Colonel Jean-Louis AUBERT (1813-1888). Vetterli rifle model 1871 1st type caliber 10.5 mm x 38R. Round barrel with thunder flats and rise. Double trigger (Thury system). Iron fittings. Fang buttplate. Walnut frame. Partially checkered barrel. Leather strap. Has a small inlaid silver plate on the left side, engraved "L.s. Aubert". A.B.E. Includes a 402-page paperback volume "Les papiers du colonel Aubert, 1813-1888". Published by Théodore Aubert, Genève, Alex et Julien Editeur, 1953 (accident, stains). Biography: Henri d'Orléans, Duc d'Aumale, entrusted him with the education of his eldest son, Louis, because "He was an upright, courageous and good man, a true man of good and merit...". Colonel J.L. Aubert made a career for himself in the Swiss army, becoming immortalized as director of military construction for the Alpine passes. Born in Turin on October 15, 1813, he returned to Geneva in 1825, where he studied Belles Lettres at the Académie, then headed for Paris to enter the École Polytechnique, which he attended from 1833 to 1835. Returning to Geneva, he obtained a doctorate in mathematics in 1837 and began teaching. In Geneva, the young polytechnician was quickly appointed as an engineer officer in the cantonal militia, before joining the École de Thoune, first as a student, then as an instructor (1839-1847). It was the future General Dufour who had him appointed by the Confederation to the engineering staff. For Aubert, it was the start of a military career that would later lead to the coveted rank of federal colonel. In 1854, Aubert joined the Federal General Staff and returned to his beloved Thun School. This was his "golden age". Inspector of Engineering from 1858 to 1865, the Federal Council entrusted him with the task of studying the creation of passages through the heart of the Alps. Jean-Louis Aubert was entrusted with the construction of the Axenstrasse, Furka and Oberalp military routes. A technical feat that led to the creation of infrastructures in the heart of the Alps that are the pride of Switzerland today. Militarily speaking, the strategic importance of Alpine routes was not lost on him, and in 1861 he led the first Alpine manoeuvres in Swiss military history. During the border occupation of 1870-1871, he commanded the 3rd division. He was promoted to divisional officer in 1875, commanding the 1st division. He ended his military career on December 31, 1876. Fascinated by railroads, he became a director in 1852 and then in 1856 manager of the Compagnie ferroviaire de l'Ouest-Suisse (1856-1872), the company that built the Morges-Lausanne-Yverdon line in 1855.