Young retirees recently purchased an old farm in Arc-sous-Montenot and made a great discovery.
While tidying up, the new buyers noticed a notebook, protected by a solid cardboard cover. When they opened it, they were surprised to discover pages covered with beautiful writing in blue ink and decorated with very beautiful drawings.
It is a notebook of songs that soldiers of the First World War copied to fill their free time between exercises and chores; sometimes nostalgic melodies which evoke the family, the village, more sensitive texts which recall the joyful moments spent with a “tender and sweet”.
The owners had no difficulty identifying the copyist. In capital letters, on the first and last page appear his name and service number: Bech Henri – Breveté Fusilier. Other drawings representing different boats allow us to deduce that our soldier traveled the seas and oceans and then at the bottom of the last page, we find the mention “Le Suffren, September 20, 1914”.
Discover The Exquisite Hour that the Poilu most certainly sang during the war
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He died at the age of 21 aboard the Suffren, torpedoed by the Germans.
This enormous 12,728 ton battleship was commissioned in 1899; it distinguished itself in the Strait of the Dardanelles in 1915, but bombarded by Turkish-German artillery fire, it was hit in several places. To carry out repairs, he returned to Lorient. Unfortunately, with a boiler in poor condition, the raging storm, and the incredible absence of escorts, it moved at a reduced speed of 12 knots. On November 26, 1916, having reached the city of Lisbon, it was torpedoed by a German submarine; the torpedo certainly hit the ammunition bunker, because in a few seconds it disappeared with 648 people, crew members and soldiers.
Simply go to the reference historical and cultural website of the Ministry of the Armed Forces “Memory of Men” to find out more about our soldier. By entering his first and last name, the sailor's file appears on the screen: his registration number corresponds to that indicated on the songbook and the writing confirms the death of Henri Bech, who disappeared at sea aboard the Suffren.
How did this Var soldier’s notebook end up there?
By then consulting the “Memory of the Dead” site, we discover photographs of the war memorial in the city of Salernes and above all, we can very clearly read the name of soldier Henri Bech on one of the marble plaques.
Thanks to the file, we learn that Henri Ferdinand Bech was born on March 8, 1895 in Salernes, in the Var department.
Members of his family might be interested in recovering this precious document; but there remains an enigma to be solved: how did the notebook end up in the old farm in this village in Doubs?
