Sleeve patch of the private and non-commissioned officers of the IPTA of the 1942 model

Cloth, matting, paint. The patch is a regular rhombus, inside which the image of crossed cannons is applied in yellow paint. The field of the rhombus is made of black cloth, the edging is red. On the back side, the cloth is reinforced with a matting lining. Safety is satisfactory, damage from moths around the perimeter is visible in the photo. The size is 57*83 mm. Guarantee of authenticity.

The description and color drawing of the arm badge from the Appendix to the original order No. 0528 came out on June 26, 1942 and were certified by the signatures of the Deputy chief of artillery of the red Army for formations, major General of artillery B. I. sheremetov and military Commissar of Gunart, Brigadier Commissar I. S. Prochko.

From the description, it follows that according to Gunart's plan, the IPTA sign should appear in two varieties: for the command staff (officers) and for the rest. However, we can safely say that in the period from the moment of signing order No. 0528 and until the transfer of the 22nd copy to the printing house of the NGO, the number of variants of the sign managed to be reduced to one. In the typographic version of the order, published in a circulation of 24 thousand copies (and sent to all military units up to a separate battalion), paragraph 3 of the description already looks like this: "the arm badge is made of black cloth and edged with red cloth. The artillery emblem on the badge is embroidered with Golden natural silk."

Thus, the final version of the document establishes a single sample of the sign, excluding the version with gold embroidery. Apparently, this was the result of an oral instruction by I. V. Stalin, which coincided in spirit with the pencil correction of paragraph 7 of the draft order (where bonuses were reduced).

The next day after the copy of the order No. 19 to the secret part of the Main quartermaster Department of the red Army (SMI), the masters of the Military sewing workshop of the clothing supply Department had already made a sample of the IPTA arm badge. Production was carried out in accordance with the corrected text of the description and instructions Of the technical Committee of the SMI: the emblem on the sign was embroidered with Golden twisted silk.

On July 3, 1942, the Chairman of the Technical Committee, Colonel of the quartermaster service (I/s) S. V. AGINSKY, approved the finished model and signed the technical documentation for it. This was followed by a presentation to the generals: the chief quartermaster of the red Army, major General I / s P. I. Drachev (for approval), as well as major General of artillery B. I. Sheremetov (who arrived from Gunart together with brigade Commissar I. S. Prochko to approve the sample).

On the back of the card, the assistant to a member of the Technical Committee, Lieutenant Colonel I / s K. N. Khalturin, left a very important inscription: "When reproducing the description (sample) and issuing the industry the words" fighter-anti — tank "- replace - "special". This amendment was approved by the Chief Executive officer of The Art DEPARTMENT, Colonel T. By Vasyukov".

The "description (of the sample)" mentioned by K. N. Khalturin should be understood as technical documentation containing instructions for manufacturing and conditions for acceptance from the industry of products corresponding to this sample. On the next day, July 4, 1942, this document was registered by the technical Committee of the SMI under the title "description of the arm badge for personnel of fighter-anti-tank artillery units" and received the number 0517. Unfortunately, we do not know its contents.

However, even before the technical description was reproduced (as evidenced by the unencrypted words "fighter-anti-tank" on the new card), three more copies of the armband badge with the logo printed in yellow oil paint on a stencil were made and attached to the approved sample. Thanks to authentic samples of arm badges, it becomes clear that in reality there were two officially accepted varieties of the IPTA badge: with an embroidered image of the art. emblem and with its stencil image. In the list of prices for items of the red Army quartermaster supply, signed on April 8, 1944 by Drachev's Deputy Lieutenant General and / or V. N. Vlasov, in the section "insignia and banners" we read: "item 21 arm Badges of special units: a) officers 2-65 [rubles]; b) enlisted personnel 0-82 [rubles]".

The three-fold difference between one price and another leaves no doubt that the IPTA sign for Junior officers and enlisted personnel was made using a cheap stencil method, and therefore for officers it was "embroidered". The considered facts give all grounds to assume that when making his comment on the draft, Stalin did not object to the differentiation of the arm badge by categories of IPTA military personnel. Most likely, the " indication "was made as an expression of dissatisfaction with the word" gold", which was in the description.