Under the Red Star – Army Caps

Cap band and piping colors through the years The following chart is designed as a quick reference to help identify and roughly date Soviet Army visor caps based on cap band and piping colors. Band color is the colored rectangle, piping is shown by the stripe at the top; solid rectangles indicate piping color same as band. Chart reflects all known regulation changes in arms/services cap colors since 1945. Additional information can be found on the Cap Development Timeline page. All bands are wool, with the exception of black ones, which may be either wool or velvet.

Visor Cap	1945	1955	1958	1969	1980	1989
Tank Generals
Tank Troops
Artillery Generals
Artillery Troops
Infantry Generals
Infantry Troops
Airborne Generals	*	*	*
Airborne Troops	*	*	*
Air Force Generals
Air Force Troops
Med/Vet Generals
Med/Vet Troops
Admin Generals
Admin Troops
Intend Generals
Intend Troops
Justice Generals
Justice Troops
Engr Tech Generals	*	*	*	*	*	*
Engr Tech Troops	*	*	*	*	*	*
Special/Technical Troops
Generals (all)
Engineers
Signal/Radio Tech
Topographic
AD Searchlight				n/a	n/a	n/a
Construction
Pipeline
Motor Transport
Chemical
Railroad/VOSO

Med/Vet = Medical/Veterinary Admin = Administration Intend = Intendance VOSO = Military Communications Troops * = wore colors of the units to which they were assigned Special Troops enlisted personnel may have used black piping in lieu of dark blue until the 1950’s (not confirmed) Airborne typically wore infantry colors after 1946 and before re-adopting Air Forces colors in 1963 All black bands made velvet as of 1980

1989 color changes never implemented!

Colors:

	purple-pink; aka magenta/raspberry/crimson
	light blue/azure
	dark blue
	dark-medium green
	bright red
	black; velvet or wool
*	unassigned; matched that of owning unit