| Brummie Lad | 23 May 2013 1:31 p.m. PST |
Hi all, Did the Tirailleurs Algerien always wear the turban? I did a google search which should them wearing both the turban and the "fez"(?) So, depending upon the response to that question, as there are no specific figures for them in 1:72, would these pass: link
link Thanks for your help!
Ryan |
| Ian Dury | 23 May 2013 1:48 p.m. PST |
In the Franco-Prussian war the Turcos seem to have worn the fez without Turbans – as did the Zouaves.
Have a look at the Osprey "French Army 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War – 1 Imperial Troops".
Also contemporary illustrations like the ILN (I think!) engraving of French troops leaving Metz after the surrender show Turcos or Zouaves without Turbans. As both wore basically the same uniform, but in different colours, the Emhar figures on your second link should be a good match
Ian |
| Brummie Lad | 23 May 2013 10:44 p.m. PST |
Ian: Thank you very much for the info on that! I really was hoping that there would be a chance of using those figures. Regards Ryan |
| Patrice | 24 May 2013 2:40 a.m. PST |
Good question… A wargamer on this French forum thinks that turban was only for those of the Garde:
link Perhaps also I would think that a turban was not practical under rainy weather in the east of France, they would probably soon have put it round their neck. |
| Ian Dury | 24 May 2013 5:25 a.m. PST |
Thanks Patrice – that link has some useful information on it.
My understanding has always been that the Turban was part of full dress – so in the same way that the Guard went to the front in the 'Bonnet de Police' rather than the Bearskin, so the Zouaves and Turcos reverted to the Fez without the Turban. I have contemporary illustrations in one of my books (I think it is the Constantin Guys one) showing Zouaves in the Crimea like this as well.
Ian |
Eleve de Vauban  | 24 May 2013 10:44 a.m. PST |
For the sake of accuracy and my pedantic streak, this is not a fez, it is a chechia. |
| vitrier | 25 May 2013 2:37 a.m. PST |
I don't think I have ever seen a picture of either Zouaves or Tirailleurs wearing the turban in action during any of the wars of the Second Empire, from the Crimea onwards. However, the Zouaves seem to have worn the turban in Algeria during the campaigns of Louis Philippe's reign. Horace Vernet shows Zouaves wearing the turban in his painting of the storming of the breach at Constantine in 1837. |
| Ian Dury | 28 May 2013 3:32 p.m. PST |
Just spotted this – have a look at the pictures in the links on this TMP page – the French Army at Chalons – not a Fez (sorry, Chechia!!) in sight
TMP link
Ian |
| Ian Dury | 28 May 2013 3:34 p.m. PST |
Dohhh! – and to add the missing KEY word that SHOULD have been in that last sentence – "not a TURBANNED Fez (sorry, Chechia!!) in sight"
Ian |
| Brummie Lad | 30 May 2013 6:24 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the link. Those photographs were amazing!! |
| Old Contemptibles | 30 May 2013 7:15 a.m. PST |
I don't have it with me but that Osprey on the French uniforms has the Turco in the wrong uniform. There is something wrong with it. I will have to take a look at my book when I get home. |
| Ian Dury | 30 May 2013 11:00 a.m. PST |
Possibly the dark blue tunic? I think Detaille and others tend to show them in a much lighter blue uniform
Ian |
