3-039-200 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The French Siege of Paris: military types, 1871. 'Vétéran; Génie; Médecin-Major; Brancardier [stretcher-bearer]; Officier d'Etat-Major; Gde. Sédentaire; Tambour [drummer]; Capitaine Sédentaire; Régiment de Marche; Artillerie; Pupille de la République. Our Illustration of types of French military figures was drawn by a Parisian artist during the Prussian siege. It represents, besides National Guards and Sédentaires, some of the regular army, a staff officer, a surgeon, an artilleryman, an engineer, and a regimental drummer...the Parisian army is divided into twenty-four marching legions and twenty-five sedentary ones. This, however, is only upon paper. Really and truly there are but twenty marching and twenty sedentary legions, corresponding to the twenty arrondissements into which Paris is divided. There is not an officer nor a man to be reckoned to any legion numbered above 20. As for the marching legions - that is, those which are prepared to go out of Paris to fight - they are directed by 3655 commissioned officers, of whom 3413 answered to the call one day last week; while the noncommissioned officers and men make up a total of 96,325, of whom 84,986 answered to the call on the same day'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.