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To distinguish it from the likewise named Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army (also called Red Army), and any other Red Army (like those of Mongolia, Bavaria, Hungary)

edit approved Feb 10, 2023 at 15:20

Trish

Why did the Red Army change uniforms in 1943?

In 1943, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Rabóče-krestʹjánskaja Krásnaja ármija, RKKA) of the Soviet Union decided to adopt shoulder boards instead of collar tabs for rank identification. This is an amusing change. Since the Russian Revolution, shoulder boards were frowned upon by the Bolsheviks as Tsarist and Imperialist relics, and hence they were discarded in the early Soviet uniforms.

As shown below, with the 1943 adaptation, an average Soviet soldier (left) resembles an Imperial Russian soldier (right).

Post-1943 Red Army uniform Imperial Russian uniform