Researching a French soldier

[Peter van den Heuvel]

Goodday to you all,

Before my actual question I think I have to explain the reason for this search;

In 2003 a Dutch couple I know bought a 40-year abandoned house in the Limoges area; it looked like the former owners had left the house as it was including furniture and most personal things. During the clean-up and restoration they found some extraordinary things like a piece of hair and photos of a little girl who passed away at the age of 10 in 1914. (Just this example to explain the situation as the house was left)

This girl seemed to have had a brother Arthur Roux fighting in the French Army; he was KIA 20 August 1918, 20 years old. All the correspondence with his parents was left in the house also and the new owners have had the in old-French written letters translated into Dutch. Somewhere in the house they als found a plaquette as shown below.

As the new owners say they bought a "house with a past" I wondered if this could be some article for An Unfortunate Region and it would be the first time we would research a French soldier

What I have already is Soldat 2nd class Arthur Roux' death certificatie which mentions him to be killed in action at Tartiere (Aisne) on 20 August 1918. He was attached to the 127th regiment Infantrie 2nd ??

So; what ways are there to find out what actions his unit had on 20 August 1918 and where can be found where he is buried ?

Looks I need a real Frenchmen on this one...

Thanks in advance for tips, hints and everything that can push me in the right direction !

Peter van den Heuvel.

[DirtyDick]

Hello

Type "Memoirdeshommes" into your search engine and you will come across the French CWGC equivalent; it is very easy to navigate and is multilingual.

Richard

[Marco]

Richard,

Does the site do more than show the form below? From this form the current burials can't be learned.

TIA!

Regards,

Marco

[DirtyDick]

No, I think it just shows appropriate page from regimental casualty books, but I did notice addresses to which one could write for more information: perhaps this would be necessary to find location?

Richard

[Paul Reed]

Thanks to a forum member, I was made aware of this site where you can look up the location of graves:

http://www.sepulturesdeguerre.sga.defense.gouv.fr/

But I cannot find your man; however, I understand it is not complete yet.

[Marco]

Thanks for that link Paul, most usefull.

Regards,

Marco

[Peter van den Heuvel]

Paul, also my thanks for the link, can be useful in the future.

But let me put my question another way; DID the French Army keep their records longer than 2 weeks ? Maybe a bit harsh but I have serious doubts about their administration...

Peter H.

[Paul Reed]

I would agree - it has always struck me odd you occasionally see graves in French cemeteries where only a partial surname is shown eg. Le-e-v-re. And often a unit and date of death is shown! Using this new databases it will surely be possible to identify some of these men?

The French love paperwork (and I speak from personal experience); but often how they use it is another thing...

[paul guthrie]

I believe when French grave has part of a name it's because that's all they could tell from information they had. I see no other logical reason. I am guessing ID tag damaged.

[Paul Reed]

Well, yes, that is the explanation of how it came about, but many French unit histories contain casualty lists, and the certificates (above) must have been in some sort of order - it wonders why none were cross-referenced? Perhaps they were?

The new database may well help to identify some of these men, perhaps?

[frie]

Peter,

You must contact Le ministere de la défense. Especially "Secretariat général pour l'administration " - Direction de la Mémoire du patrimoine et des archives. - You can get there all the information about a soldier.

I got a copy of such a file. A French soldier Cirasse "died" on 11 november 1914 in the battle of Croonaert Wood (4-16 november 1914 with thousands of killed Germans and French) - Bayernwald for the Germans and "Bois Quarante" for the Français - De Croonaert for the Belgians - on this counter of information - fiche d'information - is mentioned everything about this soldiers also the date - declaration of (legaly)death by a court - and the place where he may be buried.

Email: dmpa-sdab-mentions@sga.defense.gouv.fr

Tek: 01-49-74-36-85 fax: 01-49-74-36-90 - Contact in French...

Contact nemen met de bovengemelde dienst en je krijgt een volledige fiche over de soldaat best in het Frans -

[Peter van den Heuvel]

frie (and others!),

Thanks for this constructive information ! Correspondence in French won't be the problem. In this case I'll try it out in cooperation with the owners of the house but considerble time will be needed I think, as said by Paul; French love paperwork. And as a reaction to Paul Guthrie's reply: Also his ID-tag was found fully intact in the house.

Peter H.