#french army
French troops on their way to the fighting lines in Tunisia shake hands with American soldiers at the rail station in Oran, Algeria, North Africa, on December 2, 1942. (AP Photo) [x]
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Arrival of the 11th battalion of the Alpine Hunters in Chamonix, July 1899.
Gabriel Loppé (French, 1825-1913). Aristotype print, 17 x 12.5 cm.
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A collection of animated stereoscopic photographs of French colonial soldiers from the French colonial territory of Indochina in Fleury-sur-Aire, France, during World War 1. Taken by French soldier Raoul Berthelé on June 25, 1916.
Source: Archives Municipales de Toulouse.
As a French soldier targets an agitator behind a house, two local sellers hide in their shop.
Today in PK12, Bangui, Central African Republic, the French troops intervene to break barricades sept up at the entry gate of the capital by the youth to stop humanitarian help from reaching the Muslims displaced by the violence one kilometer away.
+23672213824 or +23670138839
© Camille Lepage / Hans Lucas - All rights reserved 2014
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An illustration of a French field gun battery at work, 1890s-1900s.
Drawn by F. Kauffmann for the Illustrated London News.
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23 January 1795 - French cavalry captures Dutch fleet at Den Heldern
Following on from my posts on sword grips, here is a size comparison between the heavy and light cavalry trooper swords of the French and British Napoleonic armies.
From top to bottom:
French Model An XIII Sabre of the line, - used by Dragoons and Cuirassiers
Originally this blade would have been issued with a hatchet point making it slightly longer. However, by 1814 field modifying them into spear points became common and in 1816 this became an official modification, getting retroactively applied to swords in service.
- Total Length: 1120mm
- Blade Length: 960mm
- Sword Weight: 1300 grams
British 1796 Pattern Heavy Cavalry Sword
Based on the Austrian model 1769 the British sword was originally issued with a hatchet tip. However, like their French opponents, field modification into a spear point became common practice to make the sword more effective in the thrust.
- Total Length: 1020mm
- Blade Length: 890mm
- Sword Weight: 1020 grams
French model An XI, - used by ‘Hunters on horse’, Hussars, Lancers, and Mounted Artillery
Introduced in year eleven (1802) of the Revolutionary calendar the AN XI came about as a rationalisation of the different models of light cavalry sabres in service to meet the supply demands of near constant warfare the new French state found itself in.
- Total Length: 1010mm
- Blade Length: 870mm
- Sword Weight: 1190 grams
British 1796 Pattern Light Cavalry Sabre, - used by Light Dragoons and Mounted Artillery
Designed by John Gaspard le Merchant with cooperation from Henry Osborn in response to complaints of British cavalry troopers on the poor performance of their 1788 pattern sabres. Based loosely on Eastern European sabres the 1796 LC proved to be a hard hitting sword and immensely popular.
- Total Length: 945mm
- Blade Length: 820mm
- Sword Weight: 880 grams
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Following on from @victoriansword‘s post on sword grips and my one showing three more British swords. Here are three French swords of the same era. They are from top to bottom:
1. An XIII Heavy Cavalry troopers sword
2. An XI Light Cavalry troopers sword
3. Light Cavalry officers sword.
Both the AN XIII and AN XI are big swords, larger by some margin than their British counterparts.
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