Tarpaulin fabric: description of the material, properties, advantages and disadvantages. Tarpaulin boots - what are they made of? Soldier's tarpaulin boots description

Not chrome, not leather, but not bast shoes either. Tarpaulin boots walked half of Europe during the Great Patriotic War, but even decades later, these now historical shoes are not written off in museum archives. The history of tarpaulin boots was studied by Natalya Letnikova.

Peter Zhigimont. Soldier's song

1. The Vikings used oiled fabric for their ships; the Aztec Indians sewed capes and shoes from it; invention of the 19th century - raincoats made of fabric impregnated with rubber, mackintoshes. They also looked closely at the technology in Russia - in attempts to replace expensive leather: three million rubles were spent annually from the treasury on boots alone.

2. Tarpaulin fabric soaked in a mixture of paraffin, rosin and egg yolk. Invention of 1904 by Mikhail Pomortsev. The material looked like leather, it did not allow water to pass through and “breathed.” The novelty saw its baptism of fire during the Russo-Japanese War: it was used to make bags and covers for artillery. And Pomortsev was awarded a gold medal at an exhibition in Milan.

3. 30 years later, Soviet scientists Boris Byzov and Sergei Lebedev obtained cheap artificial rubber, impregnation with which also made the fabric look like natural leather. Ivan Plotnikov established the production of shoes on an industrial scale. Just before the war, when it was urgently necessary to put on shoes for the army - at least in bast shoes. This is where chemists helped.

Marat Samsonov. Soldiers of Stalingrad

4. The name “tarpaulin” is associated with the manufacturer - Cyrus ovsky behind water; then with the name of the Kersey fabric, from which the material was initially made; then with an English village where there were sheep, from whose wool they made fabric. But for almost a century now there has been one association - with soldier’s boots.

5. The history of the creation of shoes for the military is kept in the documentary collections of the Polytechnic Museum. One of the nine developers of the tarpaulin, chemist Alexander Khomutov, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, donated his memoirs, photographs and a document on awarding the Stalin Prize to the museum.

6. High state award for the development of the material. In 1942, along with the designers of the legendary Katyusha, Il and Yak aircraft, chemist scientists and the creators of tarpaulin boots received the Stalin Prize of 100 thousand rubles. The Soviet Union became the world's largest producer of tarpaulin. 85% of all production is for the needs of the army.

Leonid Golovanov. “Let's get to Berlin!”

7. “Let’s get to Berlin!” In 1944, Soviet artist Leonid Golovanov painted one of the most famous wartime posters. A smiling soldier adjusts his tarpaulin boot. The artist depicted the sniper Vasily Golosov, who was responsible for more than 400 Nazis. The fighter himself fell in battle, but the poster retained the image of a war hero in the post-war years.

8. “Durable and easy to use.” The peaceful history of tarpaulin boots goes back decades. About 150 million pairs came off the assembly line to put on construction workers, grain farmers and... the most daring fashionistas. Thus, Vyacheslav Zaitsev drew attention to tarpaulin boots. The couturier painted rough soldier shoes orange in one of his first collections.

9. Tarpaulin boots in the 21st century are becoming part of museum exhibitions. In one of the oldest museums in Russia - the Tula Museum of Weapons - there is an entire collection dedicated to the history of soldier's shoes. In the Kimry Museum of Local Lore, tarpaulin boots are side by side with a film relic - boots specially sewn in 1961 for the filming of the film "War and Peace".

10. Soldier's boots in bronze. The monument by sculptor Dmitry Baykov was installed in the military town of Zvezdny, Perm Territory. The 40-kilogram tarpaulins unite generations of artillerymen who served in these places and residents of the village, most of whom also took steps on the parade ground, as usual, in tarpaulin boots.

Tarpaulin boots are known to each of us as truly Russian uniform shoes. Their appearance is unique; it is impossible to imagine a Russian warrior without them. For several decades, the soldiers of our army have been wearing these rough, but, as practice shows, durable boots. Ordinary people also liked inexpensive wearable shoes: rural residents, fishing and hunting enthusiasts.

It does not allow water or dirt to pass through and is surprisingly durable. And for many years now, tarpaulin boots have been in demand, although they have long been considered a relic of the past.

A little history

The word “tarpaulin” is not, as some people think, but an abbreviated name for the Kirov plant, where these boots are produced. Kirza is a leather substitute and is a multi-layer durable cotton fabric treated with a film-forming substance. To give the material the appearance of rough natural leather, it is embossed.

It all started with the search for material for sewing soldiers' boots. Leather was too expensive; the state was unable to provide soldiers with shoes made from natural material. A low-cost, durable replacement suitable for use in harsh military environments was required.

The first to begin experiments with the development of tarpaulin was the Russian scientist Mikhail Pomortsev. Only then it wasn’t called that yet. The boots began to be called “kirzachs” when they were put into mass production during the Great Patriotic War. M. Pomortsev conducted his first experiments with rubber, but they were unsuccessful.

Boots made of such material could not withstand the load placed on them and broke. Before the start of the Second World War, the development of material for soldiers' boots was continued by engineer Ivan Plotnikov, and this time they were crowned with success. The work was completed in a short time, and in 1942 the production of soldiers' shoes was already launched.

Thus, Russia became the main producer of tarpaulin boots. The lower part and toe are made of yuft, and the shaft is made of tarpaulin, which makes the production process cheaper. More than 80% of the plant's products are intended for the army.

Tarpaulin boots. Our days

Soldiers still wear tarpaulin boots today, although attempts are being made to switch the military to lace-up boots.

Tarpaulin boots reliably protect soldiers’ feet from any external influences, as well as from heat and frost. They are adapted for long hikes through forests and swamps. The sole is made of durable rubber and is secured with nails. The toe and heel are made of yuft, the boot is made of tarpaulin. The rigid heel and granite toe cap provide stability to the foot. Tarpaulin boots have proven themselves well when used in extreme conditions.

As already mentioned, they are also in demand in civilian life. When purchasing, you need to know that the boots are made taking into account the fact that they will be worn over foot wraps, so thin socks in them will immediately tear, and your feet will be uncomfortable. Today everyone can buy tarpaulin boots. Their prices range from 800 to 1000 rubles, and they will not wear out. They are sold both in workwear stores and on online trading platforms.

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Tarpaulin boots- one of the symbols of past times. Not only the appearance of a soldier shod in tarpaulin, with a roll over his shoulder and a three-ruler, but also the hard worker, trampling the lands destined for development with a tarpaulin boot, formed a stable image. The image of the Winner and Creator.

Moreover, there was a feeling as if tarpaulin boots had always existed. Long before the advent of the three-line system, virgin lands and “all-Union” construction projects. Therefore, the fact that the industrial production of “Kirzachs” began only seventy years ago may be perceived by many as a malicious distortion of history.

Nomadic Legacy

Everything speaks in favor of the fact that the boots “came” from the East: Turkic nomads wore them as the most comfortable shoes for riding. From nomads, boots spread across the territories of modern Russia, came to the Middle East, and then to Europe. Their spread was not peaceful, but the shoes of the conquerors soon, when the conquerors themselves and the spirit had caught a cold, became so familiar that they were perceived as originally their own. First of all, they are like military shoes.

Military footwear, tailored and sewn according to certain standards, first appeared during the Roman Empire. It resembled Greek sandals, only with a thick sole, it was lined with nails, lacing with wide straps went to the very top of the shin, leather inserts protected the foot. There is a tradition of calling legionnaires’ sandals “kaligs.”

In fact, “kaligas” resembled low boots made of soft leather, which were worn by the few cavalrymen from the equestrian class, compared to foot legionnaires.

“Caliga” completely covered the toes, had a reinforced heel, which was important for cavalrymen, and dense pads protected the inside of the ankle joint - at that time the Romans did not yet have spurs, and what in the language of cavalrymen is called “give leg” was associated with the possibility of injury for the rider.

Here it is appropriate to recall the nickname of Gaius Caesar Caligula - Gaius Caesar “Boot”: it was the “caliga”, a small boot, that was sewn for the future emperor when he was taken by his father, Germanicus, on campaigns against the rebellious Germanic tribes.

Nomads also brought stirrups to Europe. The domino effect that occurred after the defeat of the Huns by the Chinese, the movement of this warlike tribe to the West, pushing other tribes from their homes, led to the fact that the West was not only “whipped” by God’s scourge, Attila.

The booted barbarian warrior, who, thanks to the stirrups, was able to throw a rein and shoot with a bow or fight with a sword, while covering himself with a shield, defined military equipment for many centuries.

To whom are Jorviks, to whom are pistons?

Nomadic boots were primarily made from goat skins and dyed with the juice of sumac, a plant currently used as a seasoning for meat. This is how they acquired a “rich” red color and in Rus' were called morocco. Soft, with graceful folds, such boots became the footwear of the nobility.

Morocco of the lower grades, also suitable for making boots, was obtained from sheep and calf skins, and it was tanned with willow or oak bark, and the boots turned out black.

The main feature of morocco boots, in addition to softness and strength, was the absence of a heel. This could result in the rider's leg becoming stuck in the stirrup. When falling from a horse, a foot stuck in the stirrup almost always meant death, especially on the battlefield.

The infantrymen of the Slavic army were shod either in bast shoes or pistons, ancient leather shoes of the Slavs. Researchers derive the word “pistons” from the old Russian word “fluffy,” that is, loose or soft. The pistons were “slippers” cut from a piece of horse or pork skin. They were not sewn, but sewn directly to the leg, after fitting, and attached to the leg with long straps.

The shoes of the Vikings or Varangians, around the same time as the steppe nomads who began moving to Russian lands, only from the West, were called “jorvik”. Jorviks were sewn from two pieces of leather, sole and upper part, had a pointed toe and heel, and different shapes depending on their purpose.

With a short upper part, similar to modern slippers with a backdrop, they were worn while sailing on longships; with a high upper part, which was sometimes reinforced with additional leather or metal plaques, they were worn when landing on the shore, before a military skirmish.

The luxury of morocco boots seduced the first Varangian princes. It is quite possible that Rurik himself quickly took off his Jorviks and pulled on his morocco boots. In any case, in Russian chronicles, starting from the 10th century, boots are consistently contrasted with all other types of shoes (especially bast shoes) as a sign of belonging to the aristocracy.

From morocco to yuft

Boots in Russia have become traditional footwear for many reasons. Bast shoes remained the shoes of the “mean” class; all other classes, including those far from the aristocracy, wore boots whenever possible. Practical, safe, and plenty of skin.

Morocco continued to be the footwear of the highest aristocracy, but even the princes, before getting into the saddle, preferred to change into cowhide boots, which were more durable and much cheaper. Such boots were made from the skin of cows that had not yet given birth, and rarely of yearling bulls, and the skin of younger or older animals was not suitable - it was either not strong enough or too rough.

If cowhide was processed especially carefully, with seal fat or blubber and birch tar, then yuft was obtained. Yuft became one of the main export goods not only of Ancient Rus', but also of medieval Rus'.

The word “yuft” itself, according to historians, which came into the ancient Russian language from the Bulgars, inhabitants of the eastern bank of the Volga, penetrated into European languages, although usually Europeans simply said “Russian leather”. Most likely, over the knee boots and boots with wide bells were also made from “Russian leather,” both soft, for the French musketeers, and hard, but narrow, like for the English cavalry.

Supplies of yuft to Europe remained a profitable business until the beginning of the twentieth century. According to statistics, the annual offspring of calves in Russia amounted to more than 9 million heads, which made it possible to fully satisfy the needs for leather suitable for the shoe industry and also fully provide cowhide or yuft boots for soldiers and officers of the one and a half million Russian Imperial Army

Shoe crisis

Nevertheless, the search for leather substitutes from which it would be possible to sew military shoes has been going on for centuries. One of the reasons why they became especially intense at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was the forecast of the size of armies in wartime, as well as the forecast of the need for boots.

Despite the small cost of one pair of soldiers' boots, the army, which moved mainly on foot, required millions and millions of boots.

In 1914 prices, soldier's boots cost 1 ruble 15 kopecks (another 10 kopecks for the first lubrication with shoe polish), officers' boots were ten times more expensive. Expenses on shoe polish in peacetime exceeded half a million rubles, and the total expenses of the tsar's treasury on soldiers' boots before the First World War exceeded three million. Shoes, ammunition and small arms were the most consumable materials; statisticians and economists preferred not to even remember about human lives.

For the first time, the Russian army encountered a “shoe shortage” during the Russo-Japanese War. The forecasts were disappointing - it was believed that in the future the army would need more than 10 million boots, but even with the huge number of cattle in Russia there was nowhere to get that much leather.

In addition, army contracts, although taken by large industrialists, were distributed among small manufacturers. There was no large shoe production united by a single order, standards and technology.

A significant role in the emergence of the “shoe” crisis was played by the fact that after the outbreak of the First World War, many soldiers sold a second pair of boots while moving to the front, which is why, according to General Brusilov, by 1917, “... there were hardly any people walking in soldiers’ boots.” not the entire population of Russia.” Punishments for such offenses - even flogging - had no effect.

Buying soldiers' shoes from the Allies was difficult on the budget. In addition to economic ones, there were contraindications for it, so to speak, of a cultural nature: the allies could only supply boots, shoes that were unusual for many. And the supply of army boots did not cover the needs of the army. Changing soldiers' shoes to bast shoes meant undermining prestige...

Aztec technology

It was necessary to find a substitute for cowhide, as well as to organize a large shoe production, completely subordinated to the needs of the army. In other words, it was necessary to find a fabric that, after being impregnated with a certain composition, could be used for sewing boots.

The task was simplified by the fact that only boot tops were supposed to be made from this non-existent fabric, while the boot itself was supposed to remain raw: preliminary experiments showed that shoes made entirely of substitute material were uncomfortable, chafed the foot, which reduced the combat effectiveness of the troops .

Impregnated materials have been used since ancient times. By oiling fabric, the Vikings gave sails water-repellent properties. Even in pre-Columbian times, the Aztec Indians impregnated raincoats and shoes with a latex solution.

In 1763, Nathan Smith first patented the technology for the production of oiled linen, describing it as follows: “... on the fabric there is a covering mass of a mixture of oleoresin (resin of coniferous trees), dye, beeswax and linseed oil, which is applied hot.”

In Russia, 140 years after Smith, Mikhail Pomortsev began experimenting with fabrics.

Born in 1851, Mikhail Mikhailovich Pomortsev became the one to whom we owe the appearance of the “tarpaulin”. However, this officer, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Artillery School, a scientist who graduated from the geodetic department of the Academy of the General Staff, an employee of the observatory in Pulkovo and a teacher at the Engineering Academy, was not a combat officer at all.

For Pomortsev, boots were not the meaning and essence of life, as for the famous cavalry lieutenant, Chichikov’s neighbor at the hotel in the city of N. Pomortsev was distinguished by the breadth of scientific interests and during his long life was able to manifest himself in a variety of areas.

His designs of military rangefinders and aeronautical instruments, research in the field of glider aerodynamics, rocket science, attempts to build an aircraft with variable wing geometry, a parachute of an original design - everything he did and proposed carried an element of innovation.

In the course of, unfortunately, unsuccessful attempts to obtain synthetic rubber in 1904, Pomortsev received a waterproof tarpaulin, and soon, using an emulsion from a mixture of egg yolk, rosin and paraffin, he obtained a material impervious to water, but permeable to air - a combination of properties characteristic of natural skin and determining its hygienic qualities. Pomortsev called this material “tarpaulin”.

Where did this word come from?

A common version says that this is an acronym for the words “Kirov factories” - allegedly, during the Great Patriotic War, it was there, in Kirov, former Vyatka, that mass production of both the tarpaulin itself and tarpaulin boots was established.

This version is incorrect, as is the one according to which the name of the fabric came from the surname of the English Prime Minister, Lord Curzon. Pomortsev experimented with the English multi-layer fabric "Kersey", named after a small town in Suffolk.

He replaced one letter in the word, clearly based on a word from Olonets dialects given in Dahl’s dictionary. In the lands adjacent to Lake Onega, kirza was the name given to the upper, dense layer of earth, through which, due to mosses and organic remains, water could hardly seep through.

Pomortsev’s “Kirza” was presented at international exhibitions, awarded with prizes and medals; for the development of methods for producing leather substitutes, Pomortsev was awarded a Small Silver Medal at the All-Russian Hygienic Exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1913.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Pomortsev offered tarpaulin free of charge for the manufacture of the tops of soldiers' boots, but the contractors who supplied boots to the army saw in the tarpaulin a serious threat to their profits, in every possible way prevented the formation of an order for the tarpaulin, and after the death of Mikhail Mikhailovich In 1916, his brainchild was practically forgotten.

We reached Berlin

It is customary to talk about the continuity of history. It's probably empty. History is not a frozen block of facts and events, but a tangible, concrete thing. The tarpaulin that is known to us now - not only to those who wore tarpaulin boots on duty, but also to millions and millions of compatriots - is not at all the tarpaulin that the outstanding Russian scientist Mikhail Pomortsev received.

Kirza experienced a rebirth, and this happened thanks to Boris Byzov and Sergei Lebedev. These outstanding Russian scientists worked together on the problem of producing synthetic rubber since 1913.

Having achieved outstanding results, both of them, by a strange coincidence, died within a month and a half of each other. Soon after the first Soviet artificial rubber factories went into operation in 1934.

The production of Soviet tarpaulin was headed by Ivan Vasilyevich Plotnikov, a chemist and inventor, a peasant son, who was at one time persecuted as an alleged descendant of kulaks. Plotnikov began supplying his tarpaulin during the Soviet-Finnish war, but it burst in the cold. According to the recollections of Plotnikov’s daughter, they were going to accuse him of sabotage.

The chairman of the government commission asked about the reasons why his tarpaulin “doesn’t breathe,” and Plotnikov replied: “The bull and the cow have not yet shared their secrets with us.” Contrary to expectations, Plotnikov was allowed to continue his work, and in 1942 he received the Stalin Prize for high-quality tarpaulin.

True, by this time the problem with footwear for the army was so serious that army boots began to be received under Lend-Lease. In total, 15.5 million pairs of army boots were supplied to the USSR, but soldiers tried to get boots at the first opportunity - in off-road conditions and trench life, only they provided at least minimal comfort.

In addition, we must take into account the fact that socks were required for boots, and foot wraps for boots, the ideal “underwear” for this type of footwear. Therefore, despite the fact that boots played a significant role in the Victory, tarpaulin boots were still “ours”. So much so that front-line correspondents-photographers had a clear instruction - when photographing soldiers, avoid putting those wearing boots in the frame.

The tarpaulin boot became the hallmark of the Soviet army. Kirzachs were durable, comfortable, retained heat well, and did not allow moisture to pass through.

In total, almost 150 million pairs of tarpaulin boots were produced in the USSR, and later in the Russian Federation.

Millions of boots are still stored in warehouses, although Russian military personnel have long been converted to so-called ankle boots. However, some types of army boots are still made using “tarpaulin”. Apparently, we can’t escape it. So many things are connected both with the “tarpaulin” itself and with the “kirzachs”. In Russia it is more than fabric, and “kirzachi” is more than shoes.

No matter how first-class weapons the army is armed with, it will not go far without boots. And this very “running” piece of equipment of our army made a significant contribution to the Victory.

Kirzova miracle

Tarpaulin boots are inseparable from the image of a Russian soldier and have even become a kind of symbol of our army. For people who had the opportunity to serve, they evoke a lot of conflicting memories. However, these shoes turned out to be the best option for our army during the Great Patriotic War.

Latex shoes

The history of tarpaulin began with the discovery of Patagonia by Europeans. Patagonians, or big-footed people, got their nickname for a reason. Having reached the shores of modern Argentina, the Europeans could not help but notice that the local Indians, in bad weather, dipped their feet in the milky sap of rubber trees. Having dried, the juice turned into waterproof “shoes” exactly on the foot, and the marks from such shoes could easily frighten anyone, because they were much larger than the size of the feet of not only the local neighbors of the Patagonians, but also the tallest Europeans. Over time, the miracle juice received the name “latex”, and European scientists became interested in it.

Mackintosh from Mackintosh

The first successful experiments with latex were carried out by the Scottish chemist Charles Mackintosh (1766-1843). He was the first to create a waterproof fabric, from which Europe enthusiastically began to sew mackintoshes - now the so-called raincoats made of various materials, but the first mackintoshes were made exclusively from rubberized fabric, which the scientist created under very unusual circumstances.

While experimenting with latex, Charles Mackintosh accidentally stained his trousers. Trying to scrub the stain with water, Mackintosh was surprised to find that the fabric of his trousers had acquired water-repellent properties.

Russian contribution

Mackintosh's invention inspired chemists. Experiments continued, and somewhere in the year 1840, in a factory in the English city of Springfield, someone thought of producing fabric for the production of “shoe shoes.” The idea of ​​producing safety shoes from fabric turned out to be attractive.

Chemists experimented until tarpaulin appeared. Artificial rubber was synthesized in 1928 by Russian chemist Lebedev. It was then that the production of tarpaulin began - a waterproof cotton-based fabric coated with a water-repellent composition.

The first tarpaulin was very fragile. In the cold it hardened so much that it became brittle. She was melting from the heat. It is possible that, due to its imperfection, the rubberized fabric of the 19th century in Russia began to be called by the original Russian word “kirza” (with the emphasis on the first syllable), meaning “a layer of frozen earth.”

Kirzachi and padded jacket

In the very first days of the Patriotic War, quartermaster services were faced with a problem: what to wear for the soldiers? There was a catastrophic shortage of army boots with tapes (for hundreds of thousands of volunteers and conscripts). And it’s not that he couldn’t sew boots - there was simply nothing to make them from. At that time, natural raw materials were only enough to supply shoes for several dozen divisions.

The chemist Ivan Plotnikov saved his homeland. Based on the invention of the chemist Lebedev, he established the production of tarpaulin in Vyatka (later Kirov) at an artificial leather plant.

The material quickly gained unprecedented popularity, and shoes made from it quickly acquired national status, because they were comfortable, practical and - most importantly - affordable for the completely impoverished people. Only the quilted jacket enjoyed such demand and popular love in Russia.

Stalin for the boot

In August 1941, Plotnikov was given the task of improving the technology for making “tarpaulin” in the shortest possible time. In the government, this issue was personally supervised by the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Kosygin.

By November, mass production of tarpaulin was established. And already on April 10, 1942, Plotnikov was awarded the Stalin Prize of the second degree in 100 thousand rubles. By the end of the war, the Soviet army numbered 10 million soldiers wearing tarpaulin shoes.

Until now, tarpaulin is produced according to military “recipes” developed by Plotnikov. Experts believe that over the entire history of “Kirzachs” more than 150 million pairs have been produced.

A gift of fate

Of course, the tarpaulin boots were far from perfect, but still, compared to the boots, they looked like a gift of fate. The high boot protected the legs from moisture and there was no need for uncomfortable windings. So the soldiers chose the lesser of two evils - they preferred tarpaulin boots with their constant companions - footcloths. By the way, our army was the only participant in World War II that supplied its soldiers with foot wraps; everyone else preferred to wear footwear. Our soldiers had to make do with a long piece of cloth that protected their feet from blisters. With the advent of frost, tarpaulin boots, due to a shortage of felt boots, turned into winter shoes. To make the foot less cold, it was wrapped in two foot wraps - summer and winter. The winter one was made from thicker fabric, such as flannelette. In addition, the inside of the boots was lined with newspapers, which also helped retain heat, fortunately the spacious boot allowed this. Even in this “modified version”

It was easier to move with boots than with felt boots, so even in severe frosts, many soldiers remained faithful to their kirzachs. The tops of the boots served as a kind of additional pocket: they carried a spoon there, a Finnish knife that could be pulled out during an attack, or a map.

Bright future

The war ended, and most of the country’s population found themselves wearing tarpaulin boots—the iconic footwear of the Soviet period. Collective farmers kneaded dirt in the fields in them, workers walked on the concrete floors of factory floors, and soldiers still marched in them. After work and on weekends, we went for a walk along the central rural street or in the city park, also in tarpaulin, because often there were simply no other shoes available.

Today kirzachs are still as popular and in demand as they were 60 years ago. This phenomenon is a consequence of the highest functionality of tarpaulin, proven over generations. In the kirza, our people defeated fascism, built space industry and nuclear energy facilities. To this day, many Russians are fighting for a place in the sun wearing tarpaulin.

REFERENCE:

Kirza is a multi-layer durable cotton fabric impregnated with a rubber solution, subjected to heat treatment to a film-forming layer. The front surface of the tarpaulin is imitated to resemble pork skin. The economic efficiency from the introduction of tarpaulin into the footwear industry was 30 million rubles per year.

Of course, these are soldier boots. Old, good-quality tarpaulin boots, made of multi-layer cotton fabric treated with film-forming substances, they served well during difficult army service.

Wrapped in chintz or flannel wraps, the feet were quickly stuffed into boots and conquered hundreds of kilometers along the Soviet off-road. The boots were light and waterproof, the foot wraps absorbed sweat well, fitting the legs. And this, you see, is a lot to cover a multi-kilometer journey.

The history of tarpaulin boots began in 1903, when the inventor of tarpaulin, Mikhail Pomortsev, began conducting experiments with rubber substitutes known in Russia. A year later, he already received a waterproof tarpaulin, which was subsequently successfully used for gun covers, as well as in the manufacture of feed bags.

The idea of ​​creating leather from fabric never left Pomortsev, and he soon found a way, creating an emulsion from a mixture of egg yolk, rosin and paraffin. Such a multilayer fabric, impregnated with the specified composition, was impermeable to water, but, nevertheless, it “breathed”. This was the “tarpaulin”.

Already in 1904, it was used in the Russo-Japanese War for the manufacture of horse harnesses, bags, cases, etc. The Russian Ministry of Industry promoted the developments of Mikhail Pomortsev at international exhibitions in 1905 in Logier, and the next year in Milan, where the work of the inventor was awarded a Gold Medal.

Then, at an exhibition in 1911, St. Petersburg balloonists awarded the tarpaulin with an incentive prize. And in 1913, at the All-Russian Hygienic Exhibition in St. Petersburg, Mikhail Mikhailovich received a silver award.

The First World War broke out, and the idea of ​​​​making boots from tarpaulin was Pomortsev’s best proposal at that time. In addition, he donated this idea to the army free of charge, refusing any fees. The Military Industrial Committee was very pleased with the testing of the new boots and their low cost, ordering a large batch of these new footwear for soldiers from factories. But it was not there! Manufacturers boycotted it because of its low cost, and in 1916 this idea sank into the grave along with Mikhail Pomortsev, who died at the age of 66.

Research in this area still continued. Two Soviet scientists, Boris Byzov and Sergei Lebedev, brought rubber production to an industrial scale in 1934. After their death, engineers Alexander Khomutov and Ivan Plotnikov picked up the baton, constructing technological equipment and using the recently discovered new material and Pomortsev’s method. However, the synthetic rubber of the first Soviet tarpaulin broke and cracked. The shoes were considered unsatisfactory and were not accepted for production.

They remembered it already during the Great Patriotic War, when there was a catastrophic shortage of shoes for soldiers. In August 1941, the chief engineer of the Kozhimit plant, Ivan Plotnikov, was simply ordered to urgently modify the tarpaulin in the shortest possible time. But only after a whole year of work with the assistance of many Soviet scientists and researchers, the sewing of tarpaulin boots was finally established. They were distinguished by moisture resistance, lightness, strength and convenience. In addition, together with the foot wraps, they kept the heat perfectly.

This is how army boots were born, the vast majority of which are produced for the needs of the army in Russia. However, their soles and toes still make them of rough leather, called yuft.

In the Perm village of Zvezdny, a bronze monument to tarpaulin boots weighing 40 kg was erected.