The life of a World War I French infantryman at the Western Front, was a harsh and unforgiving one. They were constantly under threat of death - by their superior officers, or injury from enemy fire, all the while living in appalling conditions in the rat and lice-infested trenches.
This 1/6 scale character study was inspired by a 1920 illustration of a poilu slogging through the mud with the collar of his mud-encrusted overcoat turned up, and his right hand nestled to his body for warmth.
Almost everything - helmet, uniform, weapons and accoutrements was from Sideshow Collectibles. From Battlegear Toys came the coffee cup, eating container. I replaced the small Sideshow Collectibles boots with a pair by DID. The shelter half and leather strapping around his body was customised. The black scarf was from DID.
It was a difficult life, but it was also one of great resilience and ingenuity. The poilus or ‘Hairy One’ were able to find ways to survive in the most difficult of circumstances, at times managing to even find moments of cooperation with the enemy.
Conducting research for this World War 1 project, led me to the book ‘Poilu’ written by Louis Barthas, an enlisted man from southwestern France, who managed to reduce the conflict to human scale with a pen and 19 notebooks that he filled with observations and comments from his more than four years of service in the army, most of it spent in combat on the Western Front.
Barthas’ book was praised for its richly detailed, unvarnished account of life in the trenches as experienced by an ordinary soldier — a barrel maker from the wine region of Minervois whose service in the trenches took him from Artois to the Argonne, a trail that included horrific stops at Verdun and the Somme.
Here are some excerpts of his observations and writings: “If we suffered so stoically, without raising useless complaints, don’t let anyone tell you that it was because of patriotism, or to defend the rights of peoples to live their own lives, or to end all wars, or other nonsense,” he writes in a characteristic entry. “It was simply by force, because, as victims of an implacable fate we had to undergo our destiny.” That destiny was a nightmare slog through endless miles of mud, with shoulders hunched against an unending rain of steel from German guns.
Most of his pages are filled with the mundane challenges of life on the front lines: marching from one bombed-out village to the next, searching for a safe place to sleep, repairing lice-infested trenches, participating in drills, and dodging artillery fire. The names of the villages may change, and the officers may come and go, but the experiences remain the same.
Louis Barthas's writings show that the poilus were also a resourceful and resilient bunch; finding ways to resist impossible orders from their superiors, and even managing to establish tacit truces with the enemy.
Through tacit collaboration, the men on the front lines subvert the military code. French and Germans work out unspoken truces so that both sides can carry out work details, rescue the wounded or, at forward observation posts, fraternize.
At Verdun, Barthas describes how he and a German soldier worked together to rescue a wounded man from between the lines. He writes, "We both knew that if we were caught, we would both be shot, but we didn't care. We just wanted to save the man's life."
One of the most striking things about Barthas's writings is his keen interest in the power struggles between top officers and the lower echelons. He describes how enlisted men would often connive to thwart impossible commands, and how midlevel commanders would occasionally refuse to send their men into impossible situations.
Barthas himself lost a stripe by refusing to obey a captain's orders to have two men dig a trench within machine-gun range of the Germans. He writes, "I was outraged by this highly impolite way of stopping people, and I hoisted my Lebel rifle and replied to him, 'You've got your revolver, I've got my rifle, so what do you want to do now?'" The lieutenant backed off.
These incidences show that the poilus were not simply passive pawns; for they were capable of resisting orders that they felt were unjust or dangerous. In addition to their resistance to authority, the poilus also found ways to cooperate with the enemy. They were able to put aside their differences and work together with compassion and understanding or a common goal. Their story is a testament to the human spirit in the face of adversity.
Reference: William Grimes, The New York Times, 2014
Horizon blue uniforms
Test-shot - experimenting with tungsten lighting night shot.
"The old days of open combat were gone," the veteran soldier muttered to himself as he adjusted his horizon blue uniform. "Now it's all about trench warfare, and that means blending in with the mud and the sky."
He looked down at his uniform, a single-breasted tunic and trousers in a muted blue that supposedly was designed to make him less of a target for enemy gunners. He also wore a shrapnel-shielding helmet known as the "casque Adrian," a trench coat to protect him from the constant rain and mud, and puttees wrapped around his lower legs to prevent trench goo from seeping into his boots. "It's not a pretty sight," he said to himself, "but it's better than being dead."
He sighed and stepped out of his dugout, ready to face another day in the trenches.
Reworking the figure - new headsculpt with repainting, repainting all accoutrements and heavily weathering the horizon-blue uniform
The original 1/6 Sideshow Collectables figure from their "Bayonet & Barbwire" range was changed for a DID headsculpt and their Advanced Slim Body. The headsculpt was repainted in layers of glazes, delicately specked and lightly mottled in Vallejo acrylic paints. A moustache was later added for that 'poilu' or 'hairy (manly) man' look.
Repainted & weathered accoutrements
Repainted pleather. The original Sideshow Collectables finish (above) had bleached away after years of display and needed some tender loving care to restore it. This was accomplished with Vallejo mahogany, German orange and black acyrlic paints.
These Sideshow Collectables molded ammo pouches are so beautifully sculpted. The photo above shows my weathering process - extreme left: original, middle: glazed with delicate touches of Vallejo German Orange. Brownish-black acrylic paste were added when the glazes dried. Right: Highlights in white-khaki were lated added.
A light coat of satin varnish was applied to the two painted and weathered pouches. Contrast them with the original above.
Weathered Adrian helmet. I like the way the weathering turned out with the acrylic dusting.
Haversack - before and after weathering. The gasmask pouch was also weathered (positioned above the satchel.
