"French uniforms in use by Free French/ etc. post 1941?" Topic

Well, I seem to recollect somewhere a mention of a group of Foreign Legion somehow using their old French uniforms through much of the war. Or that the Vichy French that joined the Allies in 1942 following the German occupation of Vichy France continued to use their previous uniforms for a while.

I guess really I'm just wondering if there's any scope at all in using French uniforms/equipment rather than British or US uniforms following 1941?

Absolutely. The Free French used whatever they could get their hands on, but preferred to keep as many elements of French uniforms and equipment as a matter of national pride. This could result in a rather eclectic appearance depending upon where a particular unit received its gear from during the course of service.

By 1944 most frontline units would have had American supplied items such as greatcoats and such, but shirts, helmets, caps, and even trousers could be French. I highly recommend the two-volumes covering the French Army of WW2 from Osprey; volume 2 covers the later Vichy and Free French and FFI forces, and the photos and colour plates give good visual guides to how these troops appeared during the final year of the war.

Hope this helps!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

I've seen pics of the FFL wearing their original issue until '43 in the MTO. But in '44 IIRC, most of the the French forces wore US/UK equipment, but in some case wore their original hats, Kepis, etc. …

Legion,

by '44 it seems the regular forces were wearing American or British issue clothing, but the vast apparatus of the FFI which was involved in driving the Germans from the soil of La Belle France wore whatever they could get. French uniform items were more prevalent amongst this eclectic militia, as were a rag-tag assortment of weapons from WW1-era Lebel and Berthier rifles, FM 24/27, Sten guns and Brens courtesy of the SOE, and captured German arms (MG42s were popular). Captured German AFVs were also popular with the FFI, usually with the initials "F.F.I." painted in bold white lettering along with the cross of Lorraine right over the original German camouflage and markings!

Regular FFL forces were not shy about using captured German MGs as well, so one can get away with quite a bit in terms of figures mixed and matched, and conversions.

My favorites include BTW, the FFL tank formation made up of redundant Naval personnel, who wore US-supplied clothing but retained their sailor's caps red pompom and all.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

And named their tanks (actually M10s IIRC) after their warships.

The Free French seemed to collect a fair amount of memorabilia too. There's at least one photo existent showing a Sherman carrying a cast SOMUA plate on the front hull, presumably to reflect the crews previous mount.

That sounds correct to me, BlackWidow … And I do recall seeing a pic with the Sailors still wearing there caps with US gear … And I do believe they were in an M10 … Viva La' France !

Thanks for the information.

I suppose then, to do 28mm, mostly US figures would be appropriate, with a scattering of headswaps and the like?

If I get this correctly, politically de Gaulle wanted the Free French to be the representative for France amongst the Allies – and when various originally-Vichy colonies decided to go over to the other side they were, eventually following Torch, merged with the Free French into the Expeditionary Corps?

Alongside this, the various French resistance organizations came to be known as the Force of the Interior, right?

I'll be seeing about getting those Ospreys. Wikipedia only goes so far (and yes, I'm sure it could be said of Ospreys too.) But the FFL (and here's something else that confuses me – FFL refers to Free French, or French Foreign Legion, or Forces of Liberation, or does it change depending on the language?) at various points seem like they'd be a really fun modelling project. Though, I doubt I'm going to be carving up tanks in whatever scale to stick plates onto other tanks. :P

The various ex-Vichy & Gaullist French units were largely kept apart (separate divisions IIRC) & there was considerable friction between the different factions both during & after the war.

FFL usually stands for French Foreign Legion in English (Legion Etranger [LE] in French); FFI is also sometimes used for the Free French (or the alternative Fighting French) in general. Which did you mean Leland?

The unit Leland refers to – the Fusiliers Marins link made up part of the 1st Free French Brigade alongside the 13th DBLE at one stage. Later in the war Fusilier Marines formed the Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers Marins (RBFM) of the 2nd Armoured Division, who are the chaps with M10s mentioned above.

"Which did you mean Leland?"

Pardon-moi! LOL!!

FFL = Forces Francaises Libres (aka "The Free French")

FFI = Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (aka the maquis, "that lot o' French cutthroats over there," etc.)

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

This link should help. It has color plates side by side.

link

Thanks, that could be quite handy.

Brilliant – what a great link! I am going to do one of each for my 54mm FF forces!!

I think there was a previous thread about recreating the French in American kit. From what I remember, the difficult thing was that they wore American uniforms and equipment (but often swapped the GI bucket for an Adrian) but carried Springfield rifles. IIRC there was only one Armored Infantry regiment (can't remember the unit) that had Garands. I could be mistaken though. Did they carry BARS?

I have wanted to do a unit of 28mm FFL in American kit for a while now. Since Empress miniatures make heads in Adrian helmets for the SCW, it would be easy to do some head swaps…but the rifles would be tricky unless you were doing the Garand armed regiment.

Brilliant – what a great link!

Even more amazing is the fact that the plates are all reworkings and composites of the ones available in Andrew Mollo's books.

Les Comandos de Choc were an elite troop they liberated Corsica,Elba,and I think Sardinia then went on to South of France,and Germany…
They wore the motorized troops helmet with US kit mostly but also had French guns.

Keith,

the Free French unit with the Garands was the 1re Regiment de Chasseurs de Parachutistes; only these elite poilus received the M1 Garand, while everyone else had to lump it with either the M1903 Springfield, the .303 Lee-Enfield, or the MAS 36 if they were lucky, or something like a Berthier or even a Lebel if they weren't so lucky(!!!).

Cranky bunch IIRC, so give your chasseurs of the 1re RCP some solid morale to reflect their status…

Hope this helps!

Leland R. Erickson