The Struggle jor Survival 189
Deficiencies in clothing were less obvious than lack of food, for commanders
paid a lot of attention to their men's external appearance. A study might be
written of the miliiary authorities' excessive concern with details of dress,
which in the case of some officers became a veritable obsession. This reflected
their simple mechanistic view of the army's function. Nothing escaped the
attention of these pedants: the cut and colour of uniform cloth, the shape and
style of headgear, the positioning of badges and buttons-and, last but not
least, the presence or absence of that symbol of masculinity, the moustache.
The Russian army had a saying: 'a moustache embellishes a hero, a moustache
gives him the proper look';^84 but until 1832 these adornments were restricted to
certain favoured categories, such as guardsmen. 'Non-noble grenadiers', ran a
typical order to the lzmaylovsky guards regiment in 1736, 'shall henceforth
not shave but let their moustaches grow. 'X' Suvorov ruled that his grenadiers'
moustaches should be cut level with the lip, leaving a gap of one-sixth of an
inch.8^6 General Yermolov, proconsul of the Caucasus, believed that facial hair
was a useful means of intimidating other people/^7 and he was probably right.
At first commanders were permitted a certain autonomy in matters of dress,
but from the reign of Peter Ill onward the trend was towards conformity and
regimentation. Catherine's army was a colourful sight on the parade-ground,
for the 1762 military commission introduced a wide spectrum of hues for
uniforms that varied according to the arm of service.^88 NCOs would generally
buy a uniform of better cloth than that worn by soldiers and pay for their
embroidered galloons. Since Peter l's day the cost and expected life-span of
each item of clothing and equipment had been laid down in the establishment
tables. A tunic was supposed to last for two years, a greatcoat four, and a
rifle 20. 89 They were to be inspected each spring and the defective articles
replaced. This was no more than common sense, but the principle was applied
with a misplaced zeal that caused anguish to every quartermaster-not to men-
tion any soldier who accidentally broke or tore some item and had to pay for a
new one. Unlike officers, men in the ranks were meant to wear their uniform
at all times.^90 It was ill adapted to the kind of life they led on service and gave
inadequate protection against the elements. Pishchevich noted that 'the
soldier's thin cloak does not shield him from snowstorms or heavy frost'; and
Joseph II, accompanying Catherine on her voyage to' the Crimea in 1787,
found that 'quite a few men do not have a shirt to their name'.^91 This may have
R4 Neizvestnyy, 'Za mnogo let', RS 81 (1894). 2. p. 177.
H5 M. P. (contrib.), 'Vyderzhki iz prikazov 1736 g ·.VS 282 (1905), 4, p, 153.
86 Meshcheryakov, Suvorov, i. 93 (Polkovoyc uchrezhdc111ye, 111. * 15).
"^7 Yermolov to Davydov, Jan. 1820, in VS 292 ( 1906). 12, p. 248. However, the arch-
disciplinarian Grand Duke Constantine held a contrary view: Com1antine to Sipyagin, 4 Feb.
- M. D[ubrovin]. 'Vel. knyaz"', pp. 114-15.
HR Von Hupe!, Beschreibun11, pp, 86-92; Shakhonkl'Y· lu1mA1. p. XI.
89 Plotho, Entstehung, p. 58; von Hupe!, Beschre1h1111i:. p. 94,
90 Suvorov allowed soldiers in quar1crs to wear ca'y dothl''· but prc,.:ribed the form they
hould take: Meshcheryakov, Suvom1', i. 143 (Polk. udlll'thdcniyc, \'I,~ 12).
91 Pishchevich, Zh1zn·, p. 37; Joseph II to Li<:y, H .lun<· 1787, in H.A, 1880, I, p. 370.