Telnyashka

The telnyashka (Russian: тельняшка, pronounced [tʲɪlʲˈnʲaʂkə]) is a horizontally striped undershirt worn as uniform by Russian military personnel. It has stripes in white and in a color that varies according to the unit's affiliation. The most common second color is blue, but a number of other colors are also in use. The garment comes in varying thicknesses and may be sleeved or sleeveless.

Telnyashka

A man wears a blue, sleeveless telnyashka at a Victory Day celebration (2012) in Donetsk.
Type	Undershirt
Place of origin	Russia, former Soviet Union

Technical details

Russian paratroopers wear telnyashkas on parade.

The uniforms of Russia's Naval, Airborne and Naval Infantry personnel do not include conventional collared shirts. Open-fronted jackets of various designs make the distinctively striped telnyashka a conspicuous part of the clothing of 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.

History

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

Soviet marines in the mid-1980s

The Russian telnyashka originated in the distinctive striped marinière blouse worn by merchant sailors and fishermen of Brittany, 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.

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.

Use in the Russian military

Although the blue and white striped telnyashka is the best-known, other colors are in use. The colored telnyashka stripes usually match the beret, except for the Marines, who have a blue striped shirt and black beret.

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

Blue and white stripes

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

• Russian Navy: The telnyashka was first worn by the 19th century Imperial Russian Navy and has been worn by Russian sailors ever since.
  • Russian marines, PDSS and submarine crewmen: As branches of the Navy they wear the blue and white telnyashka with their dress uniform, but in the field they use a black and white striped variant.
  • The maritime service of the Border Troops follows the traditions of the Navy, including its ranks and the telnyashka.
• Russian Airborne Troops (VDV). Introduced by General Vasily Margelov. to the displeasure of Admiral Sergey Gorshkov.
  • GRU Spetsnaz: Military intelligence special forces often wear VDV uniforms including the blue telnyashka.
  • KGB Border Troops airborne units use VDV insignia and uniform
• Federal Security Service spetsnaz units and the Kremlin Regiment of the Federal Protective Service wear cornflower blue telnyashkas as part of their uniform.
• KGB and FSB officers in military counter-intelligence roles wear the same color as that of the unit that they are assigned to.

Green and white stripes

• Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation follow the traditions of their Soviet predecessor and wear the green telnyashka (except for its maritime and airborne units). Green is also used by the Border Troops of Belarus.

Red and white stripes

Rosgvardiya troops in red telnyashkas.

• The National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardiya) wear dark red and white striped telnyashkas with dark red berets, as did its predecessor, the Interior Troops.

Orange and white stripes

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations wears an orange and white striped telnyashka, introduced by Sergei Shoigu when he was its Minister. The Ministry is mostly in charge of civil defence and firefighters and uses army-style ranks.

In other countries

The Bulgarian 68th Special Forces Brigade uses the telnyashka as part of its uniform. 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.

• 
  Ukrainian paratroopers in 2015. At the time, they wore sky-blue berets and telnyashkas similar to those of their Russian counterparts.
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  Sailors of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, wearing a striped shirt similar to the Telnyashka.
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  Russian marines parade in navy blue dress uniform, with a matching navy blue telnyashka.

In popular culture

The Soviet 1936 film The Sailors of Kronstadt started aestheticization 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. Other Campaign character, Chimera operative "Nikolai", wears a dark telnyashka shirt as part of his Multiplayer skins.

There is a popular saying: "We are few in number, but we are in telnyashkas!" (Russian: Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках!, romanized: Nas malo, no my v telnyashkakh!), alluding to the reputation of troops who wear the shirt as ferocious warriors.

See also

• Sailor suit

External links

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