Henri Herduin

The shell-fire was intense and relentless. The two companies of the 347th Infantry Regiment commanded by second lieutenants Herduin and Millant were attempting to hold the Thiaumont Farm sector. It was 8 June 1916 and the front had just been pushed back on their right by a powerful German attack. There had been countless losses. As the battle raged, large numbers of men fell around the two officers. The survivors resisted, but they were short of everything: food, water, munitions... They were almost encircled, and on the point of being overrun by the enemy. The position looked sure to fall in the following few hours.

When night fell, the survivors retreated towards the 293rd Infantry Regiment which was holding a nearby position. But there, an officer ordered them to go back to the battle and hold the line. Herduin and Millant refused. Forty men against eight hundred - it was madness! The two went to Fleury, but they could not find a superior officer from their regiment who could give them orders. They decided to head down to Verdun, thinking they had been relieved. When they got there, they were exhausted. The general staff knew nothing of their actions, but saw red when they heard about the retreat. They considered the officers to have deserted their post, and for that there was only one punishment: the death penalty. They had to be executed immediately, by their own men!

On 11 June 1916, right on the battlefield, near Fleury Woods, a firing squad was formed. “I have a clear conscience. I want to give the order to the firing squad and die in front of my men as they cry.” In these words, Herduin communicated with dignity the injustice he had suffered to his wife, his son and his men. To make the firing squad’s job easier, he himself gave the order to fire that ended his life.

After a protracted fight by his wife, Herduin’s name was cleared in 1926. He was given the honour “Mort pour la France” (died for France), official recognition of the merit of this officer who was killed for saving his men.