6sh122 Camouflage Smock

     This 6sh122 smock once belonged to a member of the 234th Air Assault Regiment, 76th Air Assault Division before it was captured during a counteroffensive in Kherson this fall.

     This smock was taken in a small village around the Bereznehuvate-Vysokopillya area in early September 2022 during the same offensive that captured the 331st Airborne helmet I posted earlier. It was found abandoned alongside another similar smock in a backyard of a home near some Russian positions when Ukrainian forces rolled into the village. The area had been heavily occupied by airborne forces and this town in particular showed evidence of the 234th being the former occupants. Unique to the VDV’s use of this smock you will note a sewn strip of the St. George ribbon down the sleeve. St. George ribbons are used on many of these uniforms, however, the VDV forces are still known to be one of the few using these long strips up and down the sleeves. This one was bought directly from the Ukrainian soldier who captured it and is photographed in the post.

​     The 234th has had a long history in this war, first taking part in the assault on Bucha and pushing into Kyiv during the first days of the fighting. It was the 234th, in fact, that occupied the town of Bucha for several days in March 2022 and executed several dozen civilians on the streets in what has now become known as the “Bucha Massacre.” After doing so the regiment abandoned the village and eventually retreated to Belarus with the rest of the northern forces after failing to reach the capital. Over the summer the regiment was redeployed to Kherson and has moved around a number of hotspot areas to hold off Ukrainian forces.