April 16, 1917 - Two Soldiers Mort Pour La France

[Michael Johnson]

I was looking at a spreadsheet I have for French Memorial Scrolls, and noticed something I'd missed for probably a decade.  Two of these men died the same day, in the same sector.

 

Mialeret

Victor Hyppolyte

25 BC

Caporal  (mitrailleur)

25th BCP

April 16, 1917

Soupir, Aisne

 

Roques        Isidore           155 RI (150 RI accd'g to MDH    Soldat 2e Classe                                    April 16, 1917     Mont Sapigneul, Aisne

 

I had an artist on the Great War Forum draw me a sketch of Mialaret on Mont Sapin.  The 25th Chasseurs à pied captured Mont Sapin, with heavy casualties. 45 killed, 13 missing, 205 wounded.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Michael Johnson

[Hendrik]

Hello Michael,

 

Here's the entry in the "Journal Officiel de la République Française" of 3 January 1924 for the award of the posthumous Médaille Militaire to Pvt. Roques (listed among the 150th Infantry Regiment recipients):

 

 

Regards,

Hendrik

[Michael Johnson]

Thank you Hendrik.  I have Roques's certificates as well.

 

Michael

5 hours ago, Hendrik said:

"Journal Officiel de la République Française"

Hendrik, this is on Legifrance?  How do you structure a search to find an individual soldier?

 

Merci,

Michael

Edited April 17, 2022 by Michael Johnson

[Hendrik]

Michael,

 

No, it's on Gallica. Fill in the name you want to research between quotation marks (top left) on :

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb34378481r/date.r=Journal+officiel+de+la+republique+francaise+Lois+et+decrets.langFR

 

Regards,

Hendrik

[Michael Johnson]

Thank you Hendrik.  I'm considered something of an expert on London Gazette searches, but this is new to me.

 

Michael

Edited April 20, 2022 by Michael Johnson

[Michael Johnson]

Here are the entries from Mialret's matricule and the Journal Officiel for his Medaille Militaire.  The first was awarded October 23, 1916 (Croix de Guerre with 1 bronze and 1 silver stars) and the latter September 21, 1920.

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Michael Johnson

[Michael Johnson]

After some more research on Caporal Mialaret, I may have to remove the drawing.  The extracts above refer to him as a Fusilier Mitrailleur.  This suggests that he was not using a Hotchkiss machine gun, but the recently introduced Chauchat automatic rifle.  His first Croix de Guerre was for his actions on 25th September 1916.  The regimental history says that the Somme attack at Bouchavesnes was the regiment's first use of this weapon.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Michael Johnson

[Hendrik]

13 hours ago, Michael Johnson said:

Here are the entries from Mialret's matricule and the Journal Officiel for his Medaille Militaire.  The first was awarded September 23, 1916 (Croix de Guerre with 2 bronze and one silver stars) and the latter September 21, 1920.

Hello Michael,

 

I think there's a mix-up somewhere ... Here's how I read it :

 

Croix de Guerre with bronze star on October 23, 1916 (not Sept.)

Ditto with silver star on April 29, 1917 posthumously (KIA on April 16)

Military Medal, posth., in 1920

***

Croix de Guerre with bronze star on Sept. 10, 1917, serving in the Orient Army in 1918 and finishing the war alive and being demobbed in Sept. 1919

 

There seem to be 2 different people involved here ...

 

Regards,

Hendrik

[Michael Johnson]

Thank you, Hendrik. I have mixed up two different soldiers.  Your reading is correct.

 

Attached is his full matricule.