A MONK SOLDIER

If the war had come just a little later, Ernest Psichari might have avoided his fate at Rossignol entirely by already not being a part of this world but cloistered as a monk in the next. Psichari was one of the up-and-coming French writers who fell early in the war.

His father was a Franco-Greek philologist – Jean (Iaonnis) Psichari – well-known in Greece for pushing the usage of the demotic (everyday) Greek in writing as opposed to the continued use of the outdated Classic form.

His mother was the daughter of famous French philosopher Ernest Renan, best known for his “Life of Jesus” and a multi-volume “Origins of Christianity“. Renan started in an ecclesiastical setting, but he left vocation behind to follow conviction. His grandson reacted against his liberal upbringing – the abandonment of his mother by his father no doubt playing a significant role – and enlisting in the army in 1903 – a failed love affair in play here. Later, he drew close into the realms of a mystical form of Catholicism because of his time and experiences in the Congo and Mauretania.

“As we Travel into Unknown lands,
      we Discover great Unexplored Spaces
           in our own Hearts.”

ERnest psichari

CATHOLICISM INTERVENES

Catholics hold up Ernest Psichari as a monk soldier who goes forward for Mother Church. Psichari wrote several books from this point of view, most would be published posthumously after Rossignol. His best-known book was first published in 1916, Le voyage du centurion or as it would be published later in English, A Soldier’s Pilgrimage. This semiautobiographical tome was inspired by Psichari’s own religious conversion while on duty in the Saharan desert. He saw the army as a mystical conception of France. The nation was elected by God to crusade for the temporal victory of the Church, sounding similar to other writer-soldiers.

In earlier novels, Terres de soleil et de sommei 1908 and L’Appel des armes 1913 he espoused Africa as a training ground for French nationalism. Encouraged on his journey to religious faith by other French Catholic intellectuals like Jacques Maritain, Maurice Barres and Charles Peguy – Peguy would die a couple weeks after Psichari on the Ourcq River near Paris during the Battle of the First Marne.

It was Maritain’s sister, Psichari fell in love with. Older than Ernest by some seven years, she rejected him. After a couple of attempts at suicide, Ernest joined the army.

overseas

Originally enlisting in the 51^st Infantry Regiment at Beauvais, Ernest Psichari quickly became a sergeant. In December 1905, he resigned from the Metropolitan army and transferred to the 1^st Colonial Artillery Regiment at Lorient with an Africa posting in mind. He served as a member of the Lenfant mission to the Congo in 1907.

Following that mission, Psichari became an officer and posted to Mauretania in 1909 for three years.

Those years would truly define him as he would take “the side of his father’s against his father”. Further writing, “One, perhaps two generations may forget the Law and become guilty of all kinds of neglect, all kinds of ingratitude. But, at the appointed time, the thread must be taken up again and the flickering lamp must shine out again in the house.”

CONVERSION

Returning to France in December 1912, he officially converted to Catholicism. He put his thoughts down, “We are well aware that our mission on Earth is to redeem France through blood. … Yes, we know that the blood of victims offered for the country purifies us. We know that it purifies France that all virtue derives from it, that its virtue is infinite – that every country lives by its virtue alone.”

fortune telling

Psichari went through a clothing ceremony at the Dominican Covent of Ryjckholt in Dutch Limbourg, a first step to becoming a full-time monk. But the war interrupted. A member of the 2^nd Colonial Artillery Regiment based in Cherbourg, he and his unit entrained for Belgium on 6 August 1914 to join the French 4^th Army. He wrote, “We are not ready; but I have confidence in the Sacred Heart.” He gave a manuscript of “Le voyage du centurion” to a Father Houyvet with the disclaimer, “I give it to you. If I die, you may do what you please with it; burn it if you wish.”

The father replied, “I certainly hope to return it to you. And you will come back to collect it when you bring back Alsace in one hand and Lorraine in the other.”

Ernest Psichari was a little more psychic in his reply, “Father, I am quite sure that Alsace and Lorraine will return to France, but I doubt that I will see this return when I live on earth. On the other hand, I am sure I will see it from heaven.”

THE BATTLE OF THE FRONTIERS

On 22 August 1914, the great opening offensive envisioned by Joseph Joffre which hoped to cut the German scythe off at the base came to a horrible dead end. Two French armies – the 3^rd and the 4^th – ran head into two German armies – the 4^th and 5^th. By the end of the day, 27,000 French soldiers would die in a series of meeting engagements. The battles took place across the southern Ardennes region of Belgium.

This was probably the worst single day of casualties incurred by any one country in history. By contrast, the BEF lost 21,000 dead in the first day of the Somme. The worst occurred around the small village of Rossignol. Most of the French 3^rd Colonial Division – CD – died, were wounded, or taken prisoner here. There were at least 4,000 deaths though maybe as many as 6,000. The total number of casualties was over 11,000 out of 15,000. Among the Rossignol dead was 31-year-old Ernest Psichari.

Approaches and Suppositions

Driving into Rossignol from the north on N801 is the same taken by troops of the German 11^th Division. Here in the dense woods – Foret de Neufchateau-Chiny – at around 7:30 in the morning the fierce battle began. The forest today is much as it was in the summer of 1914. There is a dense underbrush with only a few forest roads penetrating. The French Colonial Corps advanced through the woods on two main roads. Meanwhile, the main part of the Corps, the 3rd CD – including Psichari – was strung out through Rossignol.

The 5th Colonial Brigade took a road further to the west through the small village of Suxy. Both groups were to reunite on the northern edge of the woods at the town of Neufchateau.

The French expected no contact with the enemy: “Today a 33 km march. Arrive at Neufchateau at 1100 and billet.” So read the movement order for the 2^nd Colonial Infantry Regiment – CIR. The 2^nd CIR was a part of the 3^rd CD transiting through Rossignol that day. The advancing Germans had better reconnaissance. They knew they could expect to encounter strong French units along their route of march sometime in the day. The exact location was not clear until the two sides came together in the woods.

FRENCH COLONIAL CORPS

The French Colonial Corps was the elite of the French army. They compared to the troops of the BEF being were volunteers and long-serving soldiers. French law forbade the use of conscript soldiers outside of metropolitan France. Many of the Colonial Corps were African natives.

Originally, the Corps was comprised of French Marines. They had a long history of fighting both in the colonies and in France. One of the best known episodes of the Franco-Prussian War was during a heroic stand by the Marines in the little town of Bazeilles during the hopeless Battle of Sedan. They lost 2,600 men while causing twice that number of casualties among the Bavarian attackers. The Corps enlarged and became part of the army in 1900. The Army took over since the troops had been fighting further and further away from the sea as the French colonial empire expanded.

THE COLLISON IN THE WOODS – A CURTAIN IS PIERCED

A French Reserve cavalry squadron was out in front that day – instead of the Colonial’s own cavalry. The squadron did not push too far ahead of the infantry to not get into too much trouble on their own. The problem was they were in no position to give good information regarding the position or strength of any enemies. They pushed some dismounted German cavalrymen back both south and north of Rossignol. But then came head on up against German infantry about 1.5 km into the woods.

The lead French infantry unit behind was the 1^st Colonial Infantry Regiment, 1st CIR. They were told the German force was of no significant size. French intelligence placed the nearest German unit of any size still 35 km east of Neufchatel or basically on the German-Luxembourg border. The commander of the 3^rd CD, General Leon Raffenel, noted in his orders “It is only a curtain that lies before us. This curtain must be pierced.” In a point-blank firefight in the trees, men, especially the officers, began falling on both sides. A German machine gun company proved murderously effective despite doctrine forbidding deployment of machine guns in dense forest.

GERMAN COUNTERS

German brigade and division commanders had a reasonable idea of what was going on, unlike the French. The second German regiment in the line of march went around through the woods to the west. This enabled them to attack the French left flank with the French transfixed by the fighting on the small front in the woods on the Rossignol-Neufchateau road. Slowly, the French were forced out of the woods at high cost on both sides.

By 1115, they began to withdraw to a hill near the north edge of Rossignol. By now, they had lost all of the battalion commanders of the 1^st CIR. The men shot while standing on the road conferring as to what to do. Another battalion commander of the 2^nd CIR had also been shot. His regiment went out to try and throw back the Germans attacking the French left flank.

FRENCH DAY DREAMS

The French 2nd Corps was supposed to protect the right flank of the 3^rd CD. A slow advance on their part and an inspired attack by a brigade of the German 12^th Division – this division had been marching southwards on a route further to the east of the Neufchateau-Rossignol road – held in place those 2^nd Corps elements. This allowed the other brigade of the 12^th Division to attack the exposed left flank of the 3^rd CD and those units still strung out on the road behind Rossignol. Included was the 3^rd CD‘s artillery train.

The two lead regiments of the 3^rd CD – 1^st CIR and 2^nd CIR – were cut off. Included was part of the 3^rd CIR. Events happened so fast that even by noon, Raffenel still did not realize the gravity of his situation. He sent a report to corps command describing a dangerous position. However, he thought his division was not incapable of enduring.

The Germans brought their artillery to bear after pushing the French out of the trees. The French guns, with Ernest Psichari, were still strung out south of Rossignol. In fact, they were under direct attack by elements of the German 12^th Division. Remaining French infantry north of Rossignol were supported only by machine guns. The Germans took these guns out systematically with artillery.

THE END

By 1500, the French were down to only 500 defenders north of Rossignol. Division command collapsed around 1400. General Raffenel turned up at the HQ of his 3^rd CIR south of town, alone and muddied after having forded the Semois River. Telling the regimental commander all in front was lost, he then disappeared with rifle in hand. His body was later found by the Germans. Raffenel and his 3^rd CIR commander, Charles Rondony became the first of 42 French general officers to fall in WWI.

The remaining French finally surrendered in town – including another brigadier – with many of the prisoners suffering from wounds. The 1^st and 2^nd CIRs left 4,500 of their number north of town in the woods – one third killed outright and most of the others wounded. The other two regiments lost slightly less. The 7^th CIR escaped the encirclement but still was heavily engaged by the 12^th Division brigade fighting around St Vincent, south of Rossignol and the Semois, losing 70% casualties.

In total, the French lost 11,000 of the 15,000 men the division brought onto the battlefield. And the Great War was only getting started.

ELSEWHERE

The other Colonial Corps brigade, the 5^th, continued its march through Suxy to the outskirts of Neufchateau. They were oblivious to the fate of the 3rd CD on their right. At Neufchateau, they ran into two German brigades marching southwards to cover the right flank of the 11^th Division. The 5^th Colonial Brigade ended up losing 2,600 killed and captured out of 5,000 engaged. Only about 1,000 soldiers were unwounded by day’s end. Other reverses occurred for the French further south and east on 22 August around Virton, Ethe and Longwy. Another French division – the 33^rd – was broken up to the northwest. They lost most of its artillery in the woods near Bertrix west of Neufchateau.

REMEMBRANCE

It is also interesting to read how different historians saw the battle. Maybe the best blow-by-blow account comes from Terence Zuber in his 2007 The Battle of the Frontiers: Ardennes 1914 Some of his other writings – including proposing that the von Schlieffen Plan was not written in stone as much as was supposed before and that it was really more of a post-war invention – and his very pro-German point-of-view – espoused throughout the Ardennes 1914 book – have exposed him to criticism from other historians.

One does wonder a bit after reading the book about how the French could ever recover from the drubbing they took here in the Ardennes, especially giving the Germans such a big lead in military training, aptitude, leadership and weaponry. For all that, Zuber’s book still gives by far the detail of what happened at Rossignol and throughout the Ardennes on that day.

THE BATTLE CONTINUES ON PAPER

One of Zuber’s critics, Holger Herwig in his 2009 The Marne, 1914 repeats old French myths written after the war rationalizing their defeat. “In short order, it (the 3^rd CD) sent five battalions of pantalon rouges in waves against the Germans on a front roughly six hundred meters wide. One furious bayonet charge after another accompanied by lusty cries of “En avant!” was mowed down by murderous artillery and machine-gun fire.” This is basically a reprise of the action in Sewell Tyng’s well-known 1935 classic The Campaign of the Marne. The forest where the battle took place is/was too dense for any bayonet charges. Germans could not deploy artillery until the French were pushed out of the trees.

Robert Doughty’s 2005 Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operation in the Great War talks of “… 3^rd Division sent six battalions one after the other on a narrow front against entrenched German troops …” thus echoing the mid-1930 claims of French 4th Army commander Ferdnand de Langle de Cary who said the Germans had been digging in for two days prior to the battle.

BATTLEFIELD TODAY

By visiting the Foret de Neufchateau-Chiny, you can quickly see Zuber’s narrative makes a lot more sense. The dense forest made this a battle decided by rifle power with help from the German machine guns. There is no room for glorious bayonet charges nor did the French come up against entrenchments beyond that offered naturally by the woodlands. A simple lack of intelligence and breakdown in command control – especially the early loss of commanding officers – doomed the elite 3rd Colonials.

PERSONAL ENDING – PSICHARI AND ROSSIGNOL

Around 1500, Ernest Psichari found himself, with rest of the artillery surrounded south of Rossignol by the village of St Vincent. By 1700, the Germans were driving out the remnants of the French defenders from Rossignol and orders came for Psichari to abandon his gun, which he did reluctantly. After retreating a bit, he asked his sergeant major if he had removed the firing pin to the gun. The sergeant major had not, so they both returned and took the pin out. Ernest Psichari was shot through the temple trying to return – another victim of Rossignol and its debacle.

His surviving gun crew were taken prisoner. They were tasked with burying the dead following the end of battle. A nun who helped them, discovered a black-beaded rosary around Psichari’s arm which she returned to the Dominicans of Ryjckholt.

AFTERWORD

In the center of Rossignol, a mausoleum contains the remains of 126 people. The Germans took them from this town and a couple of surrounding villages. Next, they shipped them off to the nearby city of Arlon and shot as franc tireurs. The bodies of the locals were exhumed at the war’s end and placed here in Rossignol during a ceremony on 19 June 1920 with King Albert I of Belgium in attendance.

THE CEMETERIES

Two French military cemeteries are found just north of Rossignol and another to the south in Tintigny. Ernest Psichari lies buried at La Plateau on the east side of N801. Here, some of the heaviest fighting took place. The other northern cemetery is on the west side of N801 near the southern fringe of the forest – Oree de la Foret. A monument erected here in 1927 to the French Colonial Corps has a list of unit losses incurred that terrible 22 August day. Other French and German cemeteries are found nearby at Virton, Ethe and along the Franco-Belgian border towards Longwy.

The cemeteries give definite proof that for all of the hell of trench warfare, open warfare was much worse in terms of casualties. The French army lost 238,000 casualties in September 1914 whereas at Verdun in 1916, the monthly rate was never over 100,000. The BEF lost 81,000 at height of Ypres in 1917. Less than the 122,000 they lost in August 1918 when fighting in the open once more. According to British historian Hew Strachan, common myth has it, 1916 and 1917 was when the war peaked in terms of slaughter. 1914 a warmup, 1918 a wind down, and with 1915 a forgotten year. However, it was 1914 and 1918 that were the real horror years of the war.

Ernest Psichari died at Rossignol, but he was but the first of many other writer-philosophers to fall during the war. Charles Peguy would fall a few weeks later during the Battle of the Marne while Alain Fournier would disappear in the woods southeast of Verdun. Others would follow.

Postscript

Other nearby sites of interest could include Bastogne, a half hour to the north; the Abbey of Orval with its world-famous beer is only 20 km southwest and a further 11 km takes you to the site of la Ferte-sur-Chiers, the site of the only Maginot fort taken by German assault during World War II.