And here comes my first work from the WWI uniform series: the sheet about french cuirassiers, the descendants of the brave "les hommes de fer" ("iron men") of the Napoleon's Great Army
At the beginning of the Great War France had 12 regiments of cuirassiers, each was divided into four squadrons and a MG company. Cuirassiers were armed with swords, Berthier carbines and Lebel revolvers. Unlike german and russian cuirassiers or british Horse Guards, french cuirassiers wore helmets and cuirasses made of mixture of steel and nickel with their battledress. Helmet was covered with a piece of light khaki cloth, while polished cuirass remained uncovered.
The first figure from the left shows field uniform of french cuirassiers as they appeared on the opening stages of the World War - in the Battle of the Frontiers, Battle of St. Quentin and others.
During the Battle of Marne cuirassiers began covering their cuirasses with pieces of khaki cloth in an attempt to reduce its visibility to enemy snipers. The 2nd picture shows cuirassiers as they appeared during the Battle of Marne and autumn of 1914.
After the advent of the trench warfare all cuirassier regiments except two were dismounted because of the lack of horses suitable for cavalry service. The remaining mounted regiments continued using the cuirass in 1915, while dismounted cuirassiers who were called "cuirapieds" (cuirassiers a pied, foot cuirassiers) abandoned cuirasses, helmet crests also disappeared. Later they recieved infantry coats. They also abandoned red trousers, wearing new blue horizont trousers or civilian ones. 3d Picture shows mounted cuirassier in 1915-1916, 4th and 5th - cuirapieds in 1915-1916.
In 1917 all cuirassier regiments recieved new Blue Horizont uniform. In this uniform they participated in bloody battles of 1918. Two mounted regiments even managed to do a few succesful charges during the 1918 Great Offensive.