"French LT Letter to mom." Topic

I read of a letter a French LT sent home to mother in 1917. He had been wounded in 1914 and had recovered and gone back to the front in 1917

Basically he stated how things had changed in two years. In 1914 his platoon had gone to war with 3 weapons, his pistol, his soldiers rifles and bayonets. In 1917 his platoon had 12 weapons, he did not list them.

Here is the list I have come up with.

1. Pistols
2. rifles
3. Bayonets
4 Lmg (2) The Chauchat
5. Hand Grenades
6. Flare Pistol
7. Gas mask?
8. Helmet?
9. mortar?
knife and trench tools

Any ideal what the last three could be?

thanks Lord Ghee

Rifle grenades?

Wire cutters? Periscope? Does "weapons" mean weapons or equipment?

Ah Rifle Grenades good!

and I think the LT was talking weapons.

How was the French auto rifle deployed? Was it standard?

Did a platoon drag a gun with it?

Maybe a 37mm gun?

Trench Clubs

Trench knives

small axes, hatchets or tomahawks

Machine guns

poison gas

flamethrowers

Trench mortars

I'm far less familiar with the French Army of the Great War than I should be, so these are off the hip suggestions.

I'm in agreement with the OP's 1-5, and the rifle grenades for 6, mortars for 7, the others aren't "weapons" per se.

As a child I vividly recall the Imperial War Museum had a WALL of trench clubs, each different, morbidly fascinating and a grisly reminder of how primitive "modern" warfare could become.

Museums are different now, interpretive, descriptive, snapshots of history. This was "open storage" of artifacts, now long out of fashion, yet astonishingly effective. To see, all together, so many different ways men could devise, with "found objects" and chunks of metal "adapted for use", to smash to a bloody pulp their fellow men.

As an exercise in the ingenuity of violence and horror it was NOT surpassed by the select few chosen for the IWM's "Trench Raids" display case.

Valerik

BGR

Speaking of trench raiding, did the French use shotguns for that purpose? My understanding is that the Brits and/or US used those in late war trench assaults.

The List is as of now
1914
1. Pistol
2. Rifles
3. Bayonet

equiment
A. Officers book – memo pad and Guide
B. Telescope – binoculars (popular as of Boar War) but not to infantry LT
C. Watch (the importance not realized)

1917

1. Pistols
2. Rifles
3. Bayonets
4. Grenades (The German's had issue in 1913) Report of French us of Tear gas grenades in 1914.
5. Flare Pistol
6. Light machine gun (The Chauchat)
7. Mortar
8. Rifle Grenades ( The Germans had issue in 1913)
9. Trench Clubs and Knifes

Possible

A. Flame throwers (no listing of French use or issue
b. Auto rifle (only 2500 or so, not issued)
c. shot guns (only British and Americans issued)

equipment

A. Memo pad and or Pocket guide
b. telescope or Binoculars
c. Helmet (1915)
d. entrenching tools
e. periscopes
f. wire cutters
g. medical bag (what level was a Medic at as T.O.E.)
H. Gas Mask
I Wrist Watch (when issued?)
J. Phone. ( in 1918 Harry S. Truman was a forward spotter dragging a Phone with his team)

Lastly where in the T.O.E. was the sniper? When did the French issue scopes and were in Organization did they fit. Platoon, company and Battalion.

No one has the T.O.E. for the French in 1917? How did they detached from company and Battalion?

Lord Ghee

No one has a TOE?

Can't recall the titles or authors now, but there are some very good books on sniping in WW1 – in essence, France was the smart kid that ended up sitting in the back row of the class because he wasn't interested in the subject, rather than because he didn't have the brains. The British/Imperial forces learned their skills and developed their kit mainly via big game hunters from Africa and India, and frontiersmen from Australia and Canada; the Germans/Austrians started the war way out in front because of the traditional popularity of shooting/hunting among all social classes (ditto the Italians), plus they had the world's leading optical equipment manufacturers. The Americans were, given their own gun/hunting culture, surprisingly backward, and never really developed a good dedicated sniper rifle, but otherwise caught up quickly.

As regards shotguns, useage was primarily American in terms of pump-action/automatic repeaters (British and Empire troops with US units attached may also have taken them up, but otherwise they were mainly officer weapons in the form of great-uncle Hamish's Purdee, or whatever). The Germans actually complained that they were inhumane under the Hague Convention, in producing wounds that were more severe than was needed in order to kill or incapacitate (this from the folk who gave us gas and flame throwers!). The US DoD produced a response (basically "Oh no it isn't!"), but the war ended before the matter was adjudicated.

STILL LOOKING FOR A FRENCH TOE OF 1917-1918?

Perhaps you might want to start a new topic specifically about French TOEs, with a more specific subject line?

(TOE experts might not always be interested in reading about letters to moms.)