"1806 French: bicornes, shakos, or both?" Topic

Napoleonics isn't my strongest suit, but O8 3mm let's me get into things I've only dabbled in before. So…when did the French change over to shakos? I suspect that the 1806 Prussian campaign saw them in a mix of headgear.

I think at this point the line regiments would still be in bicornes but the light infantry would be in shakos (possibly with plumes on the side rather than at the front). You might also get grenadiers and carabiniers in bearskins.

In 1806 the decision for the new uniform was taken, (white with shako) but none (or hardly any) were isssued yet. So line inf in bicorne "chapeau" (light in the Napoleonic empire always in shako) It took untill 1808 untill the bulk of the infantry had changed to shako. There are some documents (review reports etc) that state that the bicorne was still not fully replaced in early 1809 (at least in Spain and maybe in Italy) From 1809the shako is the headgear for all line inf. (how you can see the difference in 3mm is beyond me, anything smaller than 15mm and I can hardly make out theperiod let alone uniform details without a magnifing glass)

hat for line infantry
shako for light infantry

Often the old version of the shako for the lights.

Bicornes it is then. Thanks all!