Corporal Jules-André Peugeot was a 21 year old teacher from Eastern France who was mobilised and in uniform a hundred years ago today as his unit approached the German border while France and Germany went to war. They clashed with German cavalry and Peugeot was killed.

This memorial to Peugeot, the first French Poilu to fall on the Western Front in 1914, was originally built after the war but was destroyed by German occupying forces in WW2. It was rebuilt in the 1950s and when I visited it in March 2014 it was undergoing renovation for the WW1 Centenary.

Peugeot is buried in the family grave (seen above) in Joncherey not far from where he was killed.

Peugeot’s Image on the memorial