Conscription and Recruiting, France
Two years ago I ran a post on French conscription in 1906, complete with humorous postcards. Click here to see it. Today, we take another look at French conscription.
Above are French Army recruits lined up for a physical in the 1930s. Like recruits everywhere, they had to strip naked.
February 1, 1945, toward the end of World War II. Nothing has changed.
This undated photo is labelled "Conseil de revision - homme sur le balance" (Draft board - man on the scale).
Here's another "Draft board - man on the scale."
In this undated photo, a conscript's height is being measured while others wait in line.
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This photo of military conscription in 1954 looks like the same procedure as the 1930s. Again, nothing has changed; the photo is just from a different angle.
We end with a clip showing physical examination of French recruits from a 1939 video called Inside the Maginot Line. It's an outtake from a "March of Time" newsreel, an American newsreel series sponsored by Time magazine. Newsreels in 1939 didn't have a problem showing rear male nudity to the public, but this one may be an outtake (rejected) because there's a glimpse of frontal nudity around the 16 second mark.
8 comments:
As of the Viet Nam Era, they were still doing that here. I have no idea what it's like now.
Nothing escaped the eyes of those French military examiners. I've always wondered how long the physical exams actually took. An hour? Two hours? The recruits obviously had to remain nude for the entire time. Not exactly a comfortable position to be in.
how much they were short!
Big Dude is right. During the Vietnam era it hadn't changed much at all. The physical was an all-naked inspection of vitals, then height, weight, they checked the balls, checked for hernia, there was the "bend over and spread 'em" checking for hemorrhoids. But, of course, back then, being naked around a bunch of other guys wasn't a big deal.
So many beautiful asses!
@anonymous — actually, it’s a very comfortable position for most of us to be in! Many of us come to this great blog because we love the idea of being unashamedly naked around other men.
Military physicals for new recruits. A true "meat market" for anyone fortunate enough to observe it.
I briefly considered an officers program in the Air Force in the mid 90s. I had to go for the physical evaluation. We were in our underwear the whole time, no open nudity.
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