French colonial forces

[Patrice]

Would there have been any joint operations between France and the other colonial powers, eg. quelling restless natives or punishing slavers etc etc.

Not many. Each colonial power wanted to keep their own part of the cake and didn't want others to interfere. Joint operations could happen in very special situations, as the Boxers Rebellion in China, or the French-Spanish intervention in Casablanca 1907.

Or for that matter were there any clashes with other powers?

Fashoda, Agadir… no fightings but it could have been worse.

There was also some situations where officers went mad and acted beyond their orders, as Voulet and Chanoine in West Africa in 1899 (who destroyed villages, and murdered a French colonel sent to stop them).

[Arthur]

What Patrice said. There was rivalry between the nations, which occasionally resulted in diplomatic crises, but the tensions never escalated into full-blown military confrontations.

[former user]

what You are looking for is WW1 

[NickNascati]

Scruby (Historifigs), has figures for French Indochina in 25mm already in their catalog.  Very nice figures from what I recall.  I had quite  large collection maybe 35 years ago.

[Bryanbowdell]

Were there many French actions in Africa during WW1?  I know the British/Belgians and Portuguese were heavily involved in East Africa, but can only recall a brief French expedition in Cameroon, (if I remeber right!!!)

[Arthur]

Cameroon and Togoland as well :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamerun_Campaign
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togoland_Campaign

[efredbar]

Dam proud to see you using these "Scruby" figures!!! good on you! I'm sure "Jack" will be watching from the great wargaming table in the sky your efforts! I dropped by his old store in Cambia last year, nothing like it was 30 years ago..

Thank you Sir.

I've got the Annamites too. All my colonials are Scruby's and Jacklex (with Higgins, Rose, etc thrown in). I love 'em.

[former user]

I found this link
http://lasabretache.pagesperso-orange.fr/formationssahariennes.htm
that gives some information about irregular french forces patrolling the Sahara, including irregulars and gendarmes
with uniform descriptions

a question related to my own interests: I seem to have problems finding images for uniforms of Tiraillers Algeriens of the interwar period, but not the ones from the WW1 western front. Anyone some help please?

[Bryanbowdell]

I am beginning to regret not taking French at school!!!!

[former user]

I think one can use some translation app on it, the language is not that complex in the link.

but yes, indeed, this is my problem too when I try to search for more complex contexts

[moonshado]

A nice reference, I had not realised Sabretache had a website. there are a couple of interesting articles there. I find Google translate is fairly good with french and I have just enough french to clarify the bits it messes up. googles problem is that it was not designed with military matters as its prime raison d'etre and will translate basic military terms into the weirdest of goobldy Asian.

[Patrice]

If you get really interested in French military history you can probably learn the most common terms easily.

However the text on this Sabretache page link is from administrative texts. It's not very difficult but it is a bit formal and people don't talk like this in real life (except when they want to sound, well, militarily administrative)  

[Bryanbowdell]

Another question - did the French use rocket artillery at all such as the Hale rocket used by the British?

[Bryanbowdell]

Other than the spaphis and chasseurs d'Afrique, were any other French cavalry regiments deployed in their colonial wars?

[former user]

no rocket artillery I'm afraid

cavalry - depends of Your cavalry definition and also on the referred time. Also "in their colonial wars" is almost spanning the globe...

horses need a lot of water, consequently the role of cavalry was substituted by mounted infantry for mobility,
be it the famous mule mounted companies or the meharistes of the western sahara

apart from that, irregular goums in Morrocco, the REC after 1920 and also irregulars in Syria and Lebanon, especially Cherkessian mercenaries.
But no cavalry in the rainforests and swampy regions, or in arid climate of course

not to forget the increasing mechanized element after WW1