Armies of a Genteel Age

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Perhaps taking place in July 1870, this scene represents the men of the Bavarian 5th Jäger Battalion (light infantry) engaging French troops somewhere in the hills of the Vosges. The landscape is typical.

The 5th Jäger was one of the only units of the Bavarian army (along with 3 other Jäger battalions) to be equiped with the brand new Werder M1869 rifle. I already talked about how the other regular pattern, the converted muzzle-loading Podewils-Lindner was a totally outdated, slow and unreliable weapon in comparison of its competitors. On the opposite, the Werder was probably the best military rifle of its time. That's why people said that the Bavarian army in 1870 had the worst and the best rifle at the same time, which is kind of true.

The Werder rifle earned the nickname of "Blitzgewehr" - "Ligthning rifle" - thanks to its extremely good rate of fire. It was one of the first rifle to use metallic (copper) cartridges instead of paper ones (whom had to be pierced all the way through by the needle system), which had the effect of keeping the rifle clean. Before, the paper cartridges often left more powder residues or pieces of burnt paper within the breach, taking time to remove these, or causing misfires if not taken care of.

The Werder also had a stunning system to eject the empty cartridge by pressing the second trigger (that's what the front soldier is doing): doing so, the cartridge was immediately ejected and the chamber/breach kept open ready to insert a new ammunition. To close the breach and be ready for the next shot, the only thing the soldier had to do was to pull back the upper cock (what the soldier laying on the right is doing).

The helmet the soldiers are wearing is still the Raupenhelm M1853, the older version: I don't know if the 5th Jäger was given the new M1868 pattern during the war, but at the entry of it, most units kept the 1853 version, so I assume it was the case here too. The difference was purely aesthetic anyway. It bears the green plume that distinguished the Jägern and certain specialists troops as well.

The two green tassels worn on the Waffenrock are the emblem of marksmanship.