Telnyashka
The telnyashka (Russian: тельняшка, pronounced [tʲɪlʲˈnʲaʂkə]) is a horizontally striped undershirt worn as uniform by Russian military personnel. It has stripes in white and in a color that varies according to the unit's affiliation. The most common second color is blue, but a number of other colors are also in use. The garment comes in varying thicknesses and may be sleeved or sleeveless.
Type
Undershirt
Russia, former Soviet Union
Ukrainian paratroopers in 2015. At the time, they wore sky-blue berets and telnyashkas similar to those of their Russian counterparts.
Sailors of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, wearing a striped shirt similar to the Telnyashka.
The Bulgarian 68th Special Forces Brigade uses the telnyashka as part of its uniform. Sailors of the Cuban Revolutionary Navy wear telnyashkas with blue stripes as part of their uniform.
The Korean People's Army Navy also uses them with their uniforms.
In popular culture[edit]
The Soviet 1936 film The Sailors of Kronstadt started aestheticization of telnyashka with a scene of a Bolshevik sailor emerging from the sea in his torn undershirt after surviving an attempted execution by drowning.
The telnyashka is worn by a number of popular non-military characters of cinema and children's cartoons, notably The Wolf in Nu, pogodi and Matroskin the Cat in Troe iz Prostokvashino.
The telnyashka is worn by members of various factions in the 2019 video game Metro Exodus.
In the 2010 video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Lev Kravchenko, the secondary antagonist can be seen wearing a telnyashka under his jacket, other characters such as Viktor Reznov can be seen wearing this outfit on his assault on Rebirth Island with Alex Mason. Mason himself is depicted as wearing this outfit when it is revealed that Viktor Reznov is actually dead, and that any depiction of Reznov prior was actually of Mason.
In the 2019 video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a Russian soldier, J-12, is portrayed wearing a sleeveless telnyashka under a tactical ammo vest during Farah Karim's flashback of the Russian invasion of Urzikstan. Other Russian characters such as General Roman Barkov, Sergeant Kamarov as well as Multiplayer operative Maxim "Minotaur" Bale can also be seen wearing blue telnyashkas with the former two wearing it beneath their uniforms. Other Campaign character, Chimera operative "Nikolai", wears a dark telnyashka shirt as part of his Multiplayer skins.
There is a popular saying: "We are few in number, but we are in telnyashkas!" (Russian: Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках!, romanized: Nas malo, no my v telnyashkakh!), alluding to the reputation of troops who wear the shirt as ferocious warriors.[12][13]