1878-1916
Hier, nous avons eu un tué, le pauvre gars une balle en plein front en regardant par un créneau, il n’a pas souffert, encore un de plus à cette longue liste des morts
Letter 25th May 1916
Above is an extract from Jules Andre Destrigneville letter from the 25th May 1916, that describes the death yesterday (24th May) of a fellow soldier from the 315e RI, 4e battalion, 16e compagnie from a bullet to the forehead whilst looking through a gap in the trench.
Jules describe the fateful incident of that day, in that “nous avons eu un tue”, which indicates this will have been a person potentially known to Jules, but certainly will have been from the same compagnie and maybe even Jules section, as it translates to “we have had a death”.
The question is can we find this person as the name was not mentioned?
From looking at the JMO from the 7e DI we can see that on the 24th May there was indeed one soldier from the 315e KIA
Thanks to the JMO we know that a death from the 315e has been officially recorded, which means we should be able to find the name on “memoir des homme” website, where we can search for all record deaths by regiment and date.
Accueil – Mémoire des hommes (defense.gouv.fr)
Grand Memorial website is great starting point for any research on French soldiers and regiments. Through the Grand Memorial website we can find official death reports and also service records, but this is not always the case. Fortunately for this story all the information was available:
Résultats / Recherche / Grand Mémorial / Généalogie / Accueil – Culture.fr
The person is question:
2e Classe Henri Louis Monternier
Born 7th November 1878 a Croisic
Classe of 1898
Matricule 969
Mobilised
Died at the Age of 37
Thanks to having his full name we can now find Monternier service record and get to know another poilus mort pour la France, who death may not have been looked at if my Gt Grandfather had not mentioned it in his letter.
Henri Louis Monternier was born on the 7th November 1878 at Croisic near St Nazaire in the Loire department. Henri Father was Lucien Louis Marie Eugene Raphael Monternier and his mother Henriette Wuichet who married in Rennes on the 22nd January 1878 the same year that Henri was born.
“Engage Volontaire” joined the army on the 24th November 1896 with the 9e RI de Chasseurs arriving at the camp on the 25 November. On the 21st April 1898 he transfer to the 6e RI de Chasseurs d’Afrique and is promoted to Soldat 2e Classe.
On the 23rd August 1898 he transfers to the 2e Regiment de Spahis
On completing a tour of Algeria from the 22nd April to 10th June 1899, Henri transfers on the 3rd June to the 15e regiment de dragons and then finally transfers to army reserve in 24th November 1900, to a battalion of telegraphists at Mont-Valerien, but his certificate of “bonne conduit” is refused, for reasons unknown.
What we do know is that later in 1906 Henri is sentenced by the 9e Chambre du Tribual de la Seine on 31st May to one month in prison for “outrages d’un agent”
This would not be Henri last runs in with the law before re-joining and transferring to the 315e on the 16th April 1915.
Henri serviced with the 315e until his death in May 1916. Henri survived the Auberive offensive of the 25th September 1915 and earned himself a citation on 10th October 1915 along with a letter of congratulation from President de la Republique Raymond Poincare. The letter of congratulation from the President is a mystery and why he received this on the 28 August 1915, if anybody can help please get in contact.
Henri dies on the 24th May 1916
What is a nice touch that links it back to the original letter, is the additional description of Henri last moment in his service record:
“Killed by a bullet to the forehead whilst spontaneously observing from a position in the trench which was particularly exposed”
Which is matches perfectly with Jules letter, which means we can be certain the fallen solider mentioned in the letter was:
2e Classe Henri Louis Monternier
There is is a 2nd plaque on a Monument aux Morts for the Parisians that lost their lives during the Great War, which is on the wall that surrounds the Père Lachaise
