Saturday 15 August 2009

French infantry in greatcoat (II)

The use of greatcoat hides many of the uniform details of the French infantry uniform. However, the main distinctions between elite and centre companies are still apparent.
Elites, grenadiers and voltigeurs, carried double crossbelts, one for the cartridge-box and other for the sabre-briquet and the bayonet, whereas the centre companies got a single crossbelt for both the cartridge-box and the bayonet scabbard.
The elite men also carried epaulettes (red or green respectively for grenadiers and voltigeurs) and tufted pompons (again red for grenadiers and yellow or yellow over green for voltigeurs). These same colours (red and green) were carried in the sabre-briquet cords. The four centre companies wore pompons of different colours: dark-green, sky-blue, aurore (orange-pink) and violet.
The shako was covered with a black oiled waterproofed fabric, and loose trousers, white, grey or blue, were carried under the greatcoat.
The following two Rousselot plates show a version of the 1813 campaign uniforms




I am also very grateful to the members of several yahoo groups and specially to Ximo and Lannes from ALKAID forums by their useful advices.
The next step will be, hopefully, the painting!

No comments:

Post a Comment