Saint-Laurent-Blangy: Body of a soldier of the Great War found.

[margaretdufay]

Saw this and thought it might be of interest, have give the link as there are some photos to see and have done a quick translation.

mags

Saint-Laurent-Blangy: un soldat de la Grande Guerre… et son arme découverts dans un champ

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/saint-laurent-blangy-un-soldat-de-la-grande-guerre-et-ia29b6492n2669217

Remains of a soldier of the First World War were found Tuesday morning by farmers of Saint Laurent Blangy. His weapon and some bullets were also found.

Tuesday morning, on a family farm, just outside the town and behind the Departmental Fire and Emergency Department, two brothers Maxime and Antoine Verloin, both farmers, made what was an unusuall discovery. The remains of a soldier of the First World War with his weapon, which still contained bullets. "We were just about to reintegrate an electric pole when we discovered part of a skeleton" explained one of the brothers. After digging, the noticed white parts in the ground. They started digging again and identified them as being bones. "We immediately stopped digging and contacted the Police and the town hall. " The Archelogical Department of the town of Arras started a dig in the field situated on the old road of Bailleul-sire-Berthoult.

The archeologists identified a skull accompanied with other bones. They also identified a weapon having a bullet inside. They also identified several bullets present in the ground. A discovery which didn't surprise the Mayor Nicolas Desfachelle. We are directly situated on the front line of the Great War.There could be other bodies discovered during the commemoration of the centenary.

Other digs will be carried out in the field in case of other soldiers' bodies being present. This isn't the first time that such a discovery has happened on the Verloin family farm. "I remember finding the body of a soldier with my grandfather thirty years ago."

[gillchadwick]

Thank you for an interesting post Mags.

[Fattyowls]

Thanks Mags, good find. I wonder if there will be a follow up with any identification, at least of nationality?

Pete.

[margaretdufay]

Am keeping my eye on it

mags

[margaretdufay]

New link from Avenir de l'Artois, a weekly Arras newspaper, they promise a second article today. They say that a spoon and fork as well as his weapon and cartridges were found

Mags

http://www.lavenirdelartois.fr/a-la-une/qu-est-devenu-le-corps-du-poilu-retrouve-a-ia672b0n139416

[Martin Bennitt]

This story calls him a poilu so presumably French then tantalisingly adds that the remains seem to have been lost again. L'avenir de l'Artois clearly wants readers to buy the next issue.

Cheers Martin B

[margaretdufay]

Thanks Martin, I missed that, probably too early in the morning.

mags

[margaretdufay]

Sorry about the way it has posted but have spent about twenty minutes getting it the right way

but it goes as follows

What has happened to the body of the Poilu?

Tuesday 17 February, an Immercurien (inhabitant of St Laurent Blangy) found the remains of a soldier of the Great War. One week later, what has happened to the body?

It took a century for the body to be found once again. Whilst digging a Saint Laurent Blangy farmer found the remains of a soldier, as well as his fork, spoon, weapon and some cartridges.

A hundred years to refind him and only a few days to lose track of him. Friday, according to the Arras commissariat, we learned that the body is at the County Archives. Surprising!

Monday, we called the Archives service asking about the whereabouts of the soldier. This made the receptionist smile. But we don't have any cold storage facilities. It's not in our scope. Maybe he can be found at the Archeological Services. We called the County Council which is in charge of this service. Same answer from them. It would be surprising, we haven't heard anything about this.

Heading for the Somme

As for the dig started y the town archeological department in this field. It's a mistake said Alain Jacques, head of this department. The body should be in the Somme at the Department of military tombs in Bray sur Somme. This was confirmed by a manager of this department, who didn't have the authorization to communicate and sent us to the national office of war veterans, who couldn't answer within our editorial deadlines.

What is going to happen to this body in the Somme? Who was this soldier? According to our information, he was a French soldier. Has his family been found? Where will he be buried? Near the place where his body was discovered, if the family do not get involved.

Will follow this for any further developments.

Mags