FRANCE
While France may no longer have the Empire that Napoleon built and while She may have been humbled in the recent Franco-Prussian War, but She refuses to be treated as a second-rate power.
France excels in the spirit of her fighting men, who are anything but second rate. It has been said that the Legion Extraterrestriale, an off-shoot of the Legion Etranger, are the finest soldiers on Mars.
Steam Technology Wonders
Despite Her best efforts, France has not become one of the leaders in Steam Technology revolution. Her chars de battaille armored fighting vehicles are considered by most to be second rate and her aeroscaphs, though fast, are light and lightly armed and unlikely to match those of Britain in a stand-up fight.
This is a Charles Martel model medium class Chars de Battaille, the most common French armored vehicle. It mounts a field piece for main armament but carries no auxiliary armament beyond the crew's personal arms. In this picture the Martel's distinctive "blast shield" is lowered into the combat position where it protects the forward windows of the wheelhouse, but the navigational periscope is not raised.
French Detachments de Battaille use no uniform color scheme for their vehicles. The commander of each detachment may choose his own. Many detachments do not alter the basic reddish brown or dirty sand color with which the Chars de Battaille leave the factory.
Military Forces of France
This soldier represents a trooper of the Legion Extraterrestriale (French Off-world Legion) that was formed around a core of Legion Etranger veterans to participate in the Martian Punitive Expedition. The Legion remains the hard core of France's forces on the Red Planet. He is armed with a Lebel bolt-action rifle.
This soldier (Portrayed by a Dixon French Foreign Legion trooper from the Dahomey campaign) represents a trooper of small detachment of the Legion Etranger (French Foreign Legion) saw service with the Olympus Mons Field Force. He is armed with a bolt-action rifle.
Notable Units
Here are three among the many Detachments de Battaille that achieved distinction on Mars
A is an example of the all red paint scheme used by Colonel "Blood" deGuerre's detachment in the Martian Punitive Expedition period. At the time his was the only unit to adoption the red coloring, though subsequently many armored detachments copied the notorious Colonel's lead.
B is the three-tone "clouded" camouflage scheme used by Major Sandor Brun while in support of the Legion Extraterrestriale during the Wars of Domination period.
C is the splinter camouflage scheme used by Major Jean Larouche during the campaigns on Syria Plenum.
All material on this website, except where specifically noted, is copyright 2001-2009 by Robert N. Charrette