A small tribute to Georges Arzelier

In France, countless streets and squares are named after famous leaders from both world wars: Georges Clemenceau, Ferdinand Foch, Charles de Gaulle. Men who made history and became national symbols.

Our road bears the name of Georges Arzelier. Not a general, not a politician, but an ordinary boy from Chomérac who was killed in the First World War. Almost no one knows his name. So here is his story, as a small tribute to Georges and to the millions of other young men who died ingloriously between 1914 and 1918.

Georges was born on 22 May 1897 in Chomérac, the son of Ledoïs Gustave and Clémentine Arzelier, and grew up in the village. In the summer of 1914, France became involved in the First World War. Georges probably knew little of the bloody trench warfare that unfolded in the north in the years that followed. Until he left for the front in early 1917.

That spring, as a soldier in the 21st regiment, he quickly found himself in hell: the Nivelle Offensive. The mastermind behind this French attack was General Robert Nivelle, who wanted to force a rapid breakthrough of the German lines on the Western Front. The centre of the area to be conquered was the Chemin des Dames, a 25-kilometre road between Reims and Sissons, which runs east to west over a ridge parallel to the River Aisne. This road had been in German hands for two and a half years and formed a natural line of defence.

Nivelle promised a decisive victory within 48 hours. Things turned out quite differently. Because the general had been indiscreet, just about everyone knew that an attack was coming. This included the Germans, who had taken precautions.

The offensive began on 16 April at 6 o'clock in the morning. After an hour, it was already over for the French.

Everything went wrong. To begin with, the French troops had to climb from the Aisne to the Chemin des Dames. During the climb, they came under heavy fire. The weather was also against them. Rain turned the already battered slope into a soggy mud pool. Again and again, new troops tried to struggle their way up, meeting their deaths. It was only after five days that Nivelle called off the assaults. There were 120,000 French dead and wounded to mourn.

The fighting would continue for another six months. At the beginning of May, there was heavy fighting at the strategically located Vauxaillon.

Georges was seriously wounded here on 11 May. Three days later, he died in Field Hospital 237.

Mort pour la France, as it is called here. On 22 May 1917, he would have turned 20.

He is buried in the general cemetery in Chomérac.

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