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TEMPORARY
EXHIBITION ARCHIVES |
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Archives |
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Credits |
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Standard-issue and official objects
21. Regulation face guard worn by British tank crews after assault tanks were introduced in 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. It protected the men more from the burning walls of the tanks than from shrapnel. The guard was worn with the regulation helmet. In July 1918 the French army tried to use it, but then stopped.
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Objects made by soldiers
19. A beaded snake devouring a salamander, made by hand by a Turkish prisoner in 1916.
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Beliefs
2. Small woollen good-luck dolls. Nénette and Rintintin became popular during the German bombardment of Paris, in the spring of 1918, so popular that they also appeared on postcards and in songs.
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Civilian objects
7. The tradition of the Christmas tree started in Germany and spread to France during the First World War. Since then, the German carol, O Tannenbaum (Oh, Christmas Tree), has also become traditional. "(...) an accordion started to play and the men of the fort sang the well-known Christmas carol, dear to the heart of every German: o Tannenbaum (...)". Blaise Cendrars, La Main Coupée. This object is of great sentimental value because it is a Christmas gift - with the original packaging - from Mrs von Sydow to her husband, a colonel stationed somewhere at the front.
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Civilian objects
10. A perfume vial in the shape of a 75-mm gun set on a toy carriage. The 75-mm gun, "Joffre's mascot", became one of the most popular French army icons at the turn of the century.
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Civilian objects
15. Musical score. Wagner's Walkyrie has become a "Laughing Cow". The illustrator Benjamin Rabier, the father of Gedeon, had created the logo for one of the bus sections requisitioned to provide supplies of fresh meat. The cheese maker Bel, who served in the same unit as Rabier, later used the image for his new speciality.
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Children and war
1. A complete marshal's uniform for a child. A handmade gift from Marshal Joffre specially crafted for Noël Boyer (the son of a relative). The handwritten calling card states: "Paris, 19 June 1928. Souvenir for the young Noël Boyer, who proudly wears the small marshal's outfit we gave him." J. Joffre
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War souvenirs
12. A novelty radiator cap, usually called a mascot, in widespread use to embellish the hood of a car. The above mascot was sold for the benefit of Les gueules cassées, an association of soldiers with facial wounds formed in 1921.
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