footwrap

Make sure they have on those new furs and footwraps.

Before socks became widely available, footwraps were worn instead.

Footwraps are typically square, rectangular or less often triangular.

Consequently, armies issued detailed instructions on how to put on footwraps correctly.

Footwraps remained standard issue in many Warsaw Pact armies.

Footwraps were issued by armies and worn by soldiers throughout history, often long after civilians had replaced them with socks.

The Ukrainian army held a special farewell ceremony for its footwraps, with soldiers reciting poems and fables about them.

Healer Daana's footwraps worked wonders.

Prussian soldiers wore Fusslappen, footwraps.

Russian army footwraps were made of flannel for use in winter and of cotton for use in summer.

The German Wehrmacht used footwraps until the end of World War II.

Because of their association with the Russian army, footwraps are called chaussettes russes (Russian stockings) in French.

Footwraps were worn with boots before socks became widely available, and remained in use by armies in Eastern Europe up until the beginning of the 21st century.

The Russian and later Soviet armed forces issued footwraps since Peter the Great imported the custom from the Dutch Army in the 1690s.

Footwraps are notorious for the foul smell that they develop when worn under military conditions, where soldiers are often unable to change or dry the cloths for days.

Russian veterans used to jokingly pride themselves about the stench of their footwear, referring to their footwraps as "chemical weapons" that would defeat any enemy unaccustomed to the smell.

In the Russian army, footwraps remained in use for tasks requiring the wear of heavy boots until 2013, because they were considered to offer a better fit with standard-issue boots.

A 1869 "Manual of Military Hygiene" advised: "Footwraps are appropriate in summer, but they must have no seams and be very carefully put on; clean and soft socks are better."

Footwraps (also referred to as foot cloths, rags, bandages or bindings, or by their Russian name portyanki) are rectangular pieces of cloth that are worn wrapped around the feet to avoid chafing, absorb sweat and improve the foothold.

Apart from being cheaper and simpler to make or improvise, footwraps are also quicker to dry than socks and are more resistant to wear and tear: any holes can be compensated for by re-wrapping the cloth in a different position.