Volunteers of The West
After the Capture of Rome by Victor Emmanuel in 1870, the French contingent of the former Papal Zouaves served the government of National Defence in France during the Franco-Prussian War. Renamed as the Volontaires de l'Ouest (Volunteers of the West) but retaining their grey and red Papal uniforms, the Zouaves fought the Prussians and their other German allies outside Orléans, with 15 killed or wounded between the 11th and 12 October 1870, and also engaged the enemy at Patay. Numbering about 1,800 men, the experienced former Papal Zouaves fought with distinction at the Battle of Loigny (2 December 1870) where they lost 216 men while covering the retreat of other French units. The Volontaires were disbanded after the entrance of Prussian troops into Paris.
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