A short snapshot of the training behind the Greek Riot scenes for Jason Bourne 5.
From research, bootcamps, and rehearsals through to shooting.
Jason Bourne BTS Riot training.
Author: PB Military Adviser for Film and TV Ltd.
Military Advisor / Co-Ordinator for Film and TV
After a 24 year career in the UK Armed Forces I set out in the security industry as a close Protection and surveillance operative.
My knowledge became directly required on several high profile productions.
My vast historical military knowledge makes me a valuable asset to any production from Script Consultancy during the prep stage, through shooting, to project completion. Training large battle formation set pieces.
Key advisor in the following:
Script Consultancy: 24/7 advice to writers, producers, directors,art dept and all necessary crew with technical detail and terminology.
Conduct Bootcamps, assisting with the selection of extras suitable for the production. Training and advising lead cast.
Work with all departments on special action sequences to ensure the correct effect is achieved in a safe environment.
Deliver a realistic look from present day battlefield drill and tactics to historical battles.
AD support and on-set advice on correct military protocols, crowd marshalling and contextual behaviour
Military Berets. The pain in a military advisors backside and how to shape them.
The pain in my backside and a constant complaint amongst veterans who will scream and rant at the TV “who was the military advisor on that”
Last week, I ran a short poll on what grips the most, and Berets were clearly the firm favourite.
I touched on the subject briefly on a previous post titled “Who was the military advisor on that “
So, I thought I would delve deeper into the subject if only to help settle the blood pressures of our armed forces community and help the costume department as a point of reference for the future.
Firstly, the recipe on how to shape a beret.
1. Take the beret and stick it on your head first, to make sure it’s the correct size, ensuring the bow is central to the back of your head, and Pull the access cloth to the right and see how far the beret pulls towards your right ear. It should not cover the right ear.
Ensuring the brim sits straight across your forehead, 2.5 cm above the eyebrows
It’s not always easy for some.
2. Adjust the bow, so the beret is not too loose, but equally not too tight around your head as it’s going to shrink a little after point 4.
3. Fill two bowls, one with warm/hot water and one with cold water
4. Dunk the beret in warm water first, but do not completely submerge. Keep the leather band from getting wet as much as possible by holding the beret by the inner liner when dunked. Once satisfied, the outer is completely wet, take out, and gently wring the beret to get rid of any excessive water.
Don’t overdo it with the wring, or you might stretch the fabric too much.
5. Repeat the same process with the cold water.
6. Fit the damp beret on the head, ensuring you fit it as in point 1. Adjust the bow at the back again to the desired size. Place your cap badge over the left eye just above the leather band. Get a mate to lightly mark where the badge holes need to be made.
7. Take it off, then place small holes with a knife where the marks were made. Most badges come with a backing to help hold the badge up straight.
8. Once the badge and backing are fitted, replace on the head as in point 1.
9. While holding by the cap badge backing, pull the beret cloth to the right and down towards your right ear, ensuring you dont pull down so hard, you end up stretching the cloth over your right ear and shoulder.
At the same time, smoothly shape the left side over and style around the cap badge to your desired style.
10. Once satisfied, keep on your head for a few hours if possible, adjusting every now and again. This will help mould the beret in place. If still not satisfied, repeat steps 4 and 5, but with the badge in place. Don’t pull down at the back if it feels uncomfortable, or you will get this.
11. Once dry and happy, cut away any access bow and tuck away inside the leather band. Some units like to sow a beret backing over the band entrance to ensure no lose ends fall out.
12. The final touch is to gently shave the beret of any fluff.
The style of the beret can depend on several factors, mainly the country and unit represented and time period depicted, so the way in which the beret is shaped and worn varies.
what might be the norm now might not have been the same in the 1940s!
Other nations styles
United States.
Spanish army.
French Tarte Chasseur.
All those steps are easy to follow if you have the time, but now, for the realities of filmmaking.
Costume departments are always up against it with longer working hours than most on set. Cast, Stunts, and Supporting Artists all need to be dressed ready for an 0800 call time. So with 500 people to get ready, you can imagine their workload.
It’s understandable if beret shaping is the last thing on their mind when a director wants to shart shooting at 0800, not 0801.
Whether I identify scenes where berets are worn during the script notes phase or on the shoot. I will always try to flag it up and offer to help the costume department where I can in advance, but you need to offer help, not rush in, and do it without asking. Set etiquette. Very important.
At times, costume suppliers will send the berets, brand new with even the plastic inside a few days before a shoot and will stipulate the berets have to be returned as new or the productions get charged the full price. Not always the case, but I have witnessed it a few times.
If the budget is tight, it causes problems as the costume department will be reluctant to allow the berets to be shaped correctly, worried it could affect the suppliers’ returns policy.
It’s not the costume departments fault, of course, as most would not know how or why there is a need to shape military Berets or how it won’t really affect the return policy.
As long as the productions hired a military costume specialist or advisor, that is!
However, on rare occasions I have had time with the costume department in advance and managed to convince them to allow me to take the berets out for a few days before a shoot and shape them to the respective heads during a boot camp.
On other occasions, we have simply not had the luxury of time, and the berets have turned up on the day of the shoot. The Gentleman is a prime example of all departments working together under limited time constraints.
While on location in Turkey filming The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare a new scene had been written depicting a UN monitoring team from the British Army.
A platoon commander and his platoon Sgt moving between VCPs when the main character gets an unexpected call.
It was the opening scene to the series, and first impressions last, so the main cast member Theo James needed to look the part as much as the production would allow as with the rest of the soldiers on set.
Making something work with only a few days to order gear and get it either flown over or found locally was not an easy task to as much right in the time given, and considering we were already working flat out on the movie in the same location, the team did not do a bad job.
For example, finding the correct weapons and vehicles in turkey as the export times for licenses to fly from the UK can take weeks.
MTP uniforms, boots, webbing, berets, correct rank, and beret badges all needed to be flown over once costume was satisfied with my suggestions.
On the day of the shoot, the berets had just arrived via a flight the following night.
All the berets were brand new and of various sizes.
I received the Supporting Artists and Berets, including the main cast, 20 minutes before the shoot.
All the badges were the same standard UN badge, but there were no officer versions, so there was nothing we could do about that.
There were no badge backings, so I made one out of stiff cardboard and showed a costume assistant how to make the rest up quickly.
Luckily, the costume designer had the hot and cold water to shrink and shape the berets as best I could in the time given.
Each man was lined up as I went through the various sizes to match each head, including the main cast.
Then, I began the shaping process as described above but left out sowing a bow backing and shaving them.
But job done and on the van to set
The hard part is encouraging the actors to not pull the back of the beret down throughout the day. Something I needed to closely monitor and correct after each take.
There was a lot more to do, and make do, with what was supplied on the day, but this blog is about berets.
Some things you just have to get on with and do your best, and there will always be the armchair nit picker desperate to impress on social media. It’s just one of life’s mysteries.
So there you have it. Employ a military advisor or military costume specialist and avoid the most hated debate amongst the veterans community, because as much as some people think it doesn’t matter, it will when a lack of planning and thought makes the headlines for all the wrong reasons, which can ruin all the hard work making drama only remembered for one thing.
PB Military Technical Adviser for Film and TV
Cyrano BTS
Cyrano, the movie, filmed in Noto and Mount etna, Sicily in 2020.
At the time of preparation and filming, the country had strict Covid restrictions and was in partial lockdown.
During the main battle scenes on Mount Etna on the last day, the active volcano began to erupt.
Despite this, the set was deamed safe, and we wrapped on time.
As the film is a musical, the period drill is tailored to work with the music and dance movements. If you’re a drill purist, look away.
Here is the journey
The Boot Camp
The battle and the morning Etna erupted on the way to set.
Napoleon Boot Camps
A short video highlighting some of the bootcamps I have worked on when preparing supporting artists, stunts and cast for War and Peace. Vanity Fair and Napoleon.
I along with the historical advisor read the script, providing notes detailing any errors and providing workable suggestions to get the same artistic effect, but closer to reality.
Remember, an advisor can only advise they can not demand to a director to do it the advisors way, Its not your train set and you wont last long in the filming game if you stamp your feet at every inaccuracy . However, I always try to move the drinks cabinet closer to berlin during filming. Some I win and some I lose.
I then set about writing up a boot camp training plan, depending on the year being filmed.
For the British army I used The drill manual The Rules and Regulations for the manual and platoon exercises, formations, field exercise and movement 1807 addition. The Dundas manual and the Imperial Bayonets for the french etc.
Depending on the action or scenes, I will take from the manual what is required and apply it to the training program. I may only have four days to get 300 men to a respectful level of competency in drill, musket training, and cannon training before filming.
Not everything can be covered in the time I am given and some drill needs to be more generic so not to confuse the volunteers to much with information overload.
Health and safety, and working time directives are added to the mix, just the make the job even harder.
Try training 300 men during a productions strict COVID policy. start at 8am, every one is tested and can only start training once everyone’s results are clear, around 10am. one hour lunch break, and I must have all weapons handed in and the volunteers heading home by 1700.
During the boot camp, uniform fitting will take place which gives me even less time with each volunteer.
I run a selection day a week before the bootcamp. This insures the volunteers understand what they are letting themselves in for, and allows me to asses their suitability to attend the boot camp.
Good fitness is a must as filming days are long and can be physically demanding when required to perform intense action sequences.
The selection day allows the costume department to ensure the Volunteers can fit in the uniforms provided.
I have put together some of the action from Vanity fair and Napoleons Battle of waterloo and War and Peace Battle of Borodino. Its not a great edit, but hope you enjoy.
Team PB 2023 Wrap.
That’s a wrap for all Team PB teams. It’s been another smashing year for the company starting in Riga, Malta, Turkey, Morocco, Malta, Budapest, Malaysia, Croatia, and back to Malta. Have a happy Christmas, and we look forward to a busy new year.
A small snapshot of work and premiers this year with a few hints to next year.
Napoleon Boot camp
Firstly, a big thank you to all the hard work and resilience of the supporting artists who helped make this movie.
My job is to train mass numbers in the basics of drills and tactics of the projects target period in the shortest time possible in a safe and controlled environment.
Everyone is required to go through a rigorous assessment to ensure everyone is fit and healthy.
Prior preparation and training before a shoot ensures everyone knows their role in the bigger picture on the day.
More photos will be posted in due course.
We can advise, not dictate.
Historical advisors are on hand to advise on the history of the project.
Military advisors are on hand to assist the director in forming the supporting artists to the desired look of his direction.
Advisers can only advise. We cannot insist as its not our train set.
We make drama, not documentaries.
Malbatt MISI Bakara.
A few Behind the scenes photos and clips from the training and preparation for Malbatt MISI Bakara.
Filmed primarily in Turkey, Gaziantep, and Kilis.
IMDB Paul Biddiss Military Technical Adviser for film and TV Ltd
1917
Roman Basic Training v Modern British Army Basic training
A common phrase used during my days as a crow at Depot Para in Aldershot was “Train Hard, Fight easy” and from research, the Romans were no different.
From studying the Roman Army you can see where the British Army adopted its training and doctrine.
The first training objective for all new recruits is how to march as a body of men. The historian Vegetius tells us that it was seen as of greatest importance to the Roman army that its soldiers could march at speed in formation.
Any army which would be split up by stragglers at the back or soldiers trundling along at differing speeds would be vulnerable to attack.
Those who have attended one of my bootcamps will understand why you were required to pass a selection process before being considered.
Fom day one of recruit training the Roman soldier was trained to march in line at the same pace and to keep the army a compact fighting unit on the move.
One of the Romans most famous formations was the Tortoise (testudo). Testudo is the Latin word for “tortoise”.
The soldiers in front and sides interlocked their shields. The soldiers in the back lines placed their shields over their heads to form a protective “shell” over top of the men.
For this, we are told by Vegetius, during the summer months the soldiers were to be marched twenty Roman miles (18.4 miles/29.6 km), which had to be completed in five hours.
In the British Army we call this a TAB Tactical Advance to Battle.
Vegetius mentions running, long and high jump and carrying heavy packs.
During the summer swimming was also a part of training. If their camp was near the sea, a lake or river, every recruit was made to swim.
Next in line, after the training for marching and fitness, came the training of handling weapons. The correc use of the gladius and scutum.
For this they primarily used wickerwork shields and wooden swords. Both the shields and the swords were made to standards which made them twice as heavy as the original weapons. Evidently it was thought, that if a soldier could fight with these heavy dummy weapons, he would be twice as effective with the proper ones.
Train hard, fight easy
Dummy weapons were at first employed against heavy wooden stakes, about six foot high, rather than against fellow soldiers. Against these wooden stakes the soldier trained the various moves, strikes and counter-strikes with the sword.
Only once the recruits was deemed able enough in fighting against the stakes, were they assigned in pairs to train in individual combat.
This more advanced stage of combat training was called armatura, an expression which first was used in the gladiatorial schools, which proves that some of the methods used in training soldiers was indeed borrowed from the training techniques of gladiators.
The weapons used in the armatura were, though still of wood, of the same, or similar weight as the original service weapons.
Weapons training was deemed of such importance that weapons instructors generally received double rations, whereas soldiers who didn’t achieve adequate standards received inferior rations until they had proven in the presence of a high-ranking officer that they had attained the demanded standard. (inferior rations: Vegetius states that their wheat rations were substituted with barley)
After completing the initial training with the sword, the recruit was to master the use of the spear, the pilum. For this the wooden stakes were put to use again as targets. The pilum used for practice was, once again, twice the weight of the regular weapon.
The Modern day army being live firing tests.
Vegetius notes that weapons training was given such importance that in some places roofed riding schools and drill halls were built to allow for training to continue throughout the winter.
Like my time at Depot Para, Physical conditioning and skill at arms was the bread and butter of soldiering. Without getying to grips with them you would not last long or be able to progress forward.
The Roman Army recruits were progressively trained to a high standard as you can see from the following. The British Army are no different.
Roman army training objectives.
Swimming
Jumping
Cutting down trees
Carrying heavy packs
Vaulting onto horses–mounting and dismounting from both the right and the left with their weapons drawn or holding their pila. Wooden horses were used until the recruits became proficient. Then real horses were used
Running in full armor
Digging defensive ditches
Erecting ramparts and palisades
Other camp construction activities
Taking care of equipment
Erecting tents
Giving first aid
British Army training objectives
Attestation (a formal ceremony to join the British Army), kit issue, administration, Drill calling out the time until you pass off the parade square at week 4. weapons training and Exercise Icebreaker (teaching Exercise) – your first night in the field. Exercise first fence.
Military skils aptitude tests.
Drill
Weapons
Tactics
Military Swim Test.
Nuclear and biological warfare
Progressive physical development. Running, upper body conditioning and Tabbing. ( running and fast walking with equipment.
Basic wales
Introduction to blank Firing at section, Platoon and company level.
Training cast how to TAB in South Africa.
Advanced Wales
Bringing it all together with Live Firing at section, Platoon and company level.
My final training test on Salisbury plan 1989 not knowing back then I would be back 30 years later advising on 1917.
Physical tests P company
The Author during his early Basic training day in Depot Para Aldershot.
Letters from the front. Napoleonic war research.
Credit to the Facebook page Napoleonic wars research forum and poster Jonas De Neef a great page to join if your interested in more research material.
Here we have three letters from the French officer Faré, captain adjutant-major in the grenadiers of the Imperial Guard. In the first letter, the author confides to his parents his destitution, but also his despair in front of the horrors he encountered and the exactions committed by hordes of Cossacks. He then felt anguish for his family.
In the third document, he speaks of the general appeal: peace and rest. Faré mentions, in his opinion, the task that the new government has to undertake if it wants to be appreciated by the people of France. The outcome is well known…
Reims, 16 March 1814.
My dear parents, I am taking advantage of a moment’s rest which we have finally been granted to share my tidings with you. In the midst of our forced marches and unremitting stay in bivouacs, it has been impossible for me to find a single opportunity to write to you. I have never found myself in such a situation.
I no longer have any boots or trousers. Never have we marched so much and had so little rest. We are fighting a fierce campaign and, if we finally succeed in driving the enemy out of our country, I believe that we will have deserved it well. How I express my relief that you have not yet had to receive these ferocious guests! It is said that in the interior, people do not want to believe the atrocity of their conduct. Certainly, I do not wish the unbelievers to be convinced by their own eyes.
I do not ‘publish newspapers’ and [thus] I report what I have seen. Twenty fold, tears of rage have flowed from my eyes at the sight and account of the horrors they have committed. The most shameless plunder is the least of their crimes. Arson, rape, death: these are the benefits that the liberators of France provide. It seems that sex and age, instead of being for them an object of respect, are an object of fury. Of course, it is in the countryside that the great horrors are committed. In the cities, where there is a sort of order, they show kindness.
They encounter a citizen in the street, they throw him to the ground and take his boots, his buckles, his shoes, his watch. They enter a house, and make hand over the utensils that the inhabitants have not had the time to stash away. It is especially common for them not to leave any curtains in the rooms where they sleep. The officers observe all this, and, far from objecting, proceed to do the same.
If misfortune were to threaten Touraine, hide all the money, linen, furniture, etc., that you can find, and take refuge in the city where it is always safer. But for goodness sake, don’t stay at Amandières!
The idea of seeing them ravage our beautiful regions makes me furious. Ah, why don’t all the Frenchmen have a better understanding of their interests? In less than a month, all these brigands would have crossed the Rhine again. Yet they have managed, by dint of their horrors, to stir the peasants of these regions, who are beginning to chase them [away] vigorously. When the season is less severe, I hope that everyone will rise up.
At the bivouac near Essonnes, 5 April 1814.
My dear parents, I am in good health, and that is a lot in these sad circumstances. Courage, health, that is what you want.
Egreville, 16 April 1814.
My dear and kind relatives, at last, after a great deal of pain and fatigue, I am enjoying a little peace and rest. When I wrote a few words to you at the bivouac on 5 April, we were still unaware of the events which had taken place in Paris [capitulation of the city on 30 March, and the entry of the Allied army the following day] and we were expecting to march on this city. It was the same day that Marshal Marmont’s defection took place, whereupon we were forced to return to Fontainebleau where we were informed of everything by the newspapers. What treachery! What cowardice! What ingratitude! In truth, men are both horrifying and pitiful. Who were the first to abandon the Emperor? Those whom he had showered with wealth and dignity. Who were those who remained faithful to him until the last moment, who almost unanimously asked to accompany him in his exile? We, the junior officers of the Guard, and even more so our soldiers, many of whom have deserted since we gave our support to the new government. What favours had we obtained, what special graces, that our services had not earned us under any government?
And our brave grenadiers, without pay for six months, many without shoes, without trousers, marching ceaselessly in the middle of the harshest season, rushing from one army to another, securing victory by their presence: was it interest that guided them? No: it was honour, shunning [men wearing] cords, plates and embroidery, who then took refuge in our ranks.
We submitted our adhesion on the 11th. We could do no more for the Emperor than he himself wanted. Here we are, then, subjects of a new government which, when once we have given our oath, will be able to rely more on our fidelity than on that crowd of cowards whose only motives are self-interest and fear, and who have so often brought down the idol which they worshipped the day before. Napoleon deserves a part of what happened to him. He committed great faults, everyone mentions them. One of those which I reproach him the most, is to have called to him or suffered people who were not worthy of this honour. He could and should have chosen better.
If the new government is cautious and firm at the same time, it will be easy for it to be adored. Peace. Rest is the general cry. He who grants it, this much desired peace, will be a god for France. Happy inhabitants of the banks of the Loire, you are still unaware of the evils of war, you know this only through hearsay. I congratulate you. My father did well to come and settle in our beautiful and peaceful Touraine!
We are quartered here some four leagues from Nemours, eight from Fontainebleau. Our village, Egreville, is quite nice. We are waiting first for peace to be concluded, then for what the new government wishes to do with us.
Your whole community must feel very triumphant, very pleased with what is happening. Well, I too will be happy if the well-being of France is the result. Faithful to honour, I have done all that my duty required of me, without animosity, without agony. May my country be content, and I will adore those who will make it so.
(Arthur CHUQUET, L’Année 1814. Lettres et Mémoires, Fontemoing et Cie Éditeurs, 1914, pp. 123-126).
The following letter was written by General Christiani and was intended for General Pelet. The document was published in the Carnet de la Sabretache in 1905, as an appendix to an article devoted to the Guard infantry at Waterloo. This letter bore the inscription: ‘Letter from General Christiani, commander in 1815 of the 2nd Grenadiers of the Guard, to Mr. Lieutenant-General Baron Pelet’.
Paris, 24 April 1835.
My general,
I can only answer rather imperfectly to the enquiries you made in your letter of 21 January. My memory, which is too ungrateful, and the time that has elapsed since 1815, are factors on which I can hardly rely. However, I will try to answer your questions as best I can. These answers will at least prove to you my willingness to comply with your wishes.
Question – What was the strength of the 2nd Regiment of Grenadiers on Foot of the Guard at the time of the start of the campaign? Answer – I believe it did not exceed 1,000 to 1,100 men. Q. – How many casualties did this corps suffer on the 16th June? A. – None. During the battle of the 16th, the whole corps of Grenadiers on Foot stayed in reserve, and only changed position twice. The second time, it passed through Fleurus, took position on the left of this village, at a distance of perhaps half a league from Ligny, which the enemy still occupied in part. The four regiments of Grenadiers received the order to clear it out. This movement was conducted without any resistance on the part of the enemy, but while we were being formed in squares by battalions by debouching on the other side of the village, we were surprised by a charge of Prussian lancers who passed through the intervals of the squares, without us being able to make use of our musketry, the squares not having had time to position themselves in echelons.
The enemy would have fared better if they had undertaken a second charge, but they did not return. We spent the night of the 16th to the 17th on the battlefield, that is to say on the height which crowns the village of Ligny. Q. – Where did you spend the night of the 17th and 18th? A. – The next day, the 17th, we left our position around eleven o’clock or noon. We marched all day. I followed the movement of the regiments which preceded me.
The weather was dreadful, and it was already late at night, when I saw a bivouac. It was the one belonging to the 4th or 3rd Grenadier Regiment. I found no one there to indicate to me the position which I was to occupy. The night was dark. In this state of affairs, the tired and soaked grenadiers put themselves together with their comrades of the regiment who were already in the bivouac. This bivouac was situated astride the main road, behind the imperial headquarters, near a hamlet or village whose name I do not remember.
Q. – What were the various positions you occupied during the day of the 18th, and particularly from five to six o’clock in the afternoon, from six to seven, and from seven to eight? A. – The next day, 18 June, a ray of sunlight appeared at about nine in the morning. We were ordered to get our weapons ready and engage the enemy. Subsequently, we took up positions behind the Emperor, who stood on a hill on the right of the Brussels road. Here I do not remember the movements of the other regiments of Grenadiers on Foot, but I do remember being ordered to go forward with the 2nd Regiment and take up a position on the right of the Brussels road.
I stood close to a very deep ravine on my right. I remained in this position all day. I observed the return of the remnants of four regiments of the Guard on foot which had been sent forward under the orders of General Friant to capture the position occupied by the English, a position which was defended by a very deep ravine and numerous artillery which were entrenched. You know as well as I do the sad result of this attack. Between five and six o’clock, perhaps later, I received the order to send forward a battalion of the regiment to a village situated to the right and to the rear of the position which I occupied, to drive out the Prussians, it was stated, who had just seized it [it concerns Plancenoit, where the French Young Guard and the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Chasseurs with Pelet were already present]. It was Mr. Golzio, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment, whom I charged with this mission.
I did not see him again until the evening when we retired. I do not remember if he lost many men, but only that he told me that he had done much harm to the enemy.
Finally, towards seven or eight o’clock in the evening, I believe, I departed with the 1st Battalion, which remained to me, to go and join the Emperor who was on the left of the road, at a short distance from the position which I had just left. He was alone, on foot, and General Drouot was with him. I ordered my battalion to form square. The Emperor remained some time to observe, I think, the retrograde movement which the artillery of the army made on the plain on the left of the road, and he then mounted his horse to withdraw. At about this time the enemy commenced a cavalry charge on the main road, and found themselves entangled with our cavalry and infantry who were withdrawing in disorder.
The English skirmishers also appeared, and began the fusillade. Then I began my retreat alongside my battalion [still formed up] in square. A few bullets hit us and caused confusion in the ranks. The voices of the officers were disregarded, and arriving at the height that the 1st Regiment of Grenadiers was occupying, my soldiers disbanded and, then, it was impossible to rally them. I joined the road in front of Génappe; General Roguet also arrived there. There we attempted to rally as many men as possible to wait for the night, but we were abandoned.
Nevertheless, General Roguet and I did not retire until we heard the enemy advancing on the road at the sound of their fifers. Compelled then to withdraw, I lost sight of General Roguet in the commotion, and I followed a path to the left of Génappe with the intention of reaching Charleroi, when I encountered you and General Petit.
Please accept, General, the assurance of the most sincere affection of your
Most devoted servant.
Signed: CHRISTIANI, maréchal de camp.