I know it’s not Balaclava (which is always knit)
I believe it’s called a kepi.
Lots of branches of the French military wear képis, not just the Foreign Legion, although the tropical kind is white and has the neck protection at the back.
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It’s a kepi.
Here’s a photo (though not in the well-known white color): http://www.reiss.dk/hats/categories/show/default.asp?ID=91&Cat=6
It’s also mentioned in this article by Cecil: http://www.reiss.dk/hats/categories/show/default.asp?ID=91&Cat=6
Uh, this article by Cecil :smack: : http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011019.html
And here’s probably all you wanted to know and then some: http://www.frenchforeignlegion.org/database/data/dta065.html
More correctly, Le Kepi Blanc.
Oh, and as everton’s post suggests, kepi does not exclusively mean the hat of the Foreign Legion. It’s a term for that style of hat, which is most commonly seen in military dress. For example, it was the standard enlisted man’s hat for both sides in the American Civil War.
It’s not the kepi, I don’t think. None of the kepi’s on a Google Image search looked right.
This is the kind I’m looking for: http://tinyurl.com/xs2v
As I explained, the tropical version has the neck protector at the back. It’s definitely a képi.
It is the kepi. Those photos are of white kepis (kepi blanc, in French) with neck cloths. The photo in kmg365’s link is of a white kepi without a neck cloth.
According to Merriam-Webster Collegiate, a kepi is close to the hats worn in the US civil war. It is defined as “A military cap with a round, flat top sloping toward the front, and a visor.” It has come to mean the round, stiff-sided, visored cap shown in your cite. The cloth sun-screen in back is optional. It could also be a visored “pill-box.”
The word apparently comes from a German dialect in Switzerland where kappi (with an unlaut “a” but I don’t know how to do that) just means “cap.”
And as the links provided explain, white was not the original color of the kepi itself, but of its cover for desert/tropical use, as mentioned here: http://www.ima-usa.com/p18a.html
“French Kepi of blue felt construction with green “flaming bomb” emblem. Patent leather peak and chin strap. Complete with off white desert issue linen cover.”
…and pictured here (and no, I’m not the model!): http://www.houseoftheorangemonkey.co.uk/monkey/hats/legion.htm
The kepi is the regular headgear in all the french army, not specifically the foreign legion, though the legionnaries are the only ones wearing a white kepi.
Of course, one doesn’t wear the kepi in combat situation.