Alcide Forzy

It was Friday 23 June 1916, and the Germans were pouring out of the Bazil Ravine. As part of the decisive attack against Verdun, the men of the 103rd Division were charged with capturing Souville Fort. But before they could do that, they needed to take the rest of Vaux-Chapitre Woods, which their guns had been shelling for three days.

In their shell holes among the shattered, blackened tree trunks, the men of the French 407th Infantry Regiment were waiting for them. They had watched the ravine come alive in the distance with thousands of silhouettes. Suddenly, a mass of attackers flooded towards them, just a hundred metres away. Immediately, gunfire could be heard all around. From his command post, a simple shell hole set among his men, Captain Alcide Forzy could clearly hear that the Germans had broken through on his left. There was a risk they would attack from the rear. Issuing multiple orders all around him, he reminded the men that they had to hold out, at all costs.

A few hundred metres further back, the regimental commander, Colonel Allain, known by his men as “Old Man Allain”, was worried about the situation. The battle raged furiously, and there was no information getting through to him from the front. He had also heard that the Germans were moving further forward on the left. It was vital that his troops held their positions! He sent messengers out to Captain Forzy. The first seven didn’t reach him; they were all killed as they ran forward. By some miracle, the eighth man made it to Forzy’s shell hole. Trembling and sweating, he gave the Captain the Colonel’s hastily scrawled message.

Forzy retorted:

“Mate, go and have a rest before you run back to Old Man Allain. And you can tell him to keep his scribblings to himself from now on, do you hear? I know my orders. The Hun gets through only over our dead bodies. We’ll make sure of it. Tell him not to worry. Another thing - tell him I really fancy a piece of cheese. We haven’t eaten for two days. We don’t want to die on an empty stomach. What is it you’re to tell him?”

Once he had the message off pat, the messenger set off back behind the lines, into the noise and rage of the battle.

A few hours later, the German attack had been halted. The 407th Infantry Regiment had held off the formidable push, but they had lost 1,200 men.

At the end of the day, a big yellow envelope arrived, with a piece of Gruyère cheese in it for brave Captain Alcide Forzy, the man who was prepared to die – but not on an empty stomach.