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The fifth drawing in the series shows the youngest members of the infantry section: On the left, Private first Class Paulu Luciani, born in a fishermen's family from Corsica who ran away from at the age of 14 and joined a ship's company as a cook's mate. When the war started he volunteered for military service, paradoxically in the Land Forces rather than the Navy or the Marines. He's a dab hand with a self loading rifle - initially a Meunier M1890, then the Fusil Automatique Modèle 1903 he's holding in the picture.
In the close-up he is wearing the standard winter greatcoat, but a with a turtle-neck knitted sweater from a Military Care Package over his normal uniform tunic (it's obviously too big to fit under said tunic).
On the right is private Jean Laguille, a farmer's son from Lupiac, Gascony, the birthplace of the historical D'Artagnan. He joined the war in 1901, at 16, by travelling to Orleans (where the 13th Regiment, originally from Bourgogne, was refitting following losses sustained in battle) and lying about his age. He's not a very good soldier, undisciplined and not too keen on hygiene, but he is quite an accomplished poacher. His skills at "acquiring" food or whatever else the platoon might need as well as his sunny disposition make him popular with his team-mates. When he first joined up he was given the ironic nickname of "Pouchon", or "Cute guy", but he doesn't mind it, so it stuck.
He also has a rather non-standard choice of firearm - along with a standard Lebel Carbine he has a Darne lock system fixed barrel 16 gauge hunting rifle he "liberated" from the ruins of a château. While not very good at a distance, it is devastating at close range with either "OO" Buckshot or Faunia helical slugs. While the later are rather hard to come by, there is a steady supply of the former from captured British stocks, for use in their Greene or Winchester "trenchguns".
The other drawings in the series:
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
In the close-up he is wearing the standard winter greatcoat, but a with a turtle-neck knitted sweater from a Military Care Package over his normal uniform tunic (it's obviously too big to fit under said tunic).
On the right is private Jean Laguille, a farmer's son from Lupiac, Gascony, the birthplace of the historical D'Artagnan. He joined the war in 1901, at 16, by travelling to Orleans (where the 13th Regiment, originally from Bourgogne, was refitting following losses sustained in battle) and lying about his age. He's not a very good soldier, undisciplined and not too keen on hygiene, but he is quite an accomplished poacher. His skills at "acquiring" food or whatever else the platoon might need as well as his sunny disposition make him popular with his team-mates. When he first joined up he was given the ironic nickname of "Pouchon", or "Cute guy", but he doesn't mind it, so it stuck.
He also has a rather non-standard choice of firearm - along with a standard Lebel Carbine he has a Darne lock system fixed barrel 16 gauge hunting rifle he "liberated" from the ruins of a château. While not very good at a distance, it is devastating at close range with either "OO" Buckshot or Faunia helical slugs. While the later are rather hard to come by, there is a steady supply of the former from captured British stocks, for use in their Greene or Winchester "trenchguns".
The shotgun stock had been cracked when the château was destroyed by artillery, but Pouchon fixed it by tightly wrapping it in piano wire (also "liberated" from the same place and the stuff he was after originally, since it's a great material for making snares) and then tying his neck-cloth around it to provide a makeshift cheek pad.
Conceptually, you probably noticed a certain resemblance to one Alfred E. Neuman, and that is because both are based on the same popular archetype which originated in advertising for a 1894 play called "The New Boy". More directly the exact example I used is a French advert from 1908 for Antikamnia pain tablets.
The name is also a reference, this time to the traditional "Laguiole" pocket knife popular in Occitania, of which Gascony is a part.
The other drawings in the series:
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
wingsofwrath.deviantart.com/ar…
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1300x919px 656.48 KB
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