Anselme Marchal

Anselme Marchal, 1918

Marchal right, in 1918 after returning to France

Anselme-Léon-Emile Marchal (born December 23, 1882 in Münster BE , Switzerland , † June 17, 1921 in Paris ) was a French aviation pioneer .

Life

Marchal was one of the first to acquire a flight license in 1910. During the First World War , the French military planned a long-haul flight from France via Germany to Russia . The goal was a propaganda success and the demonstration that a bombing of targets deep in the enemy hinterland is possible. In addition to his flight experience, Lieutenant Marchal had a good knowledge of the German language and was therefore selected as a pilot for the project. It took off from Nancy airfield on June 20, 1916 in a converted Nieuport 12 . It was equipped with additional tanks and thus had 354 liters of gasoline and 88 liters of oil. Instead of the usual 2.5 hours, she could stay in the air for 14 hours without interruption. The area of ​​the wings had been increased from 18 to 25 m² in order to be able to carry the greater load. The take-off weight of the aircraft was around 1,000 kilograms.

As planned, the flight led over Berlin during the night . The return flight should later lead via Vienna . Marchal dropped 5,000 leaflets via Berlin and continued his flight towards Saint Petersburg . Due to ignition problems, however, after 1,300 kilometers, about 100 kilometers before reaching the Russian lines, he had to make an emergency landing near the Polish Chelm . He exchanged two spark plug caps , but still couldn't start the engine. The landed aircraft was then surrounded by soldiers from Austria-Hungary , who initially did not believe that the aircraft had come from France.

Marchal became a prisoner of war and was initially interned in Salzerbach , Austria . After Marchal's three unsuccessful attempts to escape, he was transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp for officers in Magdeburg in the winter of 1916 . He was interned there in the Cavalier Scharnhorst of the Magdeburg fortress . One of the prisoners was the famous French pilot Roland Garros . Together with Garros, he planned another attempt to escape. On February 24, 1918, the two managed to escape, disguised as German officers. They returned to France via England .

Marchal was transferred to the reserve and made a Knight of the Legion of Honor on October 15, 1918 . He wrote his memoirs, which were published as a book in 1919. Marchal died in 1921 at the age of only 38.

literature

• Günter Adlung, Helmut Menzel, Conrad Engelhardt, Hendrik Pistor, With Water and Bread - Prisoners in the Magdeburg Fortress: From Charles de Gaulle to Freiherr von der Trenck, Ed .: Kultur- und Heimatverein Magdeburg, Ost-Nordost Verlag Magdeburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-938247-10-5 , page 142 ff.

Web links

Commons : Anselme Marchal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files