2-691-902 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Siesta, Verdun, northern France, 1916. Three French soldiers find shelter for some sleep. Two of the soldiers, or 'Poilus', as the bulk of the French infantry were called, are using a French Model 1893 haversack as a joint pillow. The figure on the right wears a capote or overcoat and has his M2 gas mask canister clutched in his hand as he sleeps. He is wearing the standard Model 1915 Adrian helmet, above which is a Model 1877 canteen or gourd, based on a French wine gourd. A Lebel Model 1886 rifle lies between them. The figure on the far left is wearing riding boots, often favoured by the NCOs in the French Army at this time. In front of him lies a French Army Field Telephone in its canvas-covered case. The central figure has brodequins or infantry boots and the far right figure wears puttees (strips of canvas around the calf), known as molletieres. Photograph from a series of glass plate stereoview images depicting scenes from World War I (1914-1918).