Yugoslav people's army M55 & M77 cloth uniform

[YuAntiques]

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The Yugoslav people’s army M55 uniform was perhaps one of the most famous items in the army, having served several generations of professional soldiers and conscripts. The colour was olive grey, known as “SMB” in Serbo-Croatian Made from baize, a rough and coarse woolen cloth you would normally find on snooker and pool tables, rather than military uniforms. The uniform consisted of cloth pants, a cloth jacket and a “Titovka” hat (which itself was a variant of the Soviet “pilotka” hat). Notorious for it’s harshness on the skin and especially body hair, it was feared but also respected by the troops for it’s quality and ruggedness. Normally used as the standard battle dress and service dress of the army, it was slowly phased out in favour of the M77, although without haste, since the uniforms were still mostly intact, they were used for training and everyday activities by the army, while the M77 was a service/parade dress for the time being. Although a uniform of antiquated materials and technology, it has proven itself to the men who served in it, and it’s role in future uniform developement was by no means insignificant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The M77 was standard issue Yugoslav people’s army battledress and servicedress from 1977-1989. The material choice was, again, woolen cloth. The colour of the uniform was Olive grey. The uniform consisted of 3 parts: pants, a jacket and a “Titovka” hat. The unique design and material choice made the Yugoslav people’s army units stand out among other regional and eastern European armies. Yugoslavia was lagging behind Europe in uniform trends. With all of Europe adopting cotton camouflage uniforms, Yugoslavia kept producing olive grey woolen cloth uniforms well into the 1980’. Wool had obvious pros and serious drawbacks. For one, it was a reliable, warm, rugged and much more resistant material when compared to cotton. The drawbacks of wool are that it soaks easily and is especially a burden on the soldiers when it’s raining. It is aslo impractical for summer.

The new M89 uniform was much less resistant than the M77, which led to many M89s being prematurely discarded, with many units still keeping the old olive grey wool, which was a testiment to the quality.

General party mismanagement made it so that Yugoslavia only started making cotton camouflage uniforms in the late 80’ with the M87 (M89) coming along, just in time for them to be used on the battlefronts across former Yugoslavia, alongside its old counterparts, the remarkable M55 and M77 so many Yugoslavs wore during their faithful service.

 

 

 

[RRA227]

Good article. Thanks for posting.  Rich A. in Pa.