B5 boot-look-alikes; in French service?

[Peter Doyle]

Just bought a pair of pretty convincing B5 boot look-alikes, with most of the bells and whistles, in beautiful condition; but marked with French army stamps. I'm very happy with them indeed, but wonder if/when the French ever wore B5-type boots? From what I know/can glean about French WW1 boots these look nothing like B5s. I'll post some images when I get a chance, but just as a quick query, do any boot experts know whether/when the French ever copied/bought in British army boots?

Questions, questions

Best wishes & thanks

Peter

[Joe Sweeney]

Peter,

The French Mle 1941 and Mle 45 boots looks almost like a B5 (except Nailing) and are commonly marked with Broad arrow to deceive.

These were commonly worn by the Milice in the WWII.

Here is a link

http://militaria1940.forumactif.com/t2108-brodequins

Joe Sweeney

[Peter Doyle]

Great, thanks Joe; those are the ones. Mine are beautifully toned and will fit the bill until I can get lucky with some real ones! Am I right in thinking that the B5 had seven pairs of eyelets rather than eight on the later French 'version'.

Best wishes

Peter

[Andrew Upton]

Am I right in thinking that the B5 had seven pairs of eyelets rather than eight on the later French 'version'.

B5's varied - pictures of original examples posted by members previously have had 6 and 8 eyelets.

[Joe Sweeney]

The B5s can be found with 7 and 8 eyelets--In my experience 7 seems to be more common but that is from only an extremely small sample size.

Later models that came-out in 1918 like the "Clump sole with toe case" had 6 eyelets.

Joe Sweeney

[Peter Doyle]

Thanks Gentlemen. It is amazing then, just how close the French WW2 boots are (apart from the soles).

Best wishes

Peter