Ranks and insignia of the White Movement

Kornilov regiment 2nd lieutenant (podporuchik) shoulder boards.

Military ranks and insignia of the White Movement (1918-1921) were based on the former Ranks and insignia of the Imperial Russian Armed Forces. However, there were new features and modifications compared to the old system:

1. The corps colors of the former imperial army were no longer observed, as officers from the former regiments were assigned new units.
2. The People's Army of Komuch initially abolished shoulder boards, following traditions of the February Revolution, and replaced them with sleeve insignia. However, with the influx of many former officers who generally disliked the revolution, the army first restored shoulder boards in addition to the sleeve insignia. Later, when Kolchak established his dictatorship, sleeve insignia of the People’s Army were no longer worn.
3. The so-called officer regiments (Alexeev, Drozdovsky, Kornilov and Markov regiments) had their own colors and uniforms. Initially, only former officers were accepted to these regiments, for which reason their ranks began with the 2nd lieutenant (podporuchik) upwards. In addition, the officer regiments introduced sleeve insignia for officer ranks (from 1 to 8 horizontal bars). Later, these regiments introduced ranks for soldiers and non-commissioned officers as well. Their corps colors were:

• Alexeev regiment: blue background of shoulder boards, white piping, white stripes for officers and white contour of the zigzag for generals; artillery had black background, red piping and stripes;
• Drozdovsky regiment: dark red (magenta) background of shoulder boards, white piping, black stripes for officers and black zigzag for generals;
• Kornilov regiment: background of shoulder boards: black top, red bottom, white piping, white stripes for officers and white zigzag for generals; in case of embroidered shoulder boards for parade uniform: white embroidery, piping and officer stripes split in two (black top, red bottom), while the zigzag of generals was of the same color as the embroidery.
• Markov regiment: black background of shoulder boards, white piping, white stripes for officers and white contour of the zigzag for generals;

1. Golden or silver color embroidery of shoulder boards became quite rare, and was generally worn only on special occasions. Most officers wore shoulder boards of field colors (khaki with brown stripes); those from the officer regiments and local formations could wear shoulder boards in colors of those formations.
2. By 1919, the former ranks of praporshchik (sub-lieutenant) and podpolkovnik (lieutenant-colonel) were abolished in all White formations as redundant; however, newly enrolled former officers with respective ranks could wear their former insignia during the probation period until new ranks were conferred to them.
3. Cossack troops were an important exception; they conserved all their ranks and corps colors without significant changes.
4. Militants of Boris Annenkov’s movement had a very elaborate system of their uniforms and corps colors, although their ranks followed the Cossack traditions. The zigzag embroidery for shoulder boards of generals had a bit different format than other white units: in addition to the white contour, it had a small white stripe in the middle.

After the defeat in the Civil War, military formations of the White Movement continued to exist in emigration, most notably in China, where they took part in local conflicts. In Europe, former White generals maintained a system of military training for their supporters and continued awarding ranks and orders. However, in the wake of the approaching World War, these formations (and eventually wearing of the former Russian military uniforms) were eventually prohibited by local governments.

External links

• Uniform and rank insignia of the White Army (in Russian)