“Citizens, it’s war!” » 110 years ago, the beginnings of the First World War in Gironde

On August 1, 1914, at 4:40 p.m., the headquarters of the 18th military region of Bordeaux, rue Vital-Carles, received the general mobilization order. All men aged 20 to 48 are called up to the flag: it’s war.

Sinister, the tocsin rings in all the bell towers of Gironde where hundreds of posters are put up. On August 2, in its 4:35 a.m. edition, a single headline made the front page of “La Petite Gironde”: “French mobilization decreed. Appeal from the President of the Republic and the government to the Nation.

“To Berlin!” Long live France! Long live Russia! “

German soldiers enter Cures (Sarthe): “Our territory is violated,” proclaims the newspaper on August 3, while Germany declares war on France, after having declared it the day before on Russia. On August 4, the United Kingdom in turn entered war against Germany, whose ambassador left Paris: a day described as “historic” by the newspaper which immediately went into war mode. He warns his readers that it will only appear “on two pages, until further notice” in order to increase its circulation and save paper. He will suspend the serials, give “place to the international rather than the regional” and will only publish, apart from the “official notes and press releases”, what he has “verified”.

The “pioupious” leave loaded with food and happy, smiles the newspaper which also calls for “denouncing the spies”

What about censorship? The first “official” military briefs will only mention the losses suffered by the enemy… Among the population, there is no euphoria. On the evening of August 1, the daily reports, groups of demonstrators armed with tricolor flags marched through Bordeaux shouting “To Berlin!” Long live France! Long live Russia! “. But “without disorder”, the daily likes to emphasize which only relates a “small incident”: “two individuals in a state of intoxication” shouted “Down with the army!” “.

In “perfect order”, the mobilization will last until mid-August. From the 2nd, reservists flocked to Libourne, which housed the 678 cavalrymen of the 15th dragoon regiment, and to Bordeaux, in the Niel, Boudet, Nansouty, Pelleport and Xaintrailles barracks. Despite the heavy atmosphere, we sometimes laugh: on August 3, at the Capucins market, a merchant offers fruit to a trooper. Others follow and begin pelting him and his comrades with peaches, cabbage, carrots and plums. The “pioupious” leave loaded with food and happy, smiles the newspaper which, less funny, also calls for “denouncing the spies”.

Who will take care of the farm?

The mobilization hits hard on the lives of farmers and city dwellers. In the middle of the harvest, the tocsin takes the rural world by surprise. Poorly informed, the peasants did not expect war. Unlike workers, all those old enough to be mobilized are: in the countryside, there is disaster and anxiety. How to ensure harvests? And who will do the next harvest? Better prepared for the inevitable, the townspeople waver between patriotic enthusiasm, resignation, fear and distress: ordinary life is over. Stores lay off their employees who go to the front. Women are worried: “Are men over 45 mobilized? “. “La Petite Gironde” opens a daily section of “Answers to questions”. Before going to war, people get married in droves and the column of marriage notices grows longer in the newspaper.

We cancel the summer camps before postponing the opening of the hunt: no one thinks of crying scandal.

In Bordeaux, the absence of men reduced tram service. The cafes close at 8 o’clock, by “order of the city”, and in the evening, the crowd wanders cheerfully in the streets. From August 3, the mayor, Charles Gruet, as a good organizer, had the Municipal Credit vote for a credit of 100,000 F, intended for needy families that the enlisted men could no longer feed. Arcachon will do the same. To prevent the rush on food, the Grocery Store warns that it is “taking all necessary measures to supply the public with essential products: it will only deliver small quantities at a time. “We are witnessing scenes of looting of German goods or goods considered as such: the Swiss company Maggi, rue Condillac in Bordeaux, which produces “Maggi Kub” with Teutonic spelling, is vandalized. The owner of the Dewachter store on rue Sainte-Catherine, of Belgian origin, protests through the press that there is nothing German about him… In Soulac, Margaux and Blaye, the latest successes in the school certificate are published. We cancel the summer camps before postponing the opening of the hunt: no one thinks of crying scandal.

“You will not have Alsace and Lorraine”

On August 5, the crowd escorted the 144th infantry regiment dressed in blue cloth and the famous madder red pants. Tears flow. Resolute, the soldiers parade through Victor-Hugo singing “You will not have Alsace and Lorraine”, before embarking from Orléans station, at La Bastide: direction Lorraine and the front. Without any jokes but seriously: we are doing our duty and we want to do battle with the Germans. And then we have one certainty: the conflict will be short, no more than three months. Worst case scenario, we’ll be back at Christmas…

The war will last four years and 19,844 mobilized Girondins will be killed in combat, like the young Bordeaux writer, Jean de la Ville de Mirmont, friend of François Mauriac, who died on Chemin des Dames on November 28, 1914. But there will be also miracles: the six brothers of the Besnier family, from Blanquefort, will all return safe and sound.

Article taken from the series “A summer of 1914”, initially published in “Sud Ouest” on August 4, 2014.

The number and the word

3,6 millions French people, mostly peasants, joined the front from August 2. Among them, 406,000 come from the South-West.
The flower with the gun. In the towns, soldiers are cheered as they go into battle and women offer them flowers to adorn their rifles. The war, much longer than expected, ended in a terrible massacre. The expression “the flower with the gun” which since designates any commitment made with enthusiasm, but also denial of realities, is a legend. In reality, the cheers were mainly intended to encourage the troops: the sadness and apprehension of war gripped all hearts.