Paul L Murphy

You are right, but he was not Emperor 'Napoleon', he was general 'Bonaparte'. Even if they are the same person, the French history clearly separates the two periods and the two characters...

And in fact, they are different. I spoke about Napoleon, not Bonaparte.

I think the distinction is probably lost on many of us non-French. I had certainly never appreciated that there was such a distinction with regard to his achievements and I assume most others would not have either.

I am not sure Napoleon never led any military campaign in North Africa... The Algerian conquest began under King Charles X (it was its idea), then Louis-Philippe and eventually Napoleon but the Third...

To say that "two third of the population was killed" seems to me very very exagerated, by the number (i.e. 2 million people!) and the wording!

The population of native Algerians decreased in 30 years of approximately one third, as a consequence of wars, fights, displacements, starvation and other many indirect causes, seems to me more appropriate to say. However it is still enormous.

Regards

Bison

Napoleon attacked Egypt, and lead the attack himself. His forces were ultimately defeated and he returned to France leaving his army to make their own way back. Not one of his better moments.

Were they privately named or did the army do that for the guys?

Thanks

Chris

The MMG is normally named by the army. The pieces you see here are unissued. What is unusual is that even though the army names the MMG it does not name the next level of award, The Distinguished Service Medal. Inconsistent or what !

Very interesting. A German serving in the Legion in Indochina and getting his good conduct certificate in 1950. Normally this means he signed up in 1945, which suggests demobbed Wehrmacht (I have a few of these groups in my collection with both German and French medal certificates). However this guy is entitled to the Liberation bar of the WWII War Medal. This suggests he was a German in the Legion prior to 1945 and fighting in France against his own countrymen !

Chris,

Many thanks for clearing up what was a little mystery for me. I always thought that they might have been stuck on a board to display them after the recipient left the Legion since I have a number of badges like this in my Legion collection.

Paul

Prosper,

Many thanks for including this up to date information. As you said, he probably deserved it even if the citation is wrong but your theory on why he did not get the 1st class could very well be true.

Regards,

Paul

That's it for the time being. I have some more that I need to dig out including the Baloch Regiment and the SSG. Hope you enjoyed them.

:cheers:

Army Nursing Service.

This is the Army Educational Corps badge.

Next up some officer rank badges. The black ones are worn by the rifle regiments, ie FF Regiment and Baloch Regiment.

Next up is the Sindh Regiment.

These are for the Signal Corps.

These are the Punjab Regiment badges.

These are the Ordnance Corps badges.

Next up the Corps of Military Police.

These are the Medical Corps badges.

Next up the modern day Guide's Cavalry, a unit with an amazing heritage behind it.

Next up is the Frontier Force Regiment.

These are the badges of the Engineering Corps.

Next up is the Army Service Corps.

Next some Artillery Corps badges.

Next we move to the Infantry and we have the badges of the Azad Kashmir Regiment.

Next we have the 31st Cavalry Regiment

Next up are the badges of the 15th Lancers.

As promised I am back in London and here is a selection of Pakistani badges.

First up are the cap, collar and shoulder badges of the 11th Cavalry Regiment.

Next is a nice bullion officer's cap badge of the 11th Cavalry Regiment

Next up is an early transitional pattern bullion cap badge of the 11th Cavalry Regiment

And finally from the 11th Cavalry, some dress officer's rank badges.