THE DRESS OF THE FRENCH SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2752, 22 April 1916, Page 13

THE DRESS OF THE FRENCH SOLDIER

UTILITY, NOT ARTISTIC EFFECT, AIMED AT. (H. Warner Allen, in the "Daily • \Ngws.") Since the beginning of the war the entire system of French military uniforms has boen changed. This change marks what the French themselves consider as an .essential modification of the French Army—not merely ill costumo, but also in training, aspirations, and general character. In this war everything must necessarily be judged from the point of view of efficiency, and it is efficiency that has designed the new uniforms. Though the whole question of uniform was being considered before the war, when the war broke'out no reform whatever had been made. The infantry officers were fully aware of the danger 1 of those red trousers, which for some obsoure reason the Parisian had come to consider as a traditional symbol' of the glory of the French Army. As a matter of fact, they came into existence in fcho reign of Charles X (1830.), and at the time their appearance was entirely due to a desire to encourage the madder industry. From tho days of Louvois, in the seventeenth century, the traditional colour of the French soldier has been blue. The aesthetic question complicated the whole -uniform problem before the war. M. Debaille, the paintor, endeavoured, but failed, to design a uniform which should'be both artistic and practical, and in s the end France had to change tho whole of its uniforms in the midst of- the struggle for its national existence. It was no small feat at a time when the national resources were being strained to the utmost.

Blue, as the traditional colour, was chosen for the new uniforms, except for the troops of North Africa, who had before the war been authorised to wear khaki in summer, and for the chasseurs a pied, who consider themselves picked troops and insisted on retaining their old dark blue uniforms. It was found that the blue horizon— at pale sky blue —rendered men almost as invisible as khaki. The arrival of the English in France exorcised, a great influence on the new French uniforms. The _ Sam Browne belt was adopted immediately by tho'French officer, and many French officers have also adopted the tunic with tho low collar open at the _ throat, whereas formerly the tunic .with the high, close-fitting collar was compulsory.

The samo shaped trench helmet has been served out to all arms, and it is only distinguished by a badge. For the infantry this badge is a grenade, for the artillery two crossed guns, for the engineers a 'breastplato'' aiul a round helmot (such as the sappers used to wear in Napoleonic times); for .the colonial infantrj l , which used to be the French equivalent for our marines, it is an anchor, and for the chasseurs a pied the hunting horn, which has always been their distinguishing sign.