22 juillet 1916 – Bois de Lachalade (Meuse) Au lieu-dit du Ravin du Triage, un barbier du 82e régiment d’infanterie rase ses camarades. Réf. : SPA 8 N 221 © Pierre Pansier/ECPAD/Défense
I really liked this photograph. There’s lots going on. So, I set myself the task of studying it in detail. Not as an expert or collector of militaria, but a learner. I came up with this list of things to draw attention to, and maybe hazard some informed guesses about. I shared what I found on Twitter. This post is an expanded version of what I shared there.
I wanted to show the richness of evidence in a single photograph and see the paths the details would take me on to build layers of knowledge. I think that part was a success and, like exercise, it’ll get easier the more you do it.
Let’s start with the unit: This information in the caption is confirmed by the collar insignia of the ‘headless’ man standing on the right – the 82e régiment d’infanterie (RI). Meanwhile, his left sleeve insignia (« chevrons d’ancienneté de presence ») (see below) say he’s had more than 18 months’ front-line service. These length of service chevrons had only been approved in April 1916 and just introduced in July – so they are very new here. His trade badge beneath the chevrons is difficult to be sure about – ‘Canonier-observateur’ or perhaps a ‘télégraphiste’ (were the latter engineers?).
He wears the ‘reduced’ style rank insignia on his lower sleeve and is a ‘Caporal’. There don’t seem to be any other signs of rank on other tunics but there’s another length of service chevron on the jacket that’s hung up. Intriguingly, the man being shaved is wearing gaiters.
This is a really good photo to see the M 1912 Other Ranks’ Boots as modified in 1916. The additional row of hobnails on the heel are visible in this expanded image.
Lots of questions remain. I need to do more learning about tunics and jackets. Is that dark piping on the breeches or the shadow of the seam? Is there more to learn about the officer? Dr Sarah Ashridge, a respected authority on such things, in response to my query, confirms that our man being shaved looks like he may be wearing the thin chain of a plaque d’identité – as is the man in the foreground. From 1915, the French identity tag system included discs to be worn around the neck & on the wrist, so that would fit. More info on French discs here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073820304308
I’ve not commented on the location: Bois de Lachalade in the Argonne and what might have been happening in this sector at the time: the 82e RI was part of 9e division d’infanterie (DI) and had been in this part of the Argonne for over 18 months. The sector of the Haute Chevauchée had seen considerable mining activity and significant fighting in mid-1915. By 1916, it had notionally become a purely defensive sector, although mine warfare continued, broken only by a local truce lasting two months in Spring 1916. Nevertheless, the regiment had recently had to retake la crête de la Fille–Morte, the name giving some indication of the closeness of the opposing trenches in the sector. However, the Journal des Marches et des Opérations (JMO) of the regiment on this day captures well the situation in a defensive sector:
« 22 Juillet. Même situation, mêmes emplacements. Pertes 2 blessés. »
But a change was coming and, in September 1916, the regiment was drawn northwards into the maelstrom of Verdun.
Debout les Morts! 