Soldat Florian Morel
1ER REGIMENT D’INFANTERIE, 6E ARMÉE FRANÇAISE
TO THE RIGHT, THE ATTACK of the 24th would still go ahead in the French sector, with a now minimal contribution from a British division supporting their left flank. The French assault at the beginning of July had somewhat routed both the first and second German positions in their sector. In some places they had advanced 6 miles and they had got tantalisingly close to Peronne. The enemy lost 12,000 men as prisoners, eighty-five guns, twenty-six minenwerfer and 100 machine guns. ‘It was the most beautiful success since the Marne.’ Then the Germans had steeled themselves, brought in thousands of reinforcements and attritional warfare had set in.
Florian Morel was a 23 year old from Annay, near Béthune. His home town was under German occupation, so serving with the 1st Regiment d’Infanterie, which had a large contingent of men whose homes were now behind enemy lines, he had a particularly fierce motivation for defeating the Germans.
On 18th August the French attacked, alongside the British. After a steady bombardment that was not raised to a crescendo prior to the infantry assault in the hope of confusing the enemy, the men set off behind a creeping barrage. It was a disappointing endeavour. In charge of the French, Joffre appeared to be furious. The French contribution to the day, he thought, was absolutely insignificant. As far as he was concerned, the British had ‘the right to be unhappy and somewhat surprised’ at the lack of support that they had received. It simply would not do to give them cause to complain about the conduct of their French allies. A significant new attack was now planned, but before it could be carried out certain objectives needed to be claimed properly, including the village of Maurepas, which, just to the right of the British sector, had proved a significant aggravation to the French Army for some time. The French held part of the village, but on the following day would be looking to rip the north-eastern section from the enemy.
As the Battle of the Somme began, Florian had been busy to the south-west of Reims. His regiment had been doing back-breaking work on their trench lines when, in the third week of July, they received orders to leave and relocated to 25 miles south of Amiens. Florian had been digging or sitting still for weeks and so for him and his countrymen a stringent programme of physical training began. There were daily exercises: four hours in the morning, a break and then four more hours in the late afternoon. The regiment began by training in sections, with general fitness in mind. With upcoming operations planned, they then expanded their practice, first in companies, then in battalions as rehearsing the attacks grew grander in scale.
Bombers of the 1st Regiment d’Infanterie at work at Maurepas. (Authors’ collection)
There was time for relaxation and the odd luxury. Showers were put up in a nearby barn, and there were constant medal presentations, reviews and concerts. At the beginning of August the 1st Infantry Regiment undertook even more elaborate manoeuvres, the largest of which was a fake attack on Hardevillers, including overnight operations, with one session that went on for sixteen hours. A week later, prepared for their part in the Battle of the Somme, Florian and his regiment had begun the move back towards the front.
Like their British counterparts further north on the battlefield, the French were suffering from the effects of constant rain, their sector becoming ‘a quagmire, a swamp’. On 19th August, Florian finally moved into the Maurepas sector, his regiment relieving a Zouave one. They went into the line the following day. ‘Gusts’ of artillery fire were prevalent as the battalions went about improving the position and, as the day of the attack approached, violent bombardments rained down on Maurepas and the surrounding area, with all calibres of gun in action.
Detail featuring Florian Morel’s name from the village war memorial at Annay. (Andrew Holmes)
The countryside was in ruins. One village nearby:
Looked like a sea, whose enormous waves had suddenly been frozen and on which floated an extraordinary debris of all kinds: stone blocks, twisted metal, charred beams, bricks, broken tiles, pieces of furniture, clothing, mattresses ripped open, plowing instruments, military equipment, logs, weapons, posts, ammunition, wheels, demolished cars … everything was confused, pell-mell, in an infernal mess.
Everywhere there was evidence of Frenchmen who had attempted to claim the spot before them. Blackened, swollen corpses, heads, arms, legs; everywhere were scattered rifles, boxes, ammunition, knapsacks, helmets ‘scattered in heartbreaking order’. On 23rd August there was hectic air activity about Florian and his regiment. Men that were sent out into the unoccupied part of Maurepas to reconnoitre were heavily fired on.
At 5:45pm on 24th August two battalions of the French 1st Infantry Regiment went forward to hardly any enemy artillery response at all. As the men climbed upon the parapet, one of the battalion commanders issued a rallying cry as they went forward: ‘Now my friends, forward for France!’ As soon as Florian left the trenches he and his comrades met fierce opposition. ‘Machine guns begin to spit.’ The Germans had distributed them throughout the ruins of Maurepas, hiding them in destroyed houses. Fighting was close and Frenchmen assaulted from house to house through the village. Throughout the 24th, through the hours of darkness and into 25th August, the situation remained unclear.
The village was in such a ruinous state that the men hardly noticed when they arrived. One officer asked, ‘Where is Maurepas?’ The reply was humorous. ‘Maurepas? But you are here. This is it!’ There were just a few mounds and some rubble to show where the village had been. ‘Broken bricks, rubble, pieces of rafters’, but nothing at all like a solid wall. ‘What a sad picture!’ Strewn through the debris of furniture and masonry were huge shell holes, 3–4m across and 1m deep. Everywhere was littered with agricultural implements and smashed beams.
Despite meticulous artillery preparation, Florian Morel and his regiment had advanced into heavy German shellfire and fierce resistance. Maurepas, however, was finally secured in its entirety. In the aftermath, a road within the town was cleaned and made traversable for traffic. An ambulance was set up against the side of a crumbling house to deal with the wounded carpeting the area. Florian was not among them. The 23 year old was never seen or heard from again. In the aftermath of the war, the French decided that, rather than erecting large-scale memorials to the missing, they should be commemorated on memorials in their home town. Florian Morel’s name appears on one in the communal cemetery at Annay.