M A RT H A H A N N A Your Death Would Be Mine Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War Your Death Would Be Mine Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War MARTHA HANNA HARVARDUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England For Bob and Beth with love Copyright©2006byMarthaHanna Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica FirstHarvardUniversityPresspaperbackedition,2008. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Hanna,Martha. Yourdeathwouldbemine : PaulandMariePireaudin theGreatWar/ MarthaHanna. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-674-02318-5(cloth:alk.paper) ISBN978-0-674-03051-0(pbk.) 1.Pireaud,Paul. 2.Pireaud,Marie. 3.WorldWar,1914–1918— France—Biography. 4.Soldiers—France—Biography. 5.Armyspouses— France—Biography. I.Title. D544.H362006 940.4′124092—dc22 [B] 2006043521 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS henIwenttoParisinJune2000,IhadnoideathatIwould spendthenextsixyearswritingabookaboutapeasantcouple fromtheDordogne.Myintentionwastowriteageneralstudy ofletterwritinganditsculturalsignificanceinwartimeFrance. My discovery of the letters of Paul and Marie Pireaud, depos- ited in the French military archives in Vincennes in 1995 and, as far as I can tell, unread thereafter, changed my plans al- most overnight. Thus began the first of several research trips to Vincennes, where the archives staff was invariably helpful and, it sometimes seemed, rather amused by my painstaking reading, day after day, week after week, of these letters. My research also took me to the departmental archives of the Dordogne,Charente,Gironde,andRhône.Oneachoccasion, archivistshelpedmeidentifyremnantsofinstitutionalmemory from the Great War. The completion of this project owes a greatdealtotheirprofessionalexpertise. AnnualresearchtripstoFrancewouldnothavebeenpossi- ble without the generous financial support of the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities at the University of Colorado,Boulder.In2003–04Iwasalsofortunatetoreceivea researchfellowshipfromtheNationalEndowmentfortheHu- manities,avisitingfellowshipatClareHall,Cambridge,anda Faculty Fellowship from the University of Colorado, Boulder, all of which allowed me to devote an entire year to writing. The intellectually stimulating environment of Clare Hall gave metheopportunitytodiscussmyworkwith,andbenefitfrom the insights of, scholars from around the world. Marta Garcia Ugarte listened patiently as I rehearsed the story of Paul and MariePireaud,chapterbychapter;PeterandChristineAlexan- vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS der offered critical insights and enthusiastic support; and the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities colloquium provided a congenialsettingfordiscussingmyproject. I have also benefited from the intellectual expertise and critical analysis of many professional colleagues and friends who read the manuscript over the past two years. Virginia Anderson responded to each chapter with analytical acumen and gratifying encouragement; Michael Neiberg, Sophie de Schaepdrijver,andLeonardV.Smithofferedinvaluablesugges- tions based on their deep knowledge of the First World War. AlexDracoblybroughthisfamiliaritywiththehistoryofmedi- cineinFrancetohisreadingofthemanuscriptandcoordinated afacultyseminarattheUniversityofOregonthatallowedme tolearnfromtheinsightsofallparticipants.AnnCarlos,Peter Boag,andSusanKingsleyKentgraciouslyagreedtoreadthose chaptersthattouchedmostdirectlyontheirareasofscholarly expertise.Countlessconversationswithtwograduatestudents, William Miller and Bryan Miller, deepened my knowledge of heavy artillery and the Battle of Champagne. As chapters be- came a manuscript and a manuscript became a book, I have been fortunate to work with Lisa Adams of the Garamond Agency, and Kathleen McDermott and Susan Abel at Harvard UniversityPress.Eachinturnhasappliedasharpeye—always temperedbygenuineenthusiasmforthestoryofPaulandMa- rie Pireaud—to the project, improving it immeasurably. I am indebted to everyone who has read, commented upon, and madesuggestionsforimprovingthemanuscript.Alldeservemy mostsincerethanks. Ultimately,thisisastoryaboutfamilyandfamilialaffection. It is fitting, therefore, that I acknowledge here the important contributions, tangible and intangible, made by family and friends. Wendy Jager read the manuscript not as an expert on the First World War, but as a loving mother intrigued by the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii Pireauds’ story and especially sensitive to the challenges that Marie confronted. Léon, Rita, and Lisa Luengo—at home in FranceandAmericaalike—havebeensteadfastfriends.Arlette andRobertDurandwelcomedmeintotheirhomeinNanteuil- de-Bourzac, fed me abundantly, shared with me their knowl- edgeofthecommunityandthePireaudfamily,andintroduced me to friends and neighbors who helped me understand more fully the village and its past. I think of the days I spent in Nanteuil and the conversations I had with Mme Durand and M.RémyLachaisewithabidingaffection.Closertohome,my brothers, Josh and Peter Barber, applied their extraordinary knowledgeofmilitaryhistoryandmilitaryorganization,based ondirectknowledgeoflifeinuniform,totheircarefulreading ofthemanuscript;mynephew,DanielBarber,andmysister-in- law, Sherry Knettle, tracked down research guides (available only in Canada, it seemed) to departmental archives. No one has offered more to this project, however, than my husband, Bob,andmydaughter,Beth.Bobhasreadeverywordofevery draft and has never wavered in his enthusiasm for this project orhisconfidenceinmyabilitytodoitjustice.Bethhastaught me that nothing in life surpasses the love a mother has for her child. I dedicated my first book to two soldiers of the Great War but promised that the next one would belong to Bob and Beth.Abookaboutlove,family,andtheimportanceofbothis mygifttothem. CONTENTS Introduction 1 ONE HowSadtheCountrysideIs 27 TWO HereItIsExterminationontheGround 79 THREE Oh,HowISuffered,MyPoorPaul 127 FOUR NoOneIsHappyinWar 177 FIVE WeAreMartyrsoftheCentury 227 Conclusion 281 Notes 303 Index 333