French army news

At the start of war, the French army was still wearing the colorful uniforms it inherited from the XIXth century. The main colour was “gris de fer bleuté” (blue iron-grey), a dark blue. Line infantry and cavalry wore “garance” red trousers. The distinguishing part of the uniform was the kepi which was made in different colours depending on unit type.

The navy had a number of fusilier units they used (and still use) to guard and defend their naval installations. As combat was restricted to land in 1914, excess navy personnel were trained in this trade and formed a brigade to defend Paris.

The Chasseurs à pied were the light infantrymen of the French line. They were armed the same as their counterparts in the regular line (Fusilier) infantry battalions but were trained to excel in marksmanship and in executing manoeuvres at high speed.

Zouave was the title given to certain light infantry regiments in the French Army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962.The Zouaves played a major role in the 1914-18 War.

The conspicuous red trousers were the first item of the uniform to be changed, being replaced with blue or brown corduroy trousers in winter 1914-15. The uniform was then gradually produced and issued in horizon blue over the next year. Adrian helmets were first issued in autumn 1915.

By the start of the war main infantry weapon of French army was Lebel 1866 rifle with eight round magazine. It was first rifle to use smokeless powder, but by 1914 it was outdated. In 1916 Berthier rifle was issued. Its main advantage over Lebel 1866 was clip-loaded magazine.

Infantry weapons, clockwise from top - Lebel mle 1866, Berthier scoped, Mas mle 1892, Chauchat,
Berthier mle 1916.

Th St. Étienne Mle 1907 was a French air-cooled machine gun which was widely used in the early years of the First World War. It was not derived from the Hotchkiss machine gun, as often stated erroneously, but was instead a distinctly different mechanical design.

The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun became the standard machine gun of the French Army during World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie.

Canon de 75, modèle 1897 - was a new and revolutionary piece of weaponery. The truly great invention, and a tribute to French engineering skills, was of course the hydro-pneumatic recoil system, that allowed the whole recoil to be absorbed by the carriage.

The Mortier de 58 mm , also known as the Crapouillot or "little toad" from its appearance, was the standard French medium trench mortar of World War I.

The Berliet CBA is now a vehicle only known by experts, but it was actually one of the most important ones of WW1, being a sort of Great War-parallell to the GMC, GAZ AA or Opel Blitz of WW2. The production rate was very high: every day 40 new CBA’s rolled out of the factory, and at the end of the war 25.000 trucks had been delivered to the armed services.

The 37mm Infantry Gun was introduced in the French Army during 1916 (and it thus preceeded the introduction of Mortars in that army). It's was mainly meant to be employed against enemy Machine Guns and entrenched positions.

The Renault FT, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret.

The Schneider CA1 (originally named the Schneider CA) was the first French tank. It was inspired by the need to overcome the stalemate of the trench warfare of the Great War.

The Saint-Chamond was the second French heavy tank of the First World War. Overall an inadequate design born of commercial rivalry, the war ended before it was replaced by British heavy tanks.

The worlds first Armoured Car was the French Charron, and it was rolled out in 1905. But while the AFV was built and engineered by a French firm, the basic design came from a Russian officer, M.A. Nakasjidze, based on his experiences from the then on-going Russo-Japanese war.

The SPAD S.XIII was a French biplane fighter aircraft of World War I, developed by Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) from the earlier highly successful SPAD S.VII. It was one of the most capable fighters of the war, and one of the most-produced, with 8,472 built.

Thanks to - Volchonok (most of the models and texture), Nebel (Berliet truck and Renault FT models) , german3000 (Hotchkiss and Charron models) and don_durandal (for information and research ).

PS: Our team will make soon an update on what we have done during last two months with progress in percents.