Clavery’s Chargers

Clavery’s Chargers Army Deal
Includes two Fusiliers Sections containing one Lebel pistol team (Formation HQ), four berthier rifle teams, two VB rifle grenade teams, two Chauchat MG teams, one Flame-thrower team and one 37mm mle 1916 team. Four Hotchkiss HMG teams, two 76mm Stokes trench mortar teams, one 75mm mle 1897 gun, one Saint Chamond tank, one Schneider CA.1 tank, one White AM 1915/18 armoured car and one Sniper team.

At the start of the war, the French Army was a huge organisation with a large standing army and three classes of reservists that could be called to the colours. This large manpower pool became necessary as the fighting of 1914-1917 took its toll and caused the French to draft men up to the age of 45 and look to its colonies for help. While the French army was organised much like the other armies of Europe, it had some distinct differences such as the makeup of the men who filled its ranks.

At the start of the war, most of the active units and mobilised reservists were from Metropolitan France, which is limited to mainland France and the islands nearby such as Corsica. France, like many other European nations, had mandatory conscription under which 21 year old men would be called to serve for a period of three years. Once finished with their active service commitment, the draftees would stay in the Reserve or Territorial Army until the age of 48.

The Poilu of 1918 was tired and weary of war, but in their hearts they knew that they had to carry on the fight against the Germans and expel them from their homeland.