The Opasač (pronounced; Opasach and literally meaning: Belt, in Serbian - officially) or less common, Remen (same meaning, but in Croatian - unofficially) was a Yugoslavian combat belt and standard webbing for all infantrymen of YPA (Yugoslavian People's Army), firstly seen issued in 1953, during ending stages of Trieste crisis (which started eight years earlier) and was continued to be produced and used as far as early 1990s. It was thus the first official piece of YPA equipment - since their first official uniform and combat boots appeared two years later (in 1955) and helmet firstly appeared six years from then (1959).
However, this webbing was worn and used exclusively by conscripts and reservists – since the higher ranks (non-commissioned officers and officers) worn a severely different type of belt which firstly and clearly differentiated them from lower ranks. Today, this webbing is colloquially usually known simply as JNA opasač or JNA remen (YPA belt, in both cases).
Overwiev & history[]
Conceptually, this belt style was in fact heavily influenced by well known World War II German infantryman's combat webbing, the Koppeltragegestell (which was extensively used by infantrymen of the entire Wehrmacht - Heer, Luftwaffe's Fallschirmjäger, even marines/naval infantry and coastal guards of Kriegsmarine as well as Waffen SS throughout the whole war) and like most other pieces of YPA leather equipment, it was made exclusively from soft, genuine leather (calfskin) along with metallic (aluminium) buckles. Its characteristic and slightly odd light colored (yellowish) appearance meant that it was made out of pure leather without any kind of additional cover above (in contrast to officer's one, which was frontally covered with brownish coating and with wool/canvas on the back side - both in order to protect the sole leather underneath, as already mentioned).
As same as in the original and above mentioned German variant, the main and only role of these straps, officially known as Uprtači (pronounced; Uprtachi, from Serbian) or, alternatively, Tregeri (Croatian, and meaning; Suspenders, in both cases) was to properly hold the belt when carrying equipment, that is, to correctly distribute weight and equally dispose the balance of equipment carried on the belt (rifle clip or magazine pouches, hand grenades, pistol holster, canteen, shovel/entrenching tool and other gear) what is also the reason why they were always used and worn by infantrymen in combat and left out only in cases when not carrying heavy weight (equipment) on belt, as in cases of combat vehicle crews, pilots, artillerymen, radio operators and other non-infantry branches of the armed forces.
However, in comparison to the original Wehrmacht and other similar variants (like ČSLA and NVA), the YPA straps were somewhat thicker but in the same time slightly narrower and, along with the sole belt, were always made exclusively from leather (calfskin), there were never any canvas variants - in contrast to Wehrmacht in first place, which used canvas made variants for its Afrika Korps, Czechoslovakian ČSLA introduced very similar canvas variants during 1980s while East Germany's NVA featured exclusively canvas models through its whole existence.
Also, the YPA suspenders featured only three, main straps - the two additional ones (intended for rifle pouches) were left out in their model, although the YPA single/double rifle clip pouches, the so called Fišeklije (in Serbian) or, alternatively, Futrole (in Croatian) also featured metallic ring on their back side exactly like the German (Wehrmacht) ones, in order to be linked on straps if necessary - however, they could not be actually linked anywhere for that matter (since the straps did not feature any kind of additional clips, as mentioned), so they were rather just pulled through the sole belt with help of twin leather rings which they also always featured on their back side.
The standard accessories of the belt firstly included the previously mentioned Uprtači (the characteristic German-influenced Y adjustable straps), then also German-influenced hooks (D-rings for belt) - the so-called Gajke, (in Serbian) or simply Prstenovi, (Rings, in Croatian) originally intended for carrying hand grenades (such as the older, metallic made M-52 or newer, plastic and more popular M-75, nicknamed Kašikara) but was also used sometimes for carrying of helmet (their M-59/85) while not in combat as well as some other parts of gear.
Then, two types of either single or, more commonly, double pouches for rifle clips were available, officially known as Fišeklije - ones for long sized caliber (for CZ M-48, nicknamed Tandžara, a Yugoslavian copy of famous German Mauser K-98K rifle) in which three five-round clips of long-sized cartridge could be put (30 rounds altogether - if using the standard issue double pouches) and the other one for medium sized caliber (for CZ M-59-66, popularly known as Papovka, their licensed copy of Soviet/Russian SKS semi automatic/self loading rifle) in which also three, ten-round clips of medium-sized cartridge could be put (60 rounds altogether).
The set also formally included two types of pouches for reserve magazines, officially known as RAP (Rezervni Alat i Pribor, literally; Reserve tool and equipment - since all of them also included pockets intended for keeping the cleaning and maintenance tool of the weapon) by YPA terminology, each with four magazine capacity and each featuring a non-detachable, adjustable diagonal strap for carrying across the back. The first pouch (officially known as RAP M-70 colloquially as JNA RAP or, in English speaking word as Yugoslav or Yugo AK pouch) appeared in early 1970s when YPA had finally decided to introduce automatic rifles in their arsenal, the CZ M-70 as well as the light machine gun version, the CZ M-72 (their clones of world-famous Soviet AKM and RPK).
This pouch was the first and sole combat belt accessory which was not made out of usual calfskin leather, but greenish-grey canvas instead (SMB - Sivo Maslinasta Boja; Greenish Grey Color - the official YPA fatigue) and in contrast to previous and older pouches, it received a single belt ring on its back side, so that it could be pulled through the belt while carrying on the back in the same time (since the strap was non-detaching), in order to stay fixed on the body while running or bending thus making it a standard combat belt accessory. The second pouch (colloquially known as M76 RAP) was also similar greenish, canvas made and was intended for snipers armed with domestically produced CZ M-76 (also AK pattern based) sniper rifle, which could also accommodate four spare magazines along with all of its maintenance tool, exactly like the other two pouches.
Apart from those pouches, it also included a leather holster for standard YPA shovel/entrenching tool, which also featured belt rings on the back side (which means that it also necessary required the belt in order to be properly carried and was thus, a part of this set).
It also formally included a closed holster for a pistol (for CZ M-57, a Yugoslav clone of well known Soviet TT pistol) which featured a pocked for one reserve magazine. (although that was a extremely rare and theoretically impossible sight since no other than officers officially had a right of carrying a pistol in YPA and this belt was, as stated before, never intended for them). However, it also included another, sub-machine gun holster, intended exclusively for CZ M-84 (Crvena Zastava Model 1984), a Yugoslavian licensed copy of Czechoslovakian Sa. vz. 61 (Samopal vzor 1961) Škorpion (Scorpion), which was used only by YPA tank crews who were also using this same yellowish belt, only without the straps (since crews did not carry so much gear and equipment on their belts as common infantrymen in order to need those).
The Opasač was issued to every single infantryman of YPA, as well as marines and even land based sailors of YWN (Yugoslavian War Navy - which were operating on shore batteries and coastline fortifications) as their standard and unavoidable combat kit.
It was mostly produced by three larger factories – firstly in Sloga (Unity) from town of Tešanj in SRBIH (Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina), then Napredak (literally; Progress, or Advancement) from town of Čačak and Zvezda (Star) from Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade, both from SRS (Socialist Republic of Serbia). Every single belt has printed one of those three on its leather part together with abbreviation of its year of production (for example; Zvezda Beograd 86), right under the buckle.
In contrast to many other parts of YPA uniforms and equipment which were continued to be used for a long time by various newly-created armies even after the dissolution of YPA and SFRY, for example; YPA boots, M-68, M-87/89/93 camouflage uniforms and many other types of infantryman's gear which can be still seen using today (mainly by Serbian army however, as well as Macedonian - which used YPA boots and this harness as far as first decade of 21 century), this type of webbing was soon disused by most post-YPA armies and replaced by more modern versions, like chest rigs, plate carriers or eventually by modern, greenish canvas variants of the webbing (similar to US BDU style harness, used in some point by Croatian and Bosnian army during the war as well as by Serbian army today).
So, nowadays, this part of military webbing remains exclusively as a historical piece of equipment of army that no longer exists and is either located in museum exhibits or eventually used in Reenactment, movie industry and Airsoft.
Variants[]
The belt was being made in two variants, the early and the later one. Although both were made out of pure leather (without any coating above), early variants were made from light brownish leather (similar to coated officer's variant, but still slightly brighter) and had matte silver metallic parts (buckles and rings) while the later and much more common variants were made out of yellowish leather and featured black metallic parts.
The mentioned early variants are today very rare even on ex-SFRY territory due to the fact that they were being made long time ago and relatively briefly; only from 1950s until 1970s, when the new and much more common variant was introduced, which was made from 1970s until the end of SFRY and dissolution of YPA.
Gallery[]
