Kornilov Shock Regiment - Circa 1919

It was one of the first, the most famous and longest-lived volunteer units in the Russian army/White Movement during the Russian Civil War. It was the last regiment of the Imperial Russian Army and the first regiment of the White Army. They were quite well remembered for their use of the "Deaths Head" or "Skull and Crossbones" in their insignia. They are named after General Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov, Commander-in-Chief in the Imperial Russian Army in 1917, most well known for the 'Kornilov affair' in which he attempted a coup d'état against the Russian Provisional Government lead by Alexander Kerensky in August 1917, the failed coup increased support for the Bolshevik's by demonstrating the government was fighting amongst itself and was too weak to rule, hence the Bolshevik's gained a bigger foothold for their revolution later that year.

I do not know a great deal about the White Movement's uniform regulations as the majority of them were volunteer units, each with their own styles of uniform, but from what I can gather they were a modified 1914-17 Gimnastyorka, (quite similar to the future M43 Soviet Gimnastyorka) with white piping along the button flap and around the collar. On the shoulders they wore the Kornilov Regimental colours of black and red with white piping and a white 'К' for Kornilov's initials. The officer on the right is also wearing two medals, one is the Order of St. George 4th Class, which is an old Russian order that has been around since the 18th century and the Order of St. Vladimir 4th Class, which has also been around since the 18th Century however unlike the Order of St George, this order ended after the end of the Imperial Russian Empire.

On the sleeves they wore the patch of the Kornilov regiment: arcuda.com/upload/iblock/c4d/I… - They also wore a Black and Red chevron on their right arms, this was introduced by order of the Supreme Commander for №578 from June 8th, 1917 for the military shock troops that were formed in the army. Sewn on the right sleeve of the uniform, then on January 10th, 1918, this same sign was installed in the Volunteer Army in all its ranks, including Kornilov. Chevron was a symbol of the struggle for an indivisible Great Russia and used by the White armies in various theaters of war from 1918 to 1922. On the left sleeve a chevron was worn with the colours of the Russian flag, red, blue and white used by military units of the White Army. Quite a few of these symbols have been seen in Ukraine at the moment worn by various units of the Pro-Russian forces of Donetsk and Lughansk, for example: www.sammler.ru/uploads/post-52… - What's odd but also interesting is that Ukraine's Neo-Nazi "Right Sector" thugs use a Red and Black flag very similar to the Kornilov regiment, so you have a mix of Fascists using the symbolism but Pro-Russians using its symbolism too along with Soviet symbolism too, strange times going on in Ukraine at the moment.