French Army

[IanR]

Hi

Anyone out there able to help out with a couple of questions regarding our French allies.

Firstly, I am trying to get some details on a French soldier killed on Sept 25 1915. His regiment was the 354th Regiment D'Infanterie. Can anyone throw any light on the details of this regiment, and where it was at the time of his death?

Secondly, I have some conflicting information of the prewar French policy regarding conscripion. Anthony Clayton says in his book "Paths of Glory" that from 19 years old, a Frenchmen would be liable for 18 years of military service. But he also says that a 19 year old had 3 years in the Active Army, followed by 11 years in the Active Reserve, then 7 years in the Territorial Army followed by 7 years in the Territorial Reserve. This makes a total of 28 years. Anyone have a definitive answer.

Thanks in advance.

Ian

[TD60]

Here a link to a page with few sentences about this regiment

http://www.pages14-18.com/pagesHistoire/Hi...infanterie3.htm

Regards

[Paul Hederer]

Ian,

If you can find out what division the regiment was in, I can find you an answer. The French OH lists the OoB for France down to divisions, but there is no way to search for an individual Regiment.

I looked for about 30 minutes this morning, by glancing through the divisions, and I couldn't find the regiment you mentioned. The fact the French reorganized their divisions during the war doesn't help matters.

Again, if you can find the division, I can tell you exactly where it was on 25 September, 1915.

Paul

[IanR]

Thanks for the info.

I am afraid I don't know the Divisional number.

TD60: The link you attached take doesn't have anything on the 354th.

Thanks anyway

Ian

[TD60]

354ème RI

1914 / Stationed : Lérouville

Affected to 56th Infantry Division from august 1914 to june 1916.

Regiment was disbanded in 1916 and soldiers went to 294th and 355th RI.

I hope this link is better !

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/chtimiste/regiment...'Infanterie

So on the 25th september 1915 the regiment was close to : Ferme de Navarin, Tranchée des Vandales

354 is a number of a reserve regiment

Regards

[IanR]

Many Thanks

[Hoplophile]

Prior to World War I, a French conscript was normally called to the colours in the year in which he reached his 21st birthday. He then served two years with the colours before passing into the reserve.

In 1913, the French parliament adopted 'three-year service' (la loi de trois ans). Thus, the men called to the colours in the autumn of 1913 anticipated spending three years in the barracks rather than two. This arrangement, however, was interrupted by the outbreak of the war.

During the war, conscript classes were called to the colours on an accelerated schedule. The class of 1915, for example, would normally have reported for duty in the autumn of 1915. Instead, it was called in December of 1914.

There was, incidentally, considerable worry in French government circles about the health effects of calling men ahead of schedule. That is to say, the custom of conscripting men at 21 (rather than 20 or 19 or 18) was based on the belief that younger men were more susceptible to communicable diseases. (In an age when many conscripts came from relatively isolated communities and vaccines had yet to be developed for many easily caught diseases, this made very good sense.) In the end, however, the French authorities decided that epidemics could be prevented by such simple (and, evidently novel ) measures as providing fresh straw for mattresses and whitewashing the walls of barracks.