Cossack Infantry

The Cossack unmounted (foot) warrior was called plastun (pronounced: plas-TOON). This name was brought into Cossack use by the Black Sea Cossacks. At first they were the only ones to keep the fighting traditions of the famous Zaporozhian infantry, but later on plastun appeared among the Line, Don and Terek Cossacks. Thus, by the end of the 19th century all soldiers of unmounted Cossack units were called plastun. Four platoons made up a sotnya, and three to four sotnya made up a plastun battalion.

In Kuban plastun were the main guardians of the Cordon Line (the frontier). They were scattered over all the outposts in special parties and always were on the very front edge.

When the enemy was advancing too fast, plastun fired "alert" from the cannons. Imitating the gait and voice of different animals, they knew how to approach and howl like a wolf, to cry like a deer or eagle-owl, to sing as a rooster. By these signals they communicated to each other warnings and information.

At the picture:
plastun in his combat outfit
( the picture taken in Imperial Russia, before 1917)

Take a look at the group picture of the last Russian Tsar, Nikolai II, and a group of the Kuban plastun. Picture was taken during WWI.

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