Histoire & Collections 13 French Army 1940.pdf

OFFICERS and SOLDIERS of the

OFFICERS and SOLDIERS of the

�

The Metropolitan Troops

General Headquarters, Military academies, lnfantry, Fortress lnfantry, Alpine lnfantry, Chasseurs a pied, Chasseurs alpins, Alpine Fortress

lnfantry, Tanks, Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Chasseurs a cheval, Hussars, Armored Cars, Reconnaissance Groups, Artillery, Engineers, Train,

Gendarmerie, Services (Supply, Administration, Medica! Corps), Paris Fire Brigade.

The Mrican and Levant Special troops

Zouaves, Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan Tirailleurs, Foreign Legion, African Light lnfantry, chasseurs d'Afrique,

Algerian and Moroccan Spahis, Saharan companies, Levant Special troops.

The Colonial troops

Colonial lnfantry, Senegalese tirailleurs

The Air Force

The Navy

André JOUINEAU

Translated from the French by Alan McKAY

HISTOIRE & COLLECTIONS

1940 N

since 1918. The 1916 Model infantry rifle, the carbine, the

Ruby pistol and the 1892 Model revolver were the main indi

vidual weapons. For the unit weapons, the FM 24/29 machine

gun was in general use and popular with its servants. The

Hotchkiss machine gun was still in use.

60- and 81-mm mortars, developed directly rom the trench

artillery like the anti-tank guns, appeared in the French infan

try arsenal.

The MAS 36 was the most recent individual weapon issued,

but only to certain active units.

The MAS 36-type cartridge belts were used alongside the

former Lebel ones. The lozenge-shaped pouch was repla

ced by a canvas backpack, together with a lower pack and

a pouch which could be attached to the belt. The ANP 31

gas mask sheath replaced the ARS type metal box.

With the ups and downs of the Year 1914, the army of the

Belle Epoque, with its madder-red trousers, quickly changed

into a "horizon blue" army. After one year of war the soldier

who had gone off to war without a care in the world had meta

morphosed into a less conspicuous warrior facing the enemy.

In the years following the end of the conflict it was recogni

sed that the mustard-coloured cloth used by the Aflican troops

was more practical and far better adapted to meeting the fun

damental need of making the infantryman less visible.

But as the horizon blue clothing had irst to be worn until

all the stocks were used up, the colour change was only car

ried out among the rank and ile uniformly so that there

wasn't a medley of khaki and horizon blue uniforms in any

one regiment.

This complete change of uniform was generally effective

from 1935 onwards but Reserve troops and certain non

combatant units nonetheless kept horizon blue uniforms

until up to the eve ' of the war.

Unfortunately this change in colour was not the result of

a moden vision of the combatant and overall, the silhouette

of the 1940 soldier did not differ very much from his 1918

predecessor. Combat dress and equipment was dated.

The NCOs and the Oicers

For the everyday uniform, an effort had been made for

the NCOs' dress. For the re-engaged NCO corps (SOR- Sous

Officiers Rengagés), an attempt had been made to ind a

more elegant service dress and a real off-duty uniform which

more closely resembled the officers'.

On the other hand the Sergents' and Sergent-Chefs' bat

tledress was identical to the rank and ile's. The Adjudants

wore officers' uniforms with the NCOs speciicities.

Likewise the lntendancy tried to preserve a certain deree

of elegance for the officers' uniforms. Since they paid for

their own clothes, sone couturiers supplied accessories

from the top of the range to those officers who could afford

them. Officers therefore had a veritable wardrobe at their

disposal, supplemented by the fanous 1931 Model uniform

which renewed with lllrd Republic tradition by blinging back

into fashion the traditional colours of each sub-division of

the different arms.

The soldier

He wore the inevitable greatcoat, the symbol of French

military battledress ever since the Second Empire. lndeed,

whether it was bluish metallic grey, or horizon blue, with a

straight collar or a fold-down one, one row of buttons or two,

it was the single battledress item used whatever the season

or the theatre of operations. In winter the infantrymen wore

a jersey under it; in summer they wore it over their shirt

together with a tie - a quite useless touch of elegance in com

bat.

The khaki trousers were cut to the same style as in 1918

and worn with puttees. In 1939, golfing breeches were

brought in; they were very fashionable anong the young of

the day. This novelty was accompanied by fawn leather or

canvas gaiters but they were only issued to a few units; with

use it was noticed that the trousers were not very practica]

because they were too bagy and snagged on everything.

The fawn or black boots were those used during the Great

War. The fnous 1915 Adlian helmet had undergone sone

changes. The one-piece 1926 Model had a crest and was

made of steel and manganese and its volume had been

increased slightly.

4 The infantryman's armanent had hardly been developed

The r Force and the Nay

Having become an independent service in 1933, the Air

Force adopted a modern uniform which was in tune with its

epoch and is still in use nowadays with the officers. Flying

suits were constantly being studied to salve problems lin

ked to high altitude flying.

The Navy had always taken care with its crews' uniforms

and only a few modiications had been made to in the uni

form since 1914, except for the cut of the cap and the width

of the off-duty uniform trousers.

On the other hand, the shipboard service dress, keeping

in tune with technological developments, had been consi

derably improved.

Generals wearing the 1930 Model uniform

Lieutenant-General

wearing the 1930 llodel

N' 1 uniform.

llarshall of France

wearing

a 1930 llodel N'2

uniform.

JJ of France

l de France)

tbe 1930 llodel

1 .W m . At the time

.� Fnc h e t

' ( 1856-1942)

s e only person

o •r s uniform

t lJ Pén,

cs tbe French

�orto Spain still

n he 1922 llodel

oo blue uniform.

Brigadier-General wearing

the 1931 llodel N'2

uniform.

llajor-GeneraJ belonging

to the llilitary Household

of the President of the Republic.

Generls in service dress

Brigadier-General

wearing daytime

dress 1'3. and

a greatcoat.

Brigadier-General

wearing daytime

dress 1'3.

Brigadier-General

wearing service

dress 1'4.

Brigadier-General

wearing battledress

and raincoat.

Brigadier-General

wearing service dress

1'4. variant with

simpliied kepi.

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