Sylvain Eugène Raynal

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Sylvain Eugène Raynal

Sylvain Eugène Raynal (born March 3, 1867 in Bordeaux , † January 13, 1939 in Boulogne-Billancourt ) was a French military officer and city commander of Mainz.

Upbringing and military career

Sylvain Eugène Raynal was born into a Protestant family of craftsmen in Bordeaux . He spent his school days in Saint-Maixent and at the high school in Angoulême. He then embarked on a military career and got to know garrison and soldier life. After attending high military school, he served under General Adolphe Guillaumat . For Raynal the First World War began at the head of the 7th regiment of Algerian riflemen (7e régiment de tirailleurs algériens; see: Turkos ). In September 1914, he was injured in the shoulder by a machine gun bullet during the Battle of the Marne . In December, he was injured even more badly when his command post was hit by a shell directly. After ten months in a hospital, Raynal was transferred back to the front on October 1, 1915, only to be injured in the leg a few days later by shrapnel , which earned him the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honor . The war seemed to be over for him at the beginning of 1916 - he could only walk with difficulty - when the war ministry called for those who were still convalescent.

Battle for Verdun

The War Ministry announced that those officers who were primarily incapacitated because of their injuries could be appointed fortress commanders. Raynal demanded to be able to serve in the Battle of Verdun , where the Germans had started an attack on the French positions on February 21, 1916. Raynal was ordered to be in command of Fort de Vaux . Unlike Fort Douaumont  , the fort was not evacuated by the French troops, but took an active part in the fighting. The bitter battles in front of Verdun, which lasted for months, are still a symbol of the futility of trench warfare, but are also viewed as a warning of the need for Franco-German reconciliation.

Neither side could achieve a breakthrough. Fort Vaux was eventually stormed by German troops, with days of grueling battle developing in the corridors and casemates of the fort. When the French water supply finally ran out, because the fort's cistern had been leaking from weeks of artillery bombardment and the man ration of water had sunk to well below half a liter per day, Raynal surrendered. Raynal asked several times for relief by means of carrier pigeons (matriculation number 787-15); his last pigeon reached its destination with his message and died shortly afterwards as a result of gas poisoning. Forced to surrender by thirst, the troops under Major Raynal surrendered on June 7, 1916 in front of parts of the German infantry regiments 53 and 58. le sept mai “(May 7th). Raynal is still considered a hero in France and particularly in Bordeaux.

captivity

He was imprisoned from June 11, 1916 on the citadel of Mainz , then from November 5, 1917 in prison in Strasburg (West Prussia) and from March 30, 1918 in the internment camp in Interlaken. He was liberated on November 4, 1918.

In 1920 Sylvain Eugène Raynal returned to Mainz as city commander and resided in the Osteiner Hof . Long after the war he retired to Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine) near Paris. He died in 1939 and was buried in Division 11 of the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux .

family

His son, Jacques Raynal, returned to his father's place of work as a lieutenant after the Second World War and met his future wife Gisela. The grandson Patrick Raynal lives in Mainz to this day. An older grandson, Frank Raynal, also lived in Mainz for many years, later moved to La Ciotat in southern France and died while crossing the Sahara. A great-granddaughter, Catherine, daughter of Patrick, also lives in Mainz.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sylvain Eugène Raynal in the online edition of the Lexikons der Éditions Larousse , accessed on December 8, 2013
  2. ↑ Commandant Sylvain RAYNAL. Retrieved December 8, 2013 .
  3. ^ Colonel Sylvain Eugène Raynal. Defense of Fort Vaux at the Battle of Verdun. Österreichische Mediathek, 99-16001_b06, accessed on December 8, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Information on Sylvain Eugène Raynal in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France , accessed on December 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ Presentation de la base de données Léonore (Légion d'honneur)
personal data
SURNAME Raynal, Sylvain Eugène
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French officer, commander (Verdun)
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Bordeaux
DATE OF DEATH January 13, 1939
Place of death Boulogne-Billancourt