Paris Communards visual reference?

[Holly]

Hi gang.
In anticipation of the new Perry FPW French plastics, I was thinking of making some communards to shoot them with.

Has anyone got any leads on how they would have looked? I'm guessing lots of civilian clothing and Garde Nationale uniforms?

Do the Perrys have plans to put out Francs-tireurs/Garde Nationale metals?

[carlos marighela]

A bit like Jimmy Sommerville but infinitely more stylish and arguably less irritating?

In all seriousness have you tried an image search? There are plenty of photographs and period illustrations of the Paris Commune. Your instincts are right, civilian garb mixed with Garde Nationale uniforms.

For figures a mix of Victorian figures from various ranges with a judicious admixture of the Perry ACW rioters should give you the civilians.

[Holly]

Thanks,
Yes i had conducted a cursory image search, b&w weren't much help, and I didn't want to work from editorial illustrations whose support of the Versailles government might have elided useful info about the communards' actual appearance. I was more asking aside from civilians and Garde Nationale if there were any other units/uniforms I should have a look at.

But yes, the ACW rioters are a good shout. And thanks for the images.

[carlos marighela]

Well on the other, government, side of things I believe the Infanterie de Marine were prominent in storming the forts on the outskirts of Paris. Achievable using the Perry plastics but a nice change from red trousers.

https://www.arquebusiersdelest.com/infanterie-de-marine

The old Perry sculpted Foundry range has more but no idea if they are compatible with the new stuff.

[carlos marighela]

Oh and the Garde Nationale uniforms here:

https://www.arquebusiersdelest.com/garde-nationale

Interpretations of existant illustrations of communards:

https://www.arquebusiersdelest.com/commune-de-paris

 

[John Boadle]

The Paris Commune was initiated by the National Guards (NG) of Paris, and they constituted its armed force. During the long Prussian seige almost all normal work had stopped and thus the working class had little opportunity to earn a living other than by enlisting in the NG. Hence, yes, the NG uniform is what the defenders of the commune wore. There were no units in civilian clothes or any other distinctive uniform that is recorded. However, NG uniforms as produced and issued in Paris and elsewhere encompassed many variations in detail between units, and not every soldier within a unit wore the exact same dress. Items of civilian dress and military items scrounged or bought were to be seen, although there was more effort to maintain a soldierly and uniform appearance than might be imagined.

Basically, the NG uniform comprised a jacket (single or double-breasted), trousers and kepi in some shade of dark blue, or failing that black cloth, all more or less decorated with red. Red collars and cuffs were prescribed, but more often it was a case of just red piping on all three garments. Many photos were taken of the NG posing around their barricades during the period before the Versailles troops attacked. You should be able to find them if you search using terms like "commune de Paris 1871" and "barricade Paris 1871".

I doubt very much if the current Perrys FPW range will ever get as far as covering the Commune. At the rate it's now going it will do well to cover even the basics of the Imperial-period armies. It is Michael Perry who does this range. (Each of the twins does his own ranges.) I think we will see the plastic French line infantry in a few months time and a few packs of metals at some point but Michael seems to have lost all steam with the range. I don't know what the problem is.

[carlos marighela]

"Michael seems to have lost all steam with the range."

Not entirely fair, as he has  produced a number of cavalry and artillery packs as well as chasseurs. This in addition to adding quite a bit to the Prussian side.

[John Boadle]

Carlos, I wouldn't dream of being unfair to Michael Perry, who I am on freindly terms with and have the greatest regard for. I had a small involvement with this range myself, as I made the master models for the artillery pieces. The initial figures for the FPW range started to come out from about two years ago. Then it got much slower with the latest releases being in June last year in fact, ie eight months ago. Hopefully things will move forward again, and hopefully there isn't a major problem of any kind. But I think it's fair comment to describe this range as running out of steam currently.

[carlos marighela]

Fair enuff. Wasn’t aware of the dates and tail off, thought it was just ticking along.

[Leigh Metford]

In fact, in best franc tireur style some Communard units wore uniforms of their own devising that ranged well beyond the NG pattern, sometimes  with exotic and/or colourful touches. There used to be a slim, hardback book in the local library that featured colour illustrations of some of them, but it's long-since disappeared into the book sale abyss, and I can't recall the title or author's name.     

[Leigh Metford]

Found it! A quick online search turned up 'The Terrible Year', by Alistair Horne. The title rang a bell, but the sepia-tone cover definitely didn't match my recollections, and the publication date of 2004 was far too recent. 'This must be a reprint' I thought, and sure enough, with a little more searching I found an image on Abebooks of the same book, but with the colourful cover of my memories. I think it was originally published in the seventies or eighties. Sadly, Abebooks has it as 'no longer available'. If you're interested perhaps you can find a copy elsewhere.

[John Boadle]

I'm not saying you are wrong, Leigh, but "I once saw something in a book but I can't remember what the book was" doesn't give us much to work with. Not wanting to be just as vague myself, I dug out a link to a primary document for military dress during the Commune, and probably the main source for the book you saw: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52506568c/f95.item# This is the full, downloadable version of Raffet's work. The well-known military artist Auguste Raffet was in Paris throughout both sieges, and painted every interestingly-dressed soldier he came across. On more than one occasion he was nearly shot as a spy for nosing around and asking soldiers about their units! It's an incredible documentary record, with each painting having a written description, some commentary and the specific date this man (or woman) was seen. For communards, look for those described as acting for the "comité central", or as "fédérés".

Two caveats. Firstly Raffet was showing individuals who were unusually dressed, so don't assume a whole unit would look the same as the individual member depicted, although they would probably wear something along the same lines, just more conventional. Secondly, there are some illustrations of communard prisoners taken by the government forces in partly or wholly civilian dress; this was what they had put on in an attempt to avoid arrest and execution, not what they'd worn during the fighting.

I hope this is of use.

[Leigh Metford]

So much for trying to be helpful; I suppose I really should have known better by now. The utter crassness of this response forcibly reminds me of why I gave up posting on sites such as this.

If you're able to extract your head from your own posterior for just a moment you might try reading my second post, mate.

With huge relief I shall now revert to the eminently civilised realm of online silence.   

[John Boadle]

You're taking offence where none was meant, Leigh. I pretty obviously didn't see your second post somehow, hence my post replies to your first post only. Which was my mistake and I'm sorry to have missed the second one. This happens all the time online, as we surely all have experienced. You were trying to be helpful to the person who asked the original question, as best you could. I have tried to do the same. There's no competition and no need for anyone to take offence or be rude.

[Von Stroheim]

That was the right information about a Terrible Year by Alistair Horne. My copy is a large format book illustrated throughout. Horne is the preeminent writer on French History(writing in English). His books are still in print check out A Savage War of Peace on the Algerian conflict.  The sepia cover looks like a reprint and the large format version can be got on Ebay fairly cheaply.