"Greatcoat colours" Topic

In pictures I see – the French greatcoat is brown, and generally a variety of colours

But when I see the rolled-up greatcoat on top of the pack, I see it depicted as grey

Anyone have an explanation ?

Thanks

John

My understanding is that officially the greatcoat, once introduced [sometime post 1806], was supposed to be made of beige cloth.
Prior to that most greatcoats were obtained by taking enemy stocks, and many regiments would have equipped themselves with such in the period from 1805 to 1807 – it was cold in Bohemia and Poland. The stocks they would have been taking would have been Austrian and Prussian, and consequently predominantly gray.
As a result, during the early Empire period you'd see gray – then in the period 1807-1812 you're more likely to see beige, and post 1812, I suspect it was catch as catch can, with a mix of gray and beige being provided.

Ligniere is right. Although white or brown were also used in Spain from undyed wool. The only color you should avoid would be blue, as that was only issued to Middle and Old Guard. It would not be unheard of for a soldier to purchase or otherwise obtain a unofficial coat.

Thanks for this information. What a lucky break! For 1805-1807 French, I painted coat rolls gray because…well, just because. I had no source, think it was based on a painting found on the Internet. Even better, some of my French have coat rolls (AB-F01), and some do not have any coat roll at all (AB-F01a). This mix fits in nicely with the idea that some troops were able to procure enemy stock and some were not.

Great question, thanks for asking!

looking at the contemporary Otto de Bade manuscript published by Dempsey : Napoleon's Soldier, you find also light blue and blue for the line.

John R. Elting's book "Swords around the throne" states that Overcoats procured from Austrian magazines came in the most unmilitary colours and styles eg the 4 Ligne had apple green coats while the 3rd Ligne had a mix of gary-blue and yellowish brown

I would love to see Eltings's source,

Dempsey gives a sourced quote (Margerand : Infanterie Légère 1806, La giberne Vol 1, 1899, pp 252) about 14e Légére : Cloth greatcoats were distributed to the army after Austerlitz, but since most of the cloth was obtained through requisiton mand from conquered terretories, one could see coats of all colours in the same unit, which mad for s shockingly motley effect.

Also Dempsey states in the above mentioned book :

The most common greatcoat colour is beige or brown (occuring in eighteen out of a possibility thirty – seven cases), while blue coats of one shade of the another are found in eleven paintings and grey coats are seen in seven.

Dempsey, Guy jr. : Napoleon's Soldiers, London 1994

This is about the 1807 / 1808 army.

The colour of the great – coats must have varied over the years.

So rolled greatcoats on top of packs should really be a variety of biege, brown and grey colours ?

I think I will stick with the grey – my desire for authenticity only goes a certain distance and I have rude comments prepared for those who tell me I have painted the buttons the wrong colour

Thanks

John