Mobilised at the start of the First World War, Marcel joined
the 26th Company of the 417th Regiment of Infantry of the
French Army. He was posted to the
Western Front near Berneuil-sur-Aisne on 16th April 1915. Taken ill while in the trenches, Marcel was
hospitalised from 23rd May to 6th July 1915.
Returning to combat, Marcel was killed in action attacking a
German trench on 20th July 1916 near the village of Estrées in
France. At the time of his death, he
held the rank of Lieutenant.
In 1917 Marcel’s letters from the front to friends and to
his mother, were published under the title “Mémoires et Récits de Guerre Lettres
d’un Combattant Août 1914 – Juillet 1916”, with a preface by Paul Depuy, by
Librairie Hachette et Cie, Paris. You
can read the book on Archive as a free download https://archive.org/stream/lettresduncombat00tuoft/lettresduncombat00tuoft_djvu.txt
With grateful thanks to Pierre Virey who has amassed a huge
collection of WW1 poets from many countries for sending me a long list of
French poets killed during the conflict.
Sources:
