As mentioned in this thread http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...+foot+bindings
I am looking for instructions on how to wrap your feet with the material, what type of material is it generally and any field mods that were common.
Are the dimensions correct 35x90cm?
My smokejumper buddy has just heard that Russian smokejumpers still use this technique. I told him that last I heard the Russian Army still used it as well, then I remembered this article.
He wants to try it out. Any help would be appreciated.
Spaseeba
Was told that binding the foot with foot cloths allowed extra cloth around the toes and having the pressure in certain places helped maintain blood circulation... which is of course vital if you want to avoid frostbite in the toes...
The skill of wrapping the footcloth properly was one of the first things they tought you in the Soviet army, a soldier who coudln't do it right can not walk or run.
Here's an old Red army poster showing how to do it:
I know the whole consept of a footcloth may sound like something antiquated, something from the era of Napoleonic wars, but they have a number of advantages over socks and laced boots combination, especially for the type of wars Russian sourders had to fight over the centuries. They are inexpensive and easily cared for, can be worn for a few days before they need to be washed or replaced, dry up very quickly near a fire, provide much better insulation than socks (not a bad thing in Russia's climate). Dirt and swampy terrain is much easier to deal with in jack boots and footcloth, if you step into water or dirt deeper than your jack boots and even if your foot remains submerged for a few seconds, once you take it out, your foot remains dry as the footcloth at the top of your ancle absorbs the water and doesn't allow it to penetrate deeper inside the jack boots. Russian soldiers often didn't have the luxury of being close to a resupply base, so footcloth was a lot more practical than socks.
There are of course disadvantages too, and the jury is still out on whether the decision of the Russian army to retire the footcloth and go exclusively with socks+boots combination was a wise one.
If you decide to actually try wearing your Jack boots with a footcloth I'd strongly suggest that you practice wrapping it at home and walking around for a few hours to make sure you got it right. An incorrectly wrapped footcloth will put your feet ouf of commission in a very short order. The trick is to get the top part wrapped around your ancle stay wrapped tightly, if it starts unwrapping and sliding down to your foot the whole thing becomes unraveled.
Couple more pics if you feel adventurous enough to try it:
Russian foot bindings and technique
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