“Kirzach” and “padded jacket” are synonyms of our Victories!

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“Kirzach” and “padded jacket” are synonyms of our Victories!


Kirzy boots - more than shoes. Ivan Plotnikov, who set up their production before the war, received the Stalin Prize. After the war, everyone went to the kirzacs - from old people to schoolchildren. They are still running. Because reliable.


By the First World War in the long army confrontation boots and boots was put an end. Boots definitely won. Even in those armies where there was not enough material for the manufacture of boots, the soldiers' legs would still be wrapped almost to the knee. It was a forced imitation of boots. The mustard-colored windings went through the war, for example, British soldiers. The soldiers of the Russian army, by the way, in the First World War were the only ones who could afford to flaunt in real leather boots.

As well as about any cult thing, there is a lot of speculation and rumors about the tarpaulin boots. So, one of the misconceptions is that the "kirzachi" got their name from the "Kirov factory", which was established their production. In fact, the legendary boots got their name from the name of Kersey wool fabric, from which they were originally made.

There is also a lot of misconceptions about who first created the tarpaulin boots. The priority in this matter belongs to the Russian inventor Mikhail Pomortsev. From 1903, Pomortsev began to conduct experiments with rubber substitutes, and only with those whose components were made in Russia. Already in 1904, he received a waterproof tarpaulin, successfully tested as a material of covers for artillery shells and forage bags. He received a canvas fabric impregnated with a mixture of paraffin, rosin and egg yolk in 1904 year. The material had almost identical skin properties. He did not miss the water, but at the same time "breathed". For the first time the kersey "smelled gunpowder" in the Russian-Japanese war, where it was used to make ammunition for horses, bags and artillery covers.

Fabric samples developed using the Pomortsev method were exhibited by the Ministry of Industry at international exhibitions in Liege (July 1905 of the year) and Milan (June 1906 of the year). In Milan, the work of Mikhail Mikhailovich was awarded the Gold Medal. In addition, he received an encouraging review at the St. Petersburg Aeronautical Exhibition (1911) for developing methods for obtaining leather substitutes and was awarded the Minor Silver Medal at the All-Russian Hygienic Exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1913.

When the First World War began, MM Pomortsev proposed to use the leather substitutes invented by him for the manufacture of soldiers' boots free of charge. In the conditions of an acute shortage of shoes, the troops supplied any kind of shoes from bast shoes to “canvas boots” and shoes, that is, boots with tops of tarpaulin. According to the test results of pilot batches, the Military Industrial Committee recommended making a large batch of such boots for the troops, but it was unprofitable for leather shoe manufacturers, and they strongly prevented the transfer of the order, and after the death of Mikhail Mikhailovich in 1916, the whole thing was buried.
Boots almost 20 years "put on the shelf."


The kersey production was revived already in 1934 year. Soviet scientists Boris Byzov and Sergey Lebedev developed a method for obtaining cheap artificial sodium-butadiene rubber, which was impregnated with fabric, which therefore acquired properties similar to genuine leather.

We are obliged to Alexander Khomutov and Ivan Plotnikov to further develop the production of tarpaulin boots. It was thanks to their efforts that the production of “kirzachs” was established in the country. They passed the combat test back in the Soviet-Finnish war, but this experience ended unsuccessfully - in the cold, the boots cracked, became hard and brittle.

Lyudmila Plotnikova’s daughter recalled how her father told her about the commission at which the “debriefing” of the use of the new material took place. Ivan Vasilyevich was asked: "Why is your kirsa so cold and not breathing?" He replied: "The bull and the cow have not yet shared with us all their secrets." Fortunately, the chemist was not punished for such audacity.

After the start of World War II, an acute shortage of shoes became apparent. In August, 1941, Ivan Plotnikov, was appointed chief engineer of the Kozhimit plant, gave him several scientists and set the task of improving the technology of making kersey. Kosygin himself was responsible for the question. The dates were extremely tight. Many Soviet scientists and researchers worked on the improvement of the leather substitute, and about a year later the material production and tailoring of the boots were established.

Shoes made from improved kersey were lightweight, durable and comfortable, kept warm and did not let moisture through. 10 April 1942, by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, Alexander Khomutov, Ivan Plotnikov and seven other workers in industry was awarded the Stalin Prize of the 2 degree for fundamental improvements in production methods in the production of leather substitutes for army boots.

Kirzy boots earned deserved fame during the war. Tall, almost waterproof, but breathable, they allowed the soldiers to march for many kilometers on any road and off-road. One can judge how much the tarpaulin boots are compared to American military boots (probably not with the boots themselves, but with the approach to equipment).

General O. Bradley, author of the bookHistory soldier, ”he wrote that because of the constant dampness, the American army had lost 12 thousands of combatant soldiers in one month alone. Some of them could not recover after this and return to the front.

O. Bradley wrote: “By the end of January, the disease of legs rheumatism reached such a large scale that the American command was at a standstill. We were completely unprepared for this disaster, partly as a result of our own negligence; by the time we started instructing the soldiers, what kind of foot care is needed and what needs to be done so that the boots do not get wet, rheumatism has already spread throughout the army with the speed of the plague. ”
Without high boots and footcloths on the autumn and winter front we had a hard time.


It can be recognized that footcloths are no less ingenious invention than the tarpaulin boots themselves. However, they are inseparable. Those who have tried to wear tarpaulin boots with a toe knows that socks are bound to roll onto the heel sooner or later. Then, especially if you're on a forced march, and you can not stop, write lost ... Legs bleeding. In addition, footcloths are also convenient because if they get wet, it is enough to wind them up with the other side, then the leg will remain dry, and the wet part of the footcloth will dry in the meantime. The spacious leg of the “kirzachs” makes it possible to wind up two legs in cold weather (it is easier to use winter ones), plus to lay newspapers in them in order to keep warm.


This 1950 advertisement of the year was probably optional. Kirzy boots after the war became the "people's brand". To date, approximately 150 million pairs of shoes have been produced. Despite conversations that the army would soon be re-seated to the berets, the soldiers continue to wear "kirzachi", make "screws" of them (rolling up with an accordion) and dress up on the occasion of a demob. Somewhere at the genetic level there lives in us the memory of how our soldiers marched in kersey boots to the Great Victory.
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34 comments
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  1. +36
    12 May 2015 07: 03
    I wore kirzachi and footcloths in the Army. Even wearing socks, he wound footcloths all the same from above. There are a lot of advantages from footcloths - those who wore know. A kirzachi .... normal military shoes.
    1. Shabay62
      +8
      12 May 2015 08: 31
      Quote: Prop
      I wore kirzachi and footcloths in the Army. Even wearing socks, he wound footcloths all the same from above. There are a lot of advantages from footcloths - those who wore know. A kirzachi .... normal military shoes.

      How am I salared with you. And thank you very much to the author of the article. Here honestly about the history of the origin of the tarpaulin boots, not knowing. Really. Especially the picture smiled, the poster, how to properly wind the footcloth. I probably knew how to do this in years 13-14. hi
    2. +7
      12 May 2015 11: 50
      Quote: Prop
      A kirzachi .... normal military shoes.

      And for our open spaces. It is not for nothing that they have always been popular in the villages and among people of "nomadic" professions, who had to walk in our endless "directions" with their feet, and not drive their fingers on the map in the office ...
      1. jjj
        +2
        12 May 2015 16: 09
        Since the sixties went rubber. Wander and with the usual shank. The first rubber ones were cast, with a thick poorly bending drumstick, which often just cracked. And then went glued boots - soft. And then they brought green Japanese with yellow noses. Now we wear PVC.
        Well, tarpaulin boots are our story. Although it must be admitted that rain boots are still better. Not to mention chrome
        1. +5
          12 May 2015 21: 16
          Quote: jjj
          Well, tarpaulin boots are our story. Although it must be admitted that rain boots are still better. Not to mention chrome

          Chrome is for beauty. Spring-trees are warmer in winter, but heavier, and in summer, in the heat, they changed yale to tarpaulin with joy!
    3. +3
      12 May 2015 21: 09
      Kirzachi is the first thing in construction, especially with footcloths. I had to remember the experience of wearing them. A magnificent invention.
    4. +1
      13 May 2015 13: 53
      Quote: Prop
      There are a lot of advantages from footcloths - those who wore know. A kirzachi .... normal military shoes.

      Absolutely so!
      The author alone did not register in the article that tarpaulin boots, at least modern for us, have a sole made of reliable thick rubber, a shoe made of genuine thick leather, and the kersey itself is just a bootleg.
      1. +1
        19 May 2015 00: 20
        Quote: Alekseev
        Quote: Prop
        There are a lot of advantages from footcloths - those who wore know. A kirzachi .... normal military shoes.

        Absolutely so!
        The author alone did not register in the article that tarpaulin boots, at least modern for us, have a sole made of reliable thick rubber, a shoe made of genuine thick leather, and the kersey itself is just a bootleg.

        --------------------------------
        Until now, they have been given out as overalls ... Reliable and time-tested shoes ...
  2. +8
    12 May 2015 07: 07
    Boots and Partnerships - our main military secret! and the thing is really quite practical.
    1. +2
      13 May 2015 03: 28
      After the first dismissal, spent in the "parade" and boots, and even having attended a dance in a city park, immediately changed clothes in the company and, wrapping up foot wraps, put on his boots. I still remember this bliss! As my friend used to say: "Feeling close to sexual". Yes
  3. +9
    12 May 2015 07: 49
    2year 8months stomped in tarpaulins. Issued for 8 months. I still remember with nostalgia-comfortable shoes.
  4. +8
    12 May 2015 07: 53
    The tarpaulin boots with footcloths only at first seem uncomfortable. After some time, you begin to understand that this is not so.
  5. +1
    12 May 2015 08: 06
    I had to walk around, sturdy shoes, although at night in the barracks screams from cramps in my legs were often heard
  6. +7
    12 May 2015 09: 33
    The main thing is to smear with wax (or boot cream) more often - then they become "almost waterproof" ... Under demobilization - one can of Grif cream (who knows, he will remember ... :)) for each boot, with the obligatory warming up of each layer with a blowtorch ... :)))
    1. jjj
      +3
      12 May 2015 16: 12
      I remember from the outposts of the Far Eastern Military District they drove the Voyentorg autobuses. Those who wanted from demobilization ordered chrome boots to fit their size. And their orders were executed
  7. +3
    12 May 2015 10: 04
    Each shoe for a different purpose. If you knead the dirt, it’s better than "kirzachs" have come up with anything. And if you run ... then excuse me.
    1. +2
      12 May 2015 12: 01
      And where is not the dirt on the march?
      1. 0
        12 May 2015 20: 02
        Khakassia steppe, dry forest, desert in the end.
  8. +6
    12 May 2015 10: 10
    I still consider the pair of boots / footcloths to be the best.
  9. 0
    12 May 2015 10: 51
    Now for some reason the sole of tarpaulin boots has become different, it is already rubber.
  10. +1
    12 May 2015 10: 52
    and yet the bulk of the infantry in the Red Army during the war wore windings with boots! boots were considered chic
  11. +7
    12 May 2015 10: 55
    I also consider the best foot boots. Replacement for berets - the shoe makers' lobby ?! Socks in military shoes - an unequivocal ... legs. For the sake of truth - in the mountains, boots are not the best shoes.
  12. +2
    12 May 2015 11: 31
    If you walk, then boots are better. If you land or climb mountains, it is better boots.
    In conditions of high humidity, low temperatures - boots.
    1. +1
      12 May 2015 12: 11
      On the throws, the boots were tightly tied with lanyards, and everything was fine. No one lost.
  13. +4
    12 May 2015 11: 46
    Need a monument to boots and footcloths.
  14. +2
    12 May 2015 11: 50
    In winter, woolen footcloths were given out, like grandmother's shawl or overcoat. You put on summer foot wraps and your legs never freeze, even on guard. But in the mountains in kirzach really nothing. After the first slide, the legs are in the blood.
  15. +6
    12 May 2015 12: 31
    From personal experience: kirzachi are less wear-resistant (enough for six months) compared to leather (barn) boots. But kirzachs are much lighter, they can be dried faster in the field. When I was still serving as an urgent, I noticed that for this reason the officers, gathering in the field, wore only a tarpaulin. Compared with ankle boots (although then this word was not yet known), the boot fixes the ankle joint worse and during night parachute jumps to an unknown area we were not too lazy to bandage this joint with a "figure eight" with a canvas tape.
  16. +2
    12 May 2015 16: 30
    90-92 Turkmenistan))))))))))) 0 what are the boots in the ass. kirzachi birthmarks in a summer footcloth and berets in a kapterka. I wore my kirzachi for two years.
    1. 0
      19 May 2015 00: 25
      Quote: not a sailor
      90-92 Turkmenistan))))))))))) 0 what are the boots in the ass. kirzachi birthmarks in a summer footcloth and berets in a kapterka. I wore my kirzachi for two years.

      --------------------
      I served in training in Baku, we were given boots, and those who came on a business trip from the other side of the Caspian, from Krasnovodsk (Turkmenistan), wore boots ...There are three holes in the world - Kushka, Shikhovo (where I served), Mary ...
  17. +8
    12 May 2015 19: 16
    A real ode to ordinary army tarpaulin boots was written by Yuri Veremeyev on his site "Anatomy of the Army". Here is an excerpt from this article I liked very much.
    "Boots, footcloths - for a young man this is a sign that a difficult period of life has come, that free days are over and there are two years of hard work ahead of him, isolation from home and friends.
    However, if you look impartially and thoughtfully at the boots, the picture appears in a completely different form. Replacing boots with boots in today's army is the case when fashion has prevailed over expediency, outward beauty over convenience and practicality. However, this has already happened more than once with a military uniform in our army.
    Let's look at the peasants in the village, geologists strolling through forests and scales, oil workers fussing around their towers, builders. What's on their feet? Right, boots. And what is worn on the feet of a fisherman, hunter, mushroom picker? Including from among the new Russians? Right, boots. And what do you wear when driving to your dacha in wet weather? Shoes, sneakers? The bald trait! Rubber boots!
    Say, this is supposedly purely from dirt, damp, etc. But what, is a soldier fighting on asphalt or parquet?
    Stop, stop, stop. We look at our lovely ladies in winter or autumn in the city on the pavement. What is put on their graceful legs?
    Boots! Women were smarter and more practical than men. They both put on their boots some fifty years ago, appreciated their merits, and do not take off by now.

    Well, now let's try to make out the advantages of boots and footcloths from the practical side.
    In shoes, socks are absolutely necessary. Footcloths are not suitable for shoes, and both will fit in boots. Socks are expensive to manufacture, wear out quickly. They need to be selected in size. Wet socks must be changed, otherwise you will rub your feet. On an army scale, these are very significant problems. Can hosiery factories provide the army with socks in the right amount? No, they can not, especially in wartime. The footcloths are universal in size and unbearable, and a soldier can make them in five minutes from any piece of any material. Wet the footcloths, took it off, rewound it with the other end and the legs are dry again, and the wet edge dries on the ankle. Soldiers in footcloths are much less dependent on supply bodies than soldiers in socks. And the army clothing service is much easier to find the right amount of fabric for footcloths than socks.
    Now the boots themselves. The high bootleg protects the ankle joint and the leg itself almost to the knee from mechanical damage, injury and burns. Boots do not have this property. The high boot shaft protects the leg to the knee from dampness. Try walking in your boots, say early in the morning on dewy grass. Your pants, and therefore your feet, will instantly become wet. And in boots? Boots will keep feet dry even when overcoming a deep puddle, shallow stream. The boot shaft helps keep warm below the knee, but the boot does not. Boots are put on and off much faster than boots. And the laces that rip, which boots do not have, but which cause problems for wearers? Even the usual rain, when you are standing on the asphalt under an umbrella or in a raincoat, wets your feet in your boots and leaves your feet dry in your boots. "
    I personally wore tarpaulin boots both in the village where I grew up (though with socks) and in the army (but already with footcloths). And I had a chance to run around the mountains and march on the parade ground. I can’t say anything bad about these shoes - comfortable, worn, the main thing is to get used to and wrap the footcloth correctly (for me it’s such an ingenious invention - it has ripened, rewound its dry side to its feet and move on). And he put on berets in the city’s leave-outs, before the girls do a fuss.
    I have the honor.
    1. +1
      13 May 2015 03: 41
      My father served as an urgent service for the first post-war conscription. So they have only one regiment in the Carpathian VO in the 24th "Iron" division, which was based in the mountains, was shod in boots, and the rest in boots. That regiment was called "mining and winding".
  18. +2
    12 May 2015 19: 45
    In shoes, the laces pull the ankle and the leg quickly gets tired! Shoelaces cling to everything in a row !!! I had a chance to measure the GDR boots — a charm! And knead shit, definitely kirzachi!) Berets sucks sucks, even ours, even not ours !!! And the rest of the mountains are the best in crosses!
  19. +1
    12 May 2015 21: 01
    Quote: not a sailor
    90-92 Turkmenistan))))))))))) 0 what are the boots in the ass. kirzachi birthmarks in a summer footcloth and berets in a kapterka. I wore my kirzachi for two years.

    77-79 Turkmenistan. There are no better and no more kirzachs.
  20. 0
    12 May 2015 22: 44
    Quote: non-primary
    Spring-trees are warmer in winter, but heavier, and in summer, in the heat, they changed yale to tarpaulin with joy!

    exactly, indeed. but in general, the article led me to the idea that wars are won not only by weapons. the same thing in everyday life. if in the 90s the state did not need me, then I did not need such a state. and now I feel that I have rights, and the state guarantees them to me. maybe not in full but still it is felt. you can fight for such a state. it's all I'm talking about social programs. )))
  21. den-protector
    +1
    12 May 2015 23: 04
    Why the hell in our army were the berets introduced. Well, still the police, special forces, but in the army they are not particularly needed, non-functional. Boots can be worn faster by alarm, but as long as the berets are laced up, the enemy will attack ...
  22. 0
    12 May 2015 23: 36
    For many years in the service he wore both boots and berets. Boots are better!
    Naturally, for the infantry and in our conditions. Special forces and other units with specific conditions of service should be supplied with shoes upon their request.
    And for those who are "with their feet all the time", only boots. By the way, the same kirzachi can be modernized, and they will be even better - science does not stand still.
  23. +4
    13 May 2015 01: 25
    Anyone who had to ride the mountains with pieces of iron on their shoulders knows that there were two types of boots, the first as soft and comfortable sneakers you can walk silently. The second boots with soles like tarpaulins on nails. Only boots with tarpaulin soles could withstand real "runs" on sharp stones. The more comfortable and softer landing boots burned through to the holes in the soles very quickly. And the march in soft "sneakers" sounds completely different. Kirzachi they are always kirzachi, you get used to it then as with slippers .... And the barracks footcloth aromatherapy at lights out? Eh ...
  24. +1
    13 May 2015 05: 12
    Aromatherapy - class !!! We practiced it against snoring ....... damn it, it helped without any medical intervention.
  25. +1
    15 May 2015 21: 06
    Kirzachi is super (2 years worn), but for the mountains better than berets (at least for me)

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