[PW] etapes

[John Sleasman]

burchell at telusplanet.net wrote:
> I am more interested in the historical 
> importance of the sites as their military significance during military 
> campaigns during Napoleans era. Just as during modern military operations,
> men and equipment require ammunition, fuel, clothing, explosives, etc, so 
> toodid Napoleans army require similar require supplies for horses, wagons,
> foot soldiers, cavalry and the enormous numbers of women who accompanied their
> men as camp attendents, cooks, laundresses, etc. His logististic problems were
> no less difficult then those of a modern general, and in many ways, because of
> poorer communication, they were even more difficult.  The idea of the etape
> though, is for its time, quite a well thought out one, in my opinion, if I am
> correct in my opinion as to the full definition of the concept.
>   
I seem to remember that the Musée de l'Armée, in Les Invalides in Paris, 
included some provisioning étapes amongst the other 19th century 
engineering models of forts, cities, etc. Unfortunately, the web site ( 
http://www.invalides.org/ ) currently comes up with significant "under 
construction"  pages, and that wing of the Invalides is apparently 
closed for renovation "until 2008." But contacting them ( 
http://www.invalides.org/pages/popup/contact.html ) might help give an 
authoritative answer to questions [and I would presume that someone on 
the staff would speak/write English].

John Sleasman