Am I a French soldier in disguise??

[Larmo]

Ok, its a quiet Saturday afternoon here, first weekend off in about three weeks and this idea has been rattling around in my brain housing group for a while. The first image was purchased off of Ebay.de (I always like the guys posing with the noodle guns), when he arrived in the mail and I got a good look at him, a few things struck me as rather odd. First of all, he didn't quite have a Germanic look to him, thin moustache, hair pooching out from under his pickelhaube..and then there are his equipments, his pouch loops and belt are of white leather, correct for Grenadier regiments but he is holding what appears to be a M1860 Fusilier Gewehr and on his shoulder strap the number 8, certainly not a Fusilier regiment. What gives with this guy..and lastly and maybe most importantly, he is wearing trousers with double stripes, something I haven't seen before (yet) with German uniforms of the era. Aha! I thinks to meeself, we've caught a spy, the Paris-Troyes photographer logo was yet another nail in his coffin. On to further research and quickly the air was let out of my spy-catching balloon. Seems the German occupied Troyes in 1870 and the image bears the date of November 11th 1870 (odd isn't it) on the reverse.

So much for that idea, however questions do remain about his get-up and trousers, the second image depicts a French mounted artilleryman with double stripes on his trouser seams and in the third and final CDV a Gardes Mobile officer is shown posing manfully with a captured Needle Gewehr and perhaps a M1867 Pickelhaube missing its wappen (darn those blasted attaching prongs, they always slip loose) both props likely captured from their German owners. Soldiers of all times and armies have enjoyed posing with, and in, captured uniforms and equipment of their former adversaries and with the advent of photography images are left behind for us to ponder over and write about on quiet Saturday afternoons.

Larmo

[drakegoodman]

Fascinating. Thanks Larmo.

- Brett
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We can't all be heroes, someone has to sit on the kerb and clap as they go by.

[joerookery]

Fascinating study! I am not so sure I agree with you on number one. There is no faulty logic I just wonder if the pants are from some other contingent within the Prussian army??? Good question. And an amazing catch.
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VR/Joe
www.pickelhauben.net
The British philosopher and historian R.G. Colligwood said, "it is not
the facts that are interesting in history, but the questions and their
answers - and these can never be fixed.

[Larmo]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments and am glad you enjoyed the photos in spite of my musings.

Joe, like you said before, I don't know what I don't know (I really like that quote) and it may well be just a pattern of trousers used by some German contingent during that time. Although in the wonderful two volume set, The German Infantry, Uniforms & Equipment 1871-1914 by Herr & Nguyen, double striped trousers are not mentioned for Prussian troops. I should look and see if the Army Corps the 8th Regiment belonged to was in the area of Troyes in November 1870.

Perhaps another possibility may be that they are French trousers being worn by a German soldier. In November 1870 the German forces were at the end of a long supply line through hostile territory and immense quantities of material had been captured by the German trrops at Metz. He may have simply needed some new pantaloons and the French ones were to hand! We have all seen it before, Confederate soldiers wearing articles of uniform captured from the Federals, German soldiers wearing captured American boots and trousers in the Battle of the Bulge and so on. As for his weapon and equipments, well, we all know that what the regulations say and what actually happens during time of service are two different things. Just something fun to ponder.

Larmo

[Gustaf]

This is a great study, I would tend to agree with Larry though, only based on the hair, I do not remember seeing a German soldier with such unkept hair, but I want to know more about the noodle gun, was that a version of the needle gun used against the Italians?
Bes twihses
Gsu
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They are not dolls, they are action figures!

[Larmo]

Good one Gus, laughing as I write this...

L

[Pierre Grande Guerre]

Thanks Larmo! The helmet on the first picture looks also too small for his head.
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