The uniform from the museum’s collection was made in 1938. It belonged to a cadet of the Oryol Tank School named after Mikhail Frunze. In the early 1930s, it was the only educational institution in the Soviet Union that trained commanders and technicians of combat vehicles.
The first class of tank commanders graduated on September 1, 1931. By 1935, about seven hundred cadets, future platoon commanders of BT-7 light tanks, studied there. These tanks also went into mass production in 1935.
Thanks to excellent performance in combat and political training of personnel, the Oryol Tank School received a certificate of merit and a revolutionary Red Banner in July 1936. Many teachers were presented with state awards, and the director Mikhail Lvovich Chernyavsky received the Order of the Red Star: this medal was awarded not only for courage, bravery, and successful accomplishments of military units in battles, but also for merits in the training of personnel for the Red Army.
In March 1937, the school was reorganized into the Oryol Tank Secondary School named after Mikhail Frunze. Graduates of the educational institution took part in the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet-Finnish War, and the Battles of Khalkhin-Gol.
Less than a year before the Great Patriotic War began, in September 1940, the school’s training program was changed. The cadets were taught to operate the T-34 tanks, which also went into production in 1940. The number of non-permanent personnel that were enrolled in express classes stood at 1,600. The institution itself was evacuated to the North Caucasus, specifically to Maykop.
In the summer of 1941, the school sent to the front two tank battalions, an automobile company, a maintenance and repair battalion, two communist battalions (made up of volunteers) and an auto repair workshop. In the summer of 1942, a separate Oryol tank brigade was created on the basis of the school as part of the 17thCavalry Corps. It took part in the defense of the North Caucasus. In December 1942, the school was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and a year later — the Order of Lenin.
The museum presents an exact replica of the uniform
created in 2005.
