Image Credit: Paul Castelnau, Ministère de la Culture, Wikimedia CommonsĪfter disastrous losses at the Battle of the Frontiers, a significant factor being the high visibility of French uniforms and the propensity for those visible uniforms to attract heavy artillery fire, the decision was made to replace the conspicuous uniforms.Ī uniform in a drab blue known as horizon blue had already been approved in June 1914, but was only issued in 1915.įrance was, however, the first nation to introduce helmets and French soldiers were issued with the Adrian helmet from 1915. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons In warmer climates, soldiers wore similar uniforms though in a lighter colour and made from thinner fabric with few pockets.Ī group of French infantrymen are seen in front of the entrance to a shelter in a front line trench. Variations on the standard uniform were issued depending on the nationality and role of the soldier. Rank was indicated by badges on the upper arm. The tunic had large breast pockets as well as two side pockets for storage. The change to khaki was in response to new technologies such as aerial reconnaissance and guns that didn’t smoke as much, which made soldiers’ visibility a problem on the battlefield. Judging from the character of this formative shot, the fact that it was taken during wartime just before the unit was deployed to the Western Front, the fact that it was taken at a British Army training base, and the fact that its informal sponsor, the Marquess of Winchester, is present in the centre of the photograph, I consider it likely that the picture was taken in an official capacity., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons This image also appears in Rhodesia and the War, 1914–1917: A Comprehensive Illustrated Record of Rhodesia's Part in the Great War, published by Art Printing Works in Salisbury in 1918, again without record of its photographer. A formative shot of men of the original Rhodesian Platoon of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 1914.
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