The Soldier: QUIBEUF Eugène
His Story :
Eugène Louis Gustave QUIBEUF is born on the 30th of August 1887 in Dives-sur-Mer, Calvados (14) to parents Eugène QUIBEUF (with which he shares his name) and Juliette THUILLIER. QUIBEUF will find employment working as a mason, aiding in the construction and maintenance of the infrastucture of his commune. At the arrival of his 20th year, under decision by the council of revision — the councils established to determine the aptitude of a young man to fulfill his military service —, QUIBEUF is declared exempt for “general [physical] weakness”. Despite this mention on his registration document, it is almost impossible to determine what weakness QUIBEUF has. Only a few months before the approach of war, on February 21st 1914, QUIBEUF marries Rose Marie Louise Victorine DEVIC in his department of origin. A life that is building itself will crumble as QUIBEUF will become victim of the Great War.
Employing his skills as a laborer, QUIBEUF is still touched by the war in her early years, working in the factory of Dives-sur-Mer. The factory, founded in 1892 in the production of copper products, will already specialize in an aluminum cartridge in the year 1910. QUIBEUF is present in the factory through the year 1915 on basis of a “stay of appeal”, a declaration that permits him to remain factory worker despite the general mobilization. Remaining in this position through July, QUIBEUF will aid in the fabrication of an unprecedented magnitude of shells and munitions that will have amounted to more than 100,000 a day across the country before the end of 1914. Still in the year 1915, QUIBEUF joins the 119th Infantry Regiment and prepares his campaign as a soldier following the demand of men by the French Army. He and his wife will have son Jean Jules Eugene Charles QUIBEUF in December, and until late 1917, QUIBEUF’s role is unclear. He will lose his son Jean aged less than one year, in September 1916, and it is possible seeing the back of the photo that he already has another son André (conceived in 1914).
Citing the official beginning of his campaign against Germany in late October 1917, QUIBEUF’s registration document places him in the 129th Infantry Regiment of Le Havre (76). During this period, the regiment recovers from a disastrous and controversial period of mutinies through the year, and finds itself at rest in the Haute-Marne department (52) to help instruct the American 2nd Division. Following this crucial reorganization with an allied nation, QUIBEUF debarks with the 129th Infantry Regiment for the trenches surrounding the commune of Flirey (54) in mid-January 1918. It is here, during period of rest, that QUIBEUF is photographed and addresses the photo to an André QUIBEUF with the message “your dad aged of 30 years.” From there, after the occupation of the Bois-le-Prêtre sector, QUIBEUF is passed to the reserve regiment of the 125th Infantry Regiment (the 325th). Until the month of August, QUIBEUF is present in a very calm Verdun sector following the German exhaustion and the imminence of the armistice.
QUIBEUF’s two medals : The Croix de Guerre (left), and the Médaille Militaire (right).
Despite the possible peace to come, an attack on the enemy-held village of Chavigny (02) the 28th of August will cost QUIBEUF his life. The 29th, killed a day before his 31st birthday, QUIBEUF falls, earning him a citation posthumously as [a] “very courageous soldier was mortally wounded attacking a heavily fortified village. Croix de Guerre with bronze star.” The attack marks one of many in the final months of the war that gives movement to this terrible war of trenches. Chavigny is taken shortly after, and with full momentum, the French Army pushes her enemy to an armistice on November 11th. The trail for the research of Eugène Louis Gustave QUIBEUF becomes unclear after his death. Despite this, without exact date, QUIBEUF’s photo (with his handwriting), Croix de Guerre (with his bronze star for the citation that cost him his life), Médaille Militaire, dried flowers, a map of part of the Aisne department, and a note written “Moulin [de] Laffaux the place where your father was killed the 29th of August 1918, to keep as a souvenir these flowers come from the trenches of 1918” all give us a precious story to remember a hero of France and a man who had his life taken too soon.
Dedicated to the memory of this soldier.
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Registration Document: tinyurl.com/44pwrsc6
Geneanet Search: tinyurl.com/5ys5ja6u
Eugène Louis Gustave QUIBEUF, present in a studio in March 1918. This photo was taken during his time with the 129th Infantry Regiment.
After a procedure of preserving the photo, the back of the photo was discovered, containing a legible name that permitted this research.
QUIBEUF’s death card. Each soldier killed and declared Mort pour la France can be attributed to a similar card.
A touching and unique piece, this map marks a location north of the commune of Soissons, and is accompanied by the text “Moulin [de] Laffaux the place where your father was killed the 29th of August 1918, to keep as a souvenir these flowers come from the trenches of 1918”.