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Infantryman of the 66th Line Infantry Regiment, September 1915. Period field equipment. Uniforms sold separately.
Our client wished to pay tribute to his great-grandfather, killed during the Second Battle of Champagne, which included the Third Battle of Artois, in September 1915.
The main challenge was relying on period illustrations and surviving artifacts clearly dated to that era.
Indeed, the second half of 1915 was a period of extremely difficult supply.
The authorities had anticipated a short war, but it became bogged down in the trenches. The textile industry was located in German-occupied territory, forcing the army to resort to substitute products, to ersatz—a German word.
They made do with whatever they could find. Some went to the front wearing their own corduroy trousers and civilian boots.
They fashioned webbing from tent canvas and covered canteens with heavy, bluish canvas.
So much so that the French military authorities contacted their German counterparts, asking them to kindly refrain from executing, as spies, the French soldiers captured in what was practically civilian clothing. Despite the atrocious barbarity of the killings, certain rules remain acceptable between long-time enemies... While regulation uniforms pose no problem—we simply recreate the same "standardized" uniforms, based on reliable sources—we mustn't give the impression of dressing our infantryman like a vagrant by slapping him with anything resembling period civilian and military equipment—that would be a bit simplistic.
Therefore, we focused on incorporating period elements into this uniform, elements that we could find, consistent with photographs from that era, sometimes originating from families where they had been preserved. If we had to recreate them, we always used period materials. The whole project required a great deal of research, but the request came from one of our most loyal clients, and we were delighted to fulfill it and explore a different historical period. Mr. Vauvillier's plates depicting the field uniform of an early 1915 line infantryman proved to be particularly well-made and comprehensive.
Our client's ancestor was killed at the end of September, and the major changes to the uniforms that followed began in October!
We also created a uniform of the 66th Line Infantry Regiment during the Empire period for the same client.
The period field gear includes everything shown in the photos: harness, pack, cup, canteen (with the period fabric cover replaced), bayonet, mess tin, etc.
Details of the equipment supplied:
- Model 1877 canteen, restored, with its cup.
- Model 1852 mess tin with its strap.
- Model 1915 waist belt with harness, backpack, and "ersatz" (substitute material) canvas ammunition pouches.
- Model 1886-15 Lebel bayonet with "ersatz" canvas frog.