"how did napoleon know that many pairs of shoes " Topic

To All,Question 1
How did napoleon know for one campaign the amount of shoes and other equipment he needed he being a artillery man !
Question 2
How long did their shoes last?
greetings serge joe

How did napoleon know for one campaign the amount of shoes and other equipment he needed he being an artillery man!

He didn't. He guessed.

How long did their shoes last?

Depends how much marching they did.

I can only quote Mrs Deadhead as a reference. The number of shoes needed for any occasion equals infinity minus one. It is the square of the number of handbags "one simply must have".

I have a pair of Altama Desert boots that see me through years. My first pair did not survive St Petersburg and Moscow in -23C. The soles of both split right across within 48 hours…..broke my heart. Replacements never quite wore in. They were desert boots though!

How long did they last? First, remember Napoleon was not the only participant in "his" wars. Many a recruit, of any nationality, found his shoes disintegrated as the glue came apart in the first few miles. Even the most modern boots are not able to survive extremes, as I discovered to my cost. My jungle boots are still going strong after 30+ years, in many a foreign clime, but never yet Russia in Jan/Feb I admit.

Deadhead is quite correct Depending on the maker, they could last (no pun intended) for a year, sometimes, not even a mile. Remember the peasantry of most nations used sandals or wooden clogs or went barefoot. I suspect that after a battle soldiers with poorish or worn out shoes would retrieve others trough the wholesale looting of the dead. Officers boots, likely being custom made were much in demand.

We like to think of our soldiers decked out all "Fred and Lillian" but I suspect they looked more like the photographs of Mathew Brady in a later war, a hodgepodge of odds and ends.

last….that is just a great pun. That I would not have got…Boom Boom

Napoleon could count quite well the numbzer of soldiers in the army and knew that the quality of the mass produced shoes was rather low so the ideal was to have them replaced at regular intervals during the long marching trajects.Napoleon apparantly devoted more time to shoe re supply than to food resupply. Usually (ideakl circomstances) a soldier would leave his garrison with one pair of shoes on, and another in his backpack (also with socks) to be resupplied with new shoes after Xhours of march (I remember some soldiers (wellin their letters) saying something about after 160 of march but cannot find the reference now. They should also receive an extra pair of soles and hobnails so that shoe repairs could be done on the march by a regimental or a local cobbler. If shoe repairs were conducted earlier than the forseen time the soldier had to pay themselves for the repairs. I have here a reference to a letter by private J.J. Tuor who wrote home saying his shoes had to be resoled twice already in six weeks of marching during the 1809 campaign. He then complains to his parents that this has cost him money and asks for some financial support (a common re occurance in many soldiers letter home). I also have an incomplete reference of troops starting out in pParis towards Madrid and being re shoed at some depot just before passing the Spanish border. Just some random info I found on the (quite important) topic of shoes

Napoleon actually had some help in determining such things:

link

(scroll down to logistics)
It is erroneously supposed that the French & Napoleon paid little or no attention to this aspect of warfare.
French logistics were innovative for the time but broke down in difficult countries such as Spain & Russia where, additionally, the size of the army made supply difficult.

Always, of course, French Napoleonic logistics were subject to the constraints of the rapid movement Napoleon's army used as a war winning tactic.

Doubtless some French clerk told Napoleon how many shoes he'd need & others put out the contracts to get them supplied.

@ Deadhead,

Just left the military to join the police and my favourite boots as my 'combat slippers'….my jungle boots. Still going strong, even the pair from Kosovo 1999!

Malborough had done something similar a century before with his march to the Rhine. That was arguably slighly easier since those shoes where standard shaped and not made for left or right feet.

I see that Mrs. Deadhead and my beloved, Her Imperial Highness the Princess of Petersburg, are long-lost sisters! Except with HIH, one simply cannot find a single shoe in whatever country we happen to be located, so that a we must have the plane flight and multi-star hotel stay in order find the desired shoe.

I, on the other hand, wear US Coast Guard boots (boots should be black and shining, not tan or "coyote" brown suede) that cost like nothing and have lasted 5+ years now (including salt water emersions, Russian winters, climbing in the Kavkaz, etc., etc.). Thankfully, I am of such advanced age that no one expects me to dress for business anymore.

Russian infantry, in our period, were issued 3 pairs of shoes per year. But two were in kit form to facilitate repairs. Extras would have to be bought form the ranker's artel' – a kind of squad mess that operated as a small business for the profit of the rankers – assuming no corruption (not always a good assumption).

Part of the initial "training" for Russian conscripts on the trip from their villages to divisional depots was to get them used to wearing shoes and getting their feet correctly callused. Rural peasants then were almost always barefoot or shod in soft boots (the winter ones from thick felt being especially nice on snow – called valinki and still popular).

And footwraps of course – not socks (true even in the war against the fascists to some extent). HIH's father knows how to do the wrapping and tried it on me …. really very comfortable when done correctly.

- Sasha

Talking of Russian shoes of the Napoleonic period – did they have nails on their soles ?

Those on the photo are reconstructed French shoes, after a week's march of 150 km.

Deadhead, are you suggesting Napoleon carried a handbag?!!!!

A footnote (pun intended). Davout kitted out his men with clogs in the camp at Boulogne to spare the boots of his men.

Oliver,

сапоги / saporgi / jackboots

Here is a reconstruction :

Period image

Sometimes the tops or shanks were also blackened. Also worn on campaign by cavalry.

And yes, iron nails (sometimes copper/brass), preferably with hemisperical heads, around the perimeter of the sole and heel. I do not know of there being all the extra nails or tacks covering the bottom of the shoe.

- Sasha

LOL Deadie and Alexi, you two cracked me up, yip women would see us wearing thong slops in the middle of winter as long as they have a decent handbag :)
Luckily we all love the women in our lives be they Mothers,sisters,spouses or daughters, God Less em.
Me and my flat feet? We're happy with a pair of skateboard sneakers every 3 years :)
Cheers all interesting topic and good seasons tidings.