SOVIET GENERALS VICTORY PARADE UNIFORMS PAGE IV
This page covers Naval Admirals' & Generals' Victory Parade uniforms.
NAVY ADMIRAL M1945 "VICTORY PARADE" UNIFORMS
Vice Admiral's M45 VP Uniform
A M1945 uniform for a Soviet Admiral. Admirals VP uniforms are among the most attractive ever made by the soviet tailors. Note the heavy gold embroidery on the cuffs and collar. The uniform is of high quality black wool with real gold embroidery. This Vice Admiral's uniform has the later type of cap, when there were separate white hats for summer use. Note the Admirals gold belt with hangers. Admirals never used a silver cloth belt like their army counterparts. The gold stripes can be seen on the pants. Admirals VP uniforms can be classified as extremely rare with less than a dozen examples in the west. (R. Yoder collection; photo by D. Drabik)
Rear Admiral in M1945 Parade Uniform
A line Rear Admiral wears his M1945 tunic. Note the unusual wearing of one of the Orders of the Patriotic War in between the buttons instead of to the right of them. Also note he has removed the second button on the left side.
Rear Admiral with Foreign Awards
Another Rear Admiral in M45 parade uniform. Note the Chinese medals on this Rear Admiral's VP uniform.
Rear Admiral in M1945 Parade Uniform with Hat and Belt
Great full body shot of the Admirals Victory Parade uniform with white, type one, hat and gold belt.
Naval Engineering Rear Admiral's M1945 Parade Uniform
M1945 "Victory Parade" uniform for an Engineering Rear Admiral. The hat is the earlier type, issued very early in the life of the Admirals VP uniform (Admirals used their VP uniforms until 1949). At this time the hat had a white cover instead of a separate white hat for summer. Unlike regular Admiral's VP uniform the embroidery on this uniform is silver.
Close-up of Naval Engineering Admiral's Sleeve Cuffs
Close up of the Engineering Rear Admirals cuff with real gold embroidery. Only Admirals had this embroidery of anchors with leaves. The cloth with the anchors is sewn on to the tunic over the embroidered band of leaves.
Major-General of Shipyard Engineering & Naval Supply M45 Parade Uniform
This is an as yet unique Naval VP example for a Major General of Shipyard Engineering / Naval Supply service. The embroidery is in silver, with magenta piping on the boards and cuffs. Instead of anchors embroidered on the sleeve cuffs as seen on regular navy and navy engineering personnel this uniform has embroidered bars. Like this shipyard engineering uniform naval infantry, naval aviation and shore defence/artillery generals have bars on their cuffs.
Naval Infantry Major-General's M45 Parade Uniform
An example of the Naval Victory Parade uniform for a Major General of Naval Infantry. Needles to say this uniform is one of the rarest in Soviet collecting, with this the only example yet seen. It follows the same basic pattern of Admirals of the Navy, but with a few important exceptions. Note the red piping for naval land forces on the boards and cuffs, as well as the embroidered cuff bars instead of cuff anchors. The pants are admirals, but with generals stripes running down the center. Although tough to see, the collar anchors have a red tint to the gold thread used. This type of variation was the right of flag officers. Note the type 2 hat.
Close-up of Naval Infantry General's Sleeve Cuff
Close up shot of the Naval Infantry M1945 tunic's cuffs. Note the fine quality of the gold embroidery and the red piping where regular admirals have no piping.
Photo of Naval General at the June 1945 Victory Parade
This shot was taken at the original June 24th Victory Parade in Moscow, 1945. The Naval General heads to the parade reviewing stand. Note the cuff bars that denote he is a general not an admiral. Naval infantry - unlikely, an old naval aviator - possibly, but his labour orders seem to indicate a shipyard engineering general.
Naval General with Family
This Major General of the Navy is shown with his family. Note the generals boards and the cuff anchors.
Major General of the Naval Medical Services.
This doctor wears his VP uniform, but without the larget cap insignia, a practice sometimes done. His embroidery is silver, as are his buttons, in accordance with regulations for non-combat generals. Note the red collar and cuff piping for naval generals.
Close-up of Major General of the Naval Medical Services' shoulder boards.
Note the narrow size of these boards. There has been some debate amongst collectors as to the validity of Medical generals in both the army and navy wearing narrow boards or wide boards. Both are correct, depending on how the general was given his rank. Generals who worked their way through the military medical service wore the regular sized boards (in silver) while generals who were appointed to their rank during the war had to wear the narrow boards. Note also the gilt metal medical insignia on the boards and the high quality collar embroidery.
Naval admiral with small cap insignia.
This naval admiral wears the smaller cap insignia along with his VP uniform like the previous naval medical general.