Evening star., 1915-02-21
RED WAR TROUSERS OF
FRANCE HAVE PASSED

mo reference to the red trousers of
IN French troops on the battle line
| now comes over the cables, though re-
ports now and then mention this long
| familiar feature of the French soldier
| in news from the concentration camps
| in the south and west of France. Even
there the red pantaloon has nearly
passed, if not quite passed. by this
| time, and when the spring campaign
begins the brilliant and conspicuous
trousers which the troops of France
have worn since 1929 will be memory.
The red pantaloon was an evidence
| of the unpreparedness of France at the
outbreak of the war At the first call
to arms the German legions put on new
gray-green uniforms, which were held
in the military depots. The first reports
from Belgium made much of the gray
green lines and columns. which blended
admirably with the dust of the roads.
the turf and stubble of the fields and
the foliage of the woods. Frequent
mention in the early reports was made
of French red trousers, which was
about the most conspicuous color man
could put on. Military observers in the
United States who had not maintained
a close touch with French military
affairs expressed surprise at this. The
French had been alert in adopting many
military improvements and had devised
many themselves. Yet in the matter
of uniforms they seem not TO have
profited by lessons learned by the Eng
lish when they abandoned red coats
for field service, and by the United
States when the traditional blue was
laid away when practical work was in
hand.
1t was not that the French were not
alive to the yadvantn ges of uniforminS
troops in coTors that approached invisi-
bility as nearly such a thing is pos
sible. but that they had not overcome
the great task of turning their backs
on traditional color with glorious as
sociations and of Quitting their mill
lions of men with new uniforms. That
has been labor of months and is now
about complete. The French armies
have been taking on gray-blue tint
and perhaps are now all grayb blue.
The subject of reuniforming the
French armies in colors that would not
stand out boldly against the landscape
has been discussed for a good many
years. a commission to inquire into
the matter and to report on it was an
pointed by the minister of war during
or just after the Anglo-Boer war. but
no positive action resulted. Another
commission was appointed during the
RuSso-Japanese war. Detaille, th-
great soldier painter, whose pic,utc.
THE Passing Regiment" has hung ~
the Corcoran Gallery Of Art for n'aU,
years, designed a uniform OF gay
green, and il was experiment t'.-
a number of the units of the Fr r,a
army being outfiNed in il. But
Gus things hindered and postpone cine
clothing of the whole force o! III
public in the new material. Gray-9iue
was finally adopted as the best otec-
tive coloring.
There was not much red in III ar
mics of Napoleon. He preferred white.
But protective colorinG for troops was
then not much thought of. and when
thought of. was probably not well
thought of. having a SAVIOR of stealth
to the old-time soldier The red trous-
ers of the French troops were intro
duced in 1929, when Viscount de VauE
was minister of war.