Il y a une centaine des années: La vie quotidien à Chenon, L'administration municipale, du patriotism, l'Institeur et l'école, le réquisitions et les réfugiés. Daily Life at Chenon: administration, patriotism, the teacher and school, requisitions and refugees (1914-18).
L'administration municipale
Demonstration of Patriotism.
L'Institeur et l'école
Il n'y a eu que trois enfants commis à la garde de l'instituteur par interim, mais accompagnés de soeurs ou de frères plus agés du fait de la guerre sont allés travailler aux champs avec la mère ou les vieux parents. D'autres plus jeunes sont allés conduire la vache ou les troupeaux aux pàturages au bord de la rivère. L'état d'esprit des enfants est resté excellent.
The teacher and the school.
Requisitions
Foreigners - Belgian refugees.
L'administration municipale
L'administration municipale (diminuée de deux de ses membres, mobilisés au front: Messieurs Léaud Alcide, sergent et Lambert Léon, caporal du 94e Regiment Territorial d'Infanterie), s'est employée au mieux des intérêts moraux et matériels de la commune. L'instituteur a marché de pair avec la municipalité qui a fait preuve du plus pur dévouement. Elle a aidé les familles; dont le seul soutien durant la guerre était les attributions d'allocations. Elle s'est employée à satisfaire au maximum aux demandes des autorités préfectorales ainsi qu'aux demandes de ravitaillement. Grace à ses conseils et à ses décisions, elle a entretenu le bon état moral de la population et évité la misère par un sage administration.
The municipale administration
The municipale administration (reduced to two by the mobilisation, Sergeant Léaud and Corporal Lambert, 94th Territorial Regiment) was fully employed to maintain morale and the materials of the commune. The teacher worked hand in had with the municipality; work which demanded real devotion (to duty). She helped the families whose only support was welfare allocations. She was fully employed in satisfying the demands of the prefecture (the department administration) and allocating provisions. By her aid and wise administration she helped to maintain good morale and avoid poverty.
As throughout France the teacher was also charged in recording events in their communes.
As throughout France the teacher was also charged in recording events in their communes.
The population of Chenon always demonstrated its true patriotism. By 1916 the commune provided 52 recruits in the cause of the national defence. (57 by the end of the war from a population of about 326 listed in the census of 206). When this written in 1916 eight were already dead, victims of the war or those simply disappeared (under the shelling). (There were 24 fatalities by 1919). So great a pain and loss tested the acceptance of the families who became resigned to this patriotic sacrifice and wanted only to see vengeance for their deaths. It was also shown by the willingness of those families not yet affected who offered their sons to pay dearly for the curse of the Germans on their neighbours. The population also had always given all they could in terms of money and supplies to hasten the hour of victory and it remained determined to do the same again until the bitter end. The inhabitants of Chenon , as well as proving their patriotism by mutually helping others in their hard work in the fields in order to produce as much as possible from the soil, also welcomed wholeheartedly their brothers from the regions invaded by the Germans; subscribing to loans and various collections for the war effort.
L'Institeur et l'école
l'Instituteur M. Jean Hippolyte Vangué est parti comme soldat le 11e jour de la mobilisation au 107e Regiment de Infanterie. Il est parti sur le front et etait blessé à Reims a la fin de septembre 1914. Aprés un mois de convalesence au son dépôt à Angoulême il repart au front au 33e Regiment D'Infanterie le 9 fevrier 1915. Il est fait prisonnier à Douaumont le 12 mars 1916.
Il n'y a eu que trois enfants commis à la garde de l'instituteur par interim, mais accompagnés de soeurs ou de frères plus agés du fait de la guerre sont allés travailler aux champs avec la mère ou les vieux parents. D'autres plus jeunes sont allés conduire la vache ou les troupeaux aux pàturages au bord de la rivère. L'état d'esprit des enfants est resté excellent.
The teacher and the school.
The school teacher, Jean Hippolyte Vaugé was mobilised on the 11th day after war was declared and joined his regiment, the 107th Regiment of Infantry at Angoulême. He left for the front soon after and was wounded at Reims. After hospital and convalescence he left again for the front, This time with the 33rd Infantry Regiment, in February the next year. He was taken and held prisoner on the 12th March 1916 for the rest of the war.
There were only three full time children in the care of the the temporary teacher and spent the majority of the time with their elder sisters or brothers working in the fields with their mothers or grand parents. Those too young for such work would often care for the cattle or other herds in the pastures by the river Charente. Their morale was reported to be good.
The school greatly participated in the ancillary support of national defence. With the careful attention of its teacher, it paid to regional inspector for the hospitals 425 francs and sent (carriage paid by the teacher) 48 sheets, 186 shirts, 20 towels, 27 handkerchiefs, 12 pairs of socks, 9 pairs of shorts, 2 pillows and pillowcases, 2 flannels; 10 tablecloths, 9 hand towels, and several strips of cloth to the value of a total 696 francs....
Requisitions
Requisitions for the war were conducted calmly and in good order. Everybody was obliged to provide, subject to their means, all that was demanded by their country. The commune of Chenon immediately provided 34 horses, either riding and draft, and a miller's cart for heavy loads. This was willingly delivered as well as cattle, sheep, pigs, a large quantity of wheat and oats, potatoes, haricot beans and considerable amount of hay and straw. These requisitions continued throughout the war.
The only foreign registrations in Chenon were the refugees from Belgium. They we made welcome by the population as a whole. Numbers varied from 37 to 9 at the time of writing. (1916). There were 30 at one time lodged Chez M. et Mme Desmiers de Chenon (in the Chateau buildings see Capitaine Georges Desmiers de Chenon, MPLF) and they were employed agricultural work. They made no complaint about their lodgings or hospitality offered, were well behaved and got on well with the people of Chenon. They were reported to be honest, polite, helpful and seemed willing to pay, by their good conduct, for the friendship offered to them to help forget their sorrows of their exile....
