exception to this, since they could still use the cap with any uniform ensemble. Use of fur hat m/22 with military uniform m/36 was limited to field uniform used only. Hats issued with field uniform m/27 were wrong color and using them with military uniform m/36 was specifically banned, while use of field cap m/22 was also discouraged since field cap m/36 was intended to replace it. Since the troops continued to use field m/22 in warm summer days regardless, this forced Finnish military to introduce summer cap m/39.

PICTURE: Although Finnish uniform regulations specifically banned using of mismatch of uniform items in which main items of field uniform m/27 would have been worn with items of military uniform m/22 or m/36, in reality the rules were not necessarily followed even before World War 2. The reserve officer student from year 1935 seen here has field cap m/22, field tunic m/27 and breeches m/22. (Photo Jaeger Platoon photo collection.) CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (109 KB).

 

Petteri Leino: Asepuku M/36 vuosina 1936 – 1945 (Uniform m/36 in years 1936 - 1945).

Pekka Aarniaho: Kaluunat ja rähinäremmit. Itsenäisen Suomen virkapuvut ja arvomerkit 1918 – 1945 (Uniforms and Rank Markings of Independent Finland 1918 - 1945).

Puolustusvoimien huolto 1918 – 1986 (Supply of Defense Forces 1918 - 1986) by Huoltoupseeriyhdistys.

Juhani U.E. Lehtonen: Sotilaselämän perinnekirja (The Tradition Book of Military Life).

Suomalaisen sotilaan historia ristiretkistä rauhanturvaamiseen (History of Finnish Soldier from Crusades to Peacekeeping).

Marko Palokangas: Itsenäisen Suomen sotilasarvot ja –arvomerkit / Military Ranks and Rank Badges of Independent Finland.

Military manual: Kenttäpuku m/36 ja sadetakki m/36 (Field Uniform m/36 and Raincoat m/36) by Ministry of Defense (published year 1937).

Military manual: Muutoksia ja lisäksiä valtakunnan puolustusvoimien virkapukuohjesääntöön by Ministry of Defense (published 17^th of November 1938.

Military manual: Kevyt takki - helletakki - kesätakki - olkanauhat öljytakki ja lakinsuojus Kauluslaatat asetakissa m/36 erinäiset arvomerkit (Light Jacket - Summer Jacket - Epaulets Oil Cloth Coat and Hat Cover Collar Patches in Uniform Jacket m/36 and Seperate Rank Markings) by Ministry of Defense (published year 1939).

Military manual: Vuonna 1936 ja senjäkeen vahvistetut puolustuslaitoksen henkiökunnan virkapukumääräkset (published year 1941).

Military manual: Vuonna 1936 ja senjäkeen vahvistetut puolustuslaitoksen henkiökunnan virkapukumääräkset (2^nd improved and completed edition, published year 1942).

Article: Marko Palokangas: Sotilasarvomerkkiemme taustaa ja taivalta (Background and Development of Our Military Rank Markings), (Ase-lehti magazine vol 5/1995).

Article: Petteri Leino: Kruunun sarasta diagonaaliin - värvättyjen sotilaspuvut itsenäisyyden aikana in Puolväli magazine vol. 6B/98.

Theses: Kristian Värri: Itsenäisen Suomen ratsuväen varusteiden kehitys talvisotaan mennessä (Development of Equipment in Cavalry of Independent Finland before Winter War).

Special thanks to Finnish Military Museum (Sotamuseo), Helsinki.

Special thanks to Museum Militaria (Museo Militaria), Hämeenlinna.

Special thanks to Armémuseum (Sweden)

MILITARY UNIFORMS 5

 

Realities of War

 

 

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