Plastun
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A plastun or plastoon (
Kuban Cossack Host
.
Early history
The tradition of foot scouts, vanguard troops, and ambushes, together with the term plastuny, belong to the early Cossack history of the
Russian-Circassian War to guard and scout beyond the "Kuban Line", a frontier in the Kuban plains, against sudden Circassian
raids.
Later, the name "plastoon regiments" was applied to all Cossack
Russian Imperial Army, whole plastun regiments were formed. Normally, Cossacks had to buy their horses and horse tack with their own money, and plastuns did not have these expenses. Despite this, regular plastun units were not popular, since they did not fit the traditional notion of Cossack pride. Therefore, plastun units tended to consist of poorer people.[2]
Soviet period
The term was revived in the
15th SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
.
Name
The name derives from the word plast, "sheet" via an expression "to lay like a sheet", i.e., flat and low. The word "plastoon" also can refer to a member of a Ukrainian scouting organization Plast, named after the original plastoons.
References
- ISBN 9781442651265.
- ^ "Вооруженныя Силы Россіи" [Russian Armed Forces]. Russkīĭ vi︠e︡stnik (in Russian). V. tip. T. Volkova. 1867. p. 205.