Question #229 Which Unit? (A - French Imperial Guard Marine)
- Thread starter Bootie
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D
daisy
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Village People ?
Marine of the French Imperial Guard?
U
Unknown
Guest
I assume that he is a "Sapeur" (engl. "sapper") - an early combat engineer.
The Wikipedia says:
Sappers were very common in the French army and in other European armies during the Napoleonic era but progressively disappeared in the 19th century, except in the French Foreign Legion, which retains a sapper unit.
In the French Army, since the 18th century, every grenadier battalion had a small unit of sappers. They had the mission to advance, under the enemy's fire, in order to destroy with their axes the obstacles drawn by the enemy and to clear the way for the rest of the infantry. The danger of such missions and their short life expectancies, allowed them certain privileges, such as the authorization to wear beards. In addition to their beards and axes, they traditionally wear leather aprons and gloves.
The current pioneer unit of the Legion reintroduced the symbols of the Napoleonic sappers: the beard, the axe, the leather apron, the crossed-axes insignia and the leather gloves. If the parades of the Legion are opened by this unit, it is to commemorate the traditional role of the sappers "opening the way" for the troops.
Full text: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapper
Lol, well I probably have a little bit of an upper hand. I've been reading though Patrick O'Brian's series, and the types of weapons boarding parties use are mentioned in there numerous times. When I saw the pic, my reasoning went something like this: 19th Century looking uniform>looks like he might possibly be French>carrying a boarding axe>not a sailor>only type of other fighting men on a ship are the marines>commence searching for 19th century marine uniforms.
I'll get a new question up shortly.
