Telnyashka

Telnyashka

A man wears a blue, sleeveless telnyashka at a Victory Day celebration in Donetsk.
Type	Undershirt
Place of origin	Russia, former Soviet Union

The Russian telnyashka (Russian: тельня́шка, IPA: [tʲɪlʲˈnʲaʂkə]) is an undershirt horizontally striped in white and various colors and which may be sleeveless. It is an iconic uniform garment worn by the Russian Navy, the Russian Airborne Troops (VDV) and the Russian marines. Dating back to the 19th century Imperial Navy, it was subsequently worn by the Soviet successors of these troops.

Technical details[]

Russian paratroopers wear telnyashkas on parade.

The official uniforms of Naval, Airborne and Naval Infantry personnel do not include conventional shirts. Open fronted jackets of various designs make the distinctively striped telnyashka a conspicuous part of the clothing of these different branches of the Russian armed forces.

Telnyashkas are also available to civilian customers and may come in a variety of knittings. Single-stranded knitting is the standard military-issue variant, but double- and quadruple-stranded knitting for increased warmth can be produced. A quadruple-stranded telnyashka is thick enough to keep the wearer warm with nothing else on, even at 5 °C (41 °F), as it was originally developed to be worn by military divers under a dry suit.^[1]

Soviet special forces wear telnyashkas with Afghanka battle dress during the War in Afghanistan.

History[]

Soviet Pacific Fleet sailor in full dress, including a dark-blue telnyashka

The Russian telnyashka originated in the distinctive striped marinière blouse worn by merchant sailors and fishermen of Brittany,^[2] who adopted this style to distinguish them from other sea-going nationalities. The fashion was later adopted and popularized by the French Navy and other navies of the pre-dreadnought era. Sailors of the modern French Navy still wear these garments in certain orders of dress.

The Imperial Russian Navy adopted the blue and white striped telnyashka blouse during the 19th century. The tradition of Russian or Soviet ground troops wearing a naval uniform comes from Soviet Navy sailors who fought as shore units during World War II. It is exemplified by the famed Soviet sniper Vassili Zaitsev, a petty officer in the Soviet Pacific Fleet who volunteered for army duty, but refused to give up his telnyashka because of the pride it engendered.

Soviet marines in the mid-1980s

Vasily Margelov, who was later to modernize the Soviet Airborne Forces (VDV), had previously served with a Naval Infantry unit in World War II, and procured telnyashkas for the VDV as a mark of their elite status.

In other countries[]

The Bulgarian 68-th Special Forces Brigade uses the telnyashka as part of its uniform.^{[citation needed]} Sailors of the Cuban Revolutionary Navy wear telnyashkas with blue stripes as part of their uniform.

The Korean People's Army Navy also uses them with their uniforms.

Troops' colors[]

Russian marines parade in navy blue dress uniform, with a matching navy blue telnyashka.

Former servicemen wear green telnyashkas during Border Guard's Day celebration in Russia.

Telnyashkas with stripes of certain colors traditionally designate particular troops, for example:

• Black – Naval Infantry
• Dark blue – Navy
• Light blue – VDV paratroopers, GRU Spetsnaz (posing as VDV)
• Light green – Border Troops
• Maroon – OMON
• Red – National Guard Forces Command, National Guard of Russia (formerly Internal Troops of the MVD)
• Orange – EMERCOM

In popular culture[]

Soviet 1936 propaganda film The Sailors of Kronstadt started aestheticization^{[citation needed]} of telnyashka with a scene of a Bolshevik sailor emerging from the sea in his torn undershirt after surviving an attempted execution by drowning.

The telnyashka is worn by a number of popular non-military characters of cinema and children's cartoons, notably The Wolf in Nu, pogodi and Matroskin the Cat in Troe iz Prostokvashino.

The telnyashka is worn by members of various factions in the 2019 video game Metro Exodus.

In the 2010 video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Lev Kravchenko, the secondary antagonist can be seen wearing a telnyashka under his jacket, other characters such as Viktor Reznov can be seen wearing this outfit on his assault on Rebirth Island with Alex Mason. Mason himself is depicted as wearing this outfit when it is revealed that Viktor Reznov is actually dead, and that any depiction of Reznov prior was actually of Mason.

In the 2019 video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a Russian soldier, J-12, is portrayed wearing a sleeveless telnyashka under a tactical ammo vest during Farah Karim's flashback of the Russian invasion of Urzikstan. Other Russian characters such as General Roman Barkov, Sergeant Kamarov as well as Multiplayer operative Maxim "Minotaur" Bale can also be seen wearing blue telnyashkas with the former two wearing it beneath their uniforms.

There is a popular saying: "We are few in number, but we wear telnyashkas!" (Russian: Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках!, romanized: Nas malo, no my v telnyashkakh!), referring to the supposed effect of the striped shirt in creating the illusion of greater numbers.^[3]

See also[]

• Sailor suit

References[]

External links[]

• Zaitsev, Vassili. "Notes of a Russian Sniper." Trans. David Givens, Peter Kornakov, Konstantin Kornakov. Ed. Neil Orkent. Los Angeles: 2826 Press Inc., 2003.
• Presidential Decree N 921 of 28.08.2006 (http://lawrussia.ru/texts/legal_739/doc739a408x944.htm)