Caught by the French soldiers clearly heartless but getting mercy (8)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Fifteensquared have:

Caught by the French soldiers, clearly heartless, but getting mercy C (=caught, on cricket scorecard) + LE (=the French, i.e. a French word for the ) + MEN (=soldiers, troops) + C <learl> Y (“heartless” means all but first and last letters are dropped)