I have been reading a lot of French memoires and histories of the Crimean War over Christmas. Gosh my French is improving. But anyway, I am now massively confused
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Yeah. Soldiers ALWAYS grumble - there's letters from Roman soldiers grumbling.
The thing is tho, is that the Newspaper reporters in British newspapers also report that the French are better off (e.g. William Russel in the Times). The French complaints about the uniform are valid: the greatcoat was very thin so it could roll up and it wasnt big enough to layer over anything. So they issued a new thicker one which could be layered.
The reports of no food no fuel in letters and in Regimetnal Diaries does point something has gone wrong. The French COmmissariat totally broke down because the army had expended beyond the means of the Intendence Militaire and that because of the corruption in the Comissariat during the Napoleonic Wars, the French army did not use civilian contractors for anything and were actually forced to use merchantsin Marseilles and Toulon to supply the army because the army mechanisms could not. Thing is, that is in all the French books on the topic but never mentioned in English language ones where this myth persists that the French were better at everything.
There are letters and newspaper reports writing about the French tents, supply system and hospital describing them in good detail - theyve been observed, experienced and studied (its not jsut hear-say)and the British observers conclude that its better than their set up. Is it? Was it? They seem to think so because soldiers grumble and well, things did fall appart for the British army in the Crimean War in terms of supply and medical care.
The thing is tho, is that the Newspaper reporters in British newspapers also report that the French are better off (e.g. William Russel in the Times). The French complaints about the uniform are valid: the greatcoat was very thin so it could roll up and it wasnt big enough to layer over anything. So they issued a new thicker one which could be layered.
The reports of no food no fuel in letters and in Regimetnal Diaries does point something has gone wrong. The French COmmissariat totally broke down because the army had expended beyond the means of the Intendence Militaire and that because of the corruption in the Comissariat during the Napoleonic Wars, the French army did not use civilian contractors for anything and were actually forced to use merchantsin Marseilles and Toulon to supply the army because the army mechanisms could not. Thing is, that is in all the French books on the topic but never mentioned in English language ones where this myth persists that the French were better at everything.
There are letters and newspaper reports writing about the French tents, supply system and hospital describing them in good detail - theyve been observed, experienced and studied (its not jsut hear-say)and the British observers conclude that its better than their set up. Is it? Was it? They seem to think so because soldiers grumble and well, things did fall appart for the British army in the Crimean War in terms of supply and medical care.
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