French uniform

[Northern Soul]

Although doubtless an improvement on the dark blue and scarlet uniforms in which the French army went to war in 1914 the replacement horizon bleu has never struck me as being adequate for camouflage purposes. Why/how was this colour selected?

Andy.

[bkristof]

It is a very patriotic story:

Horizon Bleu is made of 3 kinds of colour: Blue, White and red !!!!

Yep, the French flag.

Another reason (once read somewhere) was that hiding (camouflage) was for cowards, so they stayed with the traditional blue.

Only in 1918 they used more and more khaki-brown uniforms. Colonials , used it much earlier.

[Landsturm]

At first the red trousers and képi were retained because they provided ready mark of difference between the French and german Armies (there was a case of darker uniformed chasseurs à pied been mistaken for Germans on the battlefields in 1870). Several attempys were made to find an alternative uniform by Ministers concerned about the future wars. In 1902, a blue-grey tenue Boër, so called because of the slouch hat which replaced the képi, underwent trials; followed 12 months later by a beige-bleu uniform (which actually appeared as grey at a distance). Both were rejected for their similarity to German uniforms. A grey-green tenue réséda was tried in 1911 following the introduction of khaki into British Army in 1908, and of field-grey (feld grau in German) into Germans in 1910, but this was rejected as being too like the Italian Army`s uniforms.

The native dye industry had succumbed to artificial colors in the 1870s, and madder had been replaced by chemical alarizine, so that was no longer an issue. But by this time, the uniform question had become caught up in the larger struggle between Left and Right in the French political system. The Radical Left, gaining power in the wake of the "Dreyfus affair" in 1899, had wought to "republicanise" the Army by breaking down what it thought was cast-ridden system and replacing it by a kind of citizen`s militia. One of their aims was to abolish the gaudier items of uniform, so minimising the difference between a soldier and civilian. The Right opposed this on principle, and the red trousers thus became an article of faith rather than a functional garment. The newspaper Echo de Paris went further, denouncing any attempt to introduce a camouflage uniform as work ofa Masonic plot!

The Army itself had no say at all - the inherent weakness of governments in the Third Rebublic (there were 42 Ministers of War between 1871 and 1914), and the anti-militaristic attitudes of the Left, did not encourage soldiers, the generals especially, to venture an opinion in public. Apolphe Messimy, Minister of War in 1911, was moved to predict that "This blind stupid attachment to the most visible of colors will have cruel consequences"; yet even in 1913, Minister of War Eugène Etienne could expostulate, "Abolish red trousers? Never! Red trousers are France!".

Military artists Georges Scott and Edouard Détaille made a fourth attemnpt at designing a new uniform, retaining red trousers but with a blue-grey (bleu cendré) tunic. But this was no more succesful than others. a fifth attempt used "tricolour" cloth of blue (60%), red (30%) and white (10%) threads, until it was found that the appropriate red alarizine dye was produced only in Germany. It was decided instead to produce without the red. The resulting shade was officially named light blue (bleu clair), but was popularly christened "horizon blue" on its introduction. Yet it still remains unclear just why this shade was chosen in preference to the rest, particularly since it offered little camouflage protection and was easily dirtied. Fortunately, the rather fugitive nature of the early dyes meant that the shade often decayed to light blue-grey, which toned well with chalky mud of Champagne and Artois.

Production of new uniform began at the end August 1914, and General Galliéni, the Military Governor of Paris, was photographed wearing it as early as November of that year; but it was to be some time before it became widely available. Képis and puttees were first items to be made from the new cloth, and these were mentioned in a circular of 5th January 1915 concerning the uniform of those at the front. A decision of April 21st 1915 ordered that men serving at the front should wear complete uniforms of the new material.

So it was that the French Army went to war in what was virtually full dress uniform, despite the trials of 1902, 1903 and 1911. Events prove Messimy right, and desperate short-term measures were needed to reduce its visibility, particularly the red trousers. Items in "mechanic`s blue", a deep sky-blue shade, were issued as over-trousers to the infantry from October 1914, but were also on their own during warm weather; a képi cover in blue cretonne was also widely issued. These were followed by issues of trousers, vareuses and even bonnets de police in dark blue or brown corduroy to infantry and light cavalry. Some infantrymen received instead blue trousers with red piping, commandeered from local companies of firemen.

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What makes a choice of horizon blue as a camouflage uniform uniform colour even more starnge is the fact that it had been decided to dress African geriments in khaki. Troops operating in hot climates had worn sand or khaki cotton uniforms for some years, but heir return to Europe, had resumed their usual dress, whilst Moroccoan chasseurs did not have a winter uniform at all. The visibility of their white trousers was already causing concern by September 1914, and as a temporary measure, French infantry greatcoats were handed out to the tiralleurs, along with brown corduroy trousers and dark blue puttees. When khaki uniforms started to arrive at the front, the first items issued were trousers, but by spring 1915, whole uniforms in khaki were being supplied. In many cases, the greatcoat was the last item to be issued, and some zouaves were issued temporarily with horizon blue items during winter of 1914-15. The reason for the choice of khaki has never completely come to light. The original order, for 500000 metres of cloth went to Great britain, and it may have been the ready availability of khaki cloth that was the deciding factor.

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The Légion Etrangère (Foreign Legion) and Colonial regiments had converted to horizon blue the same way as other metropolitan French regiments, but by 916 these regiments were converitng to khaki, with the result that both were sometimes worn together in the same regiment (and indeed, on the same person).

(Ian Sumner in "The French Army 1914-18")

And here`s a interesting link for yall: 1911 Uniform proposal in color photographs.

[andigger]

Although doubtless an improvement on the dark blue and scarlet uniforms in which the French army went to war in 1914 the replacement horizon bleu has never struck me as being adequate for camouflage purposes. Why/how was this colour selected?

Andy.

Actually, maybe there was the thought that as the German soldiers were looking up from their trenches at the lines of French soldiers coming across the field, there might be a chance that the men would blend in against the clear blue sky.

LOL

[Landsturm]

there might be a chance that the men would blend in against the clear blue sky.

In case the sky was clear blue... or clear at all

[Northern Soul]

Landsturm - many thanks for a most comprehensive reply.

Andy.

[Landsturm]

No problem...