[PW] etapes

[Graeme Rymill]

You might find this book useful: "Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armee" by John R. Elting. It has a chapter on logistics and one on "Marches and Bivouacs". The system of etapes predates Napoleon by a wide margin. According to the article "Changing Garrisons: The French System of Étapes" by Claude C. Sturgill (Canadian Journal of History, volume 20, August 1985, pages 193-201) the idea (at least as the French concieved it) had it origins in the 16th and 17th century.
 
Graeme Rymill
University of Western Australia Library