They knew the Great War. Personalities or anonymous, they bring their testimonies about this hell to the daily: the baptism of fire, the permanent anguish of shelling, the death of comrades, the terrible trench cleaners, or the stacked corpses.
The writer Maurice Genevoix evokes his memories of the war of 14-18, in particular a battle where he was the only survivor during a fall of shells: "as if the shrapnel had passed over me, without seeing me".
Armand Jammot takes a veteran to the place where he received his baptism of fire: "The first day of combat that was impressive in my life as a warrior".
Fernand Beaujan, 94 ans, se souvient de la guerre 1914-1918, qu'il a vécue au sein du 68e bataillon d'infanterie de Soissons. Il revient sur l'attente interminable dans les tranchées entre deux batailles : "ce qui était long ce n'était pas le temps mais la crainte que les Allemands envoient des obus...c'était l'angoisse continuelle". Fernand pour passer le temps, chercher ses poux : "la première fois, je me suis arrêté au chiffre 50, j'ai continué pendant des jours et des jours".
Testimonies of two veterans, Fernand Camas, who belonged to the 42nd division of Franchet d'Espèrey, and Marcel Batreau, who took part in the Battle of the Marne in plain clothes. They confide in the war and in this extract on the management of this war which was "lamentable", with the example of the shot of Vingré.
Fernand Beaujan, 94, remembers the 1914-1918 war, which he lived in the 68th Soissons Infantry Battalion. He explains the function of the trench cleaners who killed the enemy soldiers who remained on the ground.
Testimony in Verdun of a veteran of the First World War who relates November 11, 1918: the Germans who continued to shoot, attached to their machine gun to allow the escape of the soldiers, as well as a particularly fierce battle.