Serge Janouin-Benanti

Fernand Goes to War

1914-1919

Inside the Breloux-La Crèche train station, Fernand observes the joyful departure of the first French troops mobilized on Sunday, August 2, 1914.

Fernand is apprehensive. More aligned with antimilitarist thinker Jean Jaurès, he’d rather have peace. But how can he avoid being swept up in the heady enthusiasm of these young soldiers wanting to avenge the German Siege of Paris in 1870?

And then, as everyone says, this short conflict will prepare a hundred-year peace!

Anyway, Fernand is at an age when love, not war, is at the forefront of one’s mind. Also, he isn’t scheduled to be called up to serve until 1915, and by then this conflict will surely be long over…

Reality, however, catches up with him, and Fernand is consumed with a number of worrisome questions: When will he leave for the front? In what condition will he return? Will he ever see his home again?

Much more than just the story of one man’s life, Fernand’s journey also reveals the stories of men he met in the rear, on the front line, and in prisoner-of-war camps. All of the adventures of this “ordinary” man are so poignant, giving us a more complete view of the Great War.

With this, his fifteenth book, Serge Janouin-Benanti offers us the story of a country in turmoil from a touching personal perspective. An engaging and insightful narrative.

Some pictures of Fernand goes to war

Plan de Breloux-La Crèche — Map of Breloux-La Crèche

Caserne Desjardins à Angers — Desjardins Barracks in Angers

Angers, Fernand 135e RI et Louis 6e Génie — Angers, Fernand 135th RI
and Louis 6th Engineer regiment

Artois, secteur Aix-Noulette — Artois 1916
Aix-Noulette sector

Artois, tranchées — In the mud of the trenches
Artois, sketch by F. Flameng

Aimé Guérin, 135e RI — Aimé Guérin, 135th RI

Fernand, Berck — Fernand at rest in Berck

Ligne de front, Verdun, ouest Meuse — Verdun 1916
Front line to the west of Meuse

Verdun Cote 304, vue côté allemand — Verdun, hill 304 and Mort-Homme
View from the German side

6 mai 1916, plan relève cote 304 — May 6, 1916, 66th RI relief Plan, Hill 304

Cote 304, concentration des tirs — Concentration of German fire on hill 304, from 4 to 7 May 1916

Heuberg, camp militaire 1914 — Heuberg 1914
Military camp

Affiche hommage de la nation — For the family of a deceased,
the poster "Homage of the nation"

Mariage Fernand — Fernand's wedding
after the war

Articles published on Fernand goes to war :

In addition to a complete coverage of the Great War, from July 1914 to December 1919, the hero of this historical novel shares with us the lives of many endearing characters.

First of all, those of the small town of Breloux-La-Crèche, a rural world shared between the Protestants of the heights of Breloux and the Catholics of the lower part of La Crèche. On the lookout for news from the front line, here life goes on, between ancestral habits and the upheavals of war…

Then we discover the conscripts of the Desjardin barracks in Angers, from such diverse backgrounds. They share their experiences, wishes and anxieties.

Now comes the time of the fighting, the harsh reality of the battles of Artois around Notre-Dame-de-Lorette and Loos. Moments of joy and appeasement in Berck. Then the unbearable bombardments of Hill 304, near Verdun. Men reveal themselves…

Taken prisoner, Fernand then described life in the camps and the Kommandos. Despite the bullying and vexations, the prisoners resist, the anecdotes abound.

With the end of the war, comes the time for exchanges of experience and the grim counting of missing friends.

A moving and deeply human novel.

CDL 44, july 2019.