Friday, March 24, 2017

The Béret Vrai Basque Chasseur Ardennais

Bad news for the fans of the béret Vrai Basque Chasseur ArdennaisLike other vintage labels that Laulhère had reinstated for South Pacific Berets (like the Bortia, Chirola, Etchea, l'Aiglon, etc), Laulhère has decided not to continue the manufacturing of these historical berets (believe me, I did try to persuade them, but to no avail...).
The béret Vrai Basque is a very old model that has been in continious production by, interestingly,two manufacturers (and big competitors): Blancq-Olibet and Laulhère. With the takeover of B.-O. in 2014, Laulhère got the sole ownership of the label and continues to offer this beret in their higher end quality range, but... only in black and navy.
The Vrai Basque has been used by the Belgian Mountain Infantry Regiment 'Chasseurs Ardennais' since early last century and I was able to offer these berets to the public till now. Obviously, Laulhère continues to supply the Belgian military, but that's it.
The good news however, is that I have a limited number of these berets still in stock in sizes 56-59 and 63 and better still, three pieces of the vintage model in loden-green (instead of the later 'vert nocturne') in sizes 57 and 58 only.
Pictured here is the uniform of a Captain in the Chasseur Ardennais as in May 1940 (3rd Regiment, 1st Company, who fought in Chabrehez "Les Tailles"). The weapon is the MP34 Schmeisser-Bergmann-Bayard.
Notice the dark colour of his beret, the same dark green shade as the collar badges and very different from later models. 

2 comments:

  1. These photos are photos of the Belgian reenactment group "Belga Reconstitution "
    The real name of the color is: "green fir"

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  2. Hello,
    I've just read your article and i saw that you have a limited number of the beret "vrai basque" of the Chasseurs Ardennais. But the article was written in 2017. I was wondering if you still have some? Or do you know were we can find some?

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