Stretcher-bearers

 

Supposedly, towards the end of the First French Empire, concerned with the ever-increasing number of unattended casualties on the battlefield, some high-ups came up with the idea of equipping some men so that they could rescue the wounded possibly even before the battle ended.

The men would work by pair and each of them would carry on his back half a stretcher and be armed with a lance for self-defence.

When a stretcher was needed, the lance heads could be detached and the shafts turned into stretcher poles. 

The men would also be qualified nurses and carry basic first aid equipment. 

Although some people have argued that the idea of stretcher-bearer lancers never materialised, I've read at least one testimony from the period describing the process. 

So, the concept may well have been tested in the field at some point.

As for the uniform these men would wear, the source material is extremely sparse at best and although most illustrations from the 20th or 21st centuries show the stretcher-bearers wearing some type of brown uniform, it's far from certain that this was ever worn or if they had any type of specific uniform to start with. This is why I had no qualms cobbling these two together with spare uniforms, spare hats and spare lances lying about.