EEntering the Nieul-sur-Mer cemetery, it stands among the tombs. The visitor cannot miss the cenotaph erected in honor of Clément Alexis Barbarin, who died for France on April 27, 1915, even if the passage of time gradually erases the inscriptions and memories. This funerary monument was erected by the father of the 23-year-old young man who perished at sea like 683 of his comrades. Inconsolable, this inhabitant of Nieul-sur-Mer, painter by trade, shows through the care given to the building, all the pain caused to him by the disappearance of his son.
The cenotaph with, at its base, the exact replica of the sinking battleship.
C. B.
This cenotaph, which could be compared to a war memorial with its classic obelisk shape, features an exceptional detail: the reproduction sculpted in stone, down to the last detail, of the battleship “Léon Gambetta” in the process of sinking. It was on this warship that Clément Alexis Barbarin lost his life on a somewhat forgotten front of the First World War, in the Adriatic Sea. Christophe Bertaud, deputy mayor of La Rochelle and passionate about history, was interested in it.
Forgotten Adriatic Front
“It’s a unique monument. The replica is faithful, we see the cannon, the French flag flying…” The epitaph caught his attention: “In memory of a victim of corruption, Clément Alexis Barbarin, quartermaster gunner, died in the field of honor in the torpedoing of the battleship cruiser “Léon-Gambetta” on April 26, 1915 (there is an error on the date, Editor's note) at midnight thirty (Adriatic Sea), 1892-1915. » “Why corruption? Perhaps because many believed that the war was fought between great powers for economic reasons. »
The elected official then looked into the history of the “Léon-Gambetta” where around ten Charentais-Maritimes perished. “The First World War was not just about trench warfare. French soldiers are not just hairy people. There are also many sailors who fought at sea in the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In the spring of 1915, France suffered its first two maritime disasters at sea with the loss in the space of a month of two of its military ships: “Le Bouvet” sunk in the Dardanelles, and the “Léon-Gambetta” torpedoed by a German submarine at the entrance to the Otranto canal leaving 684 missing and 137 survivors. »
Repro “South West”
On the night of April 26 to 27, the “Léon Gambetta” was sunk by two torpedoes launched by an Austro-Hungarian submarine.
A “remarkable” monument
Clément Alexis Barbarin voluntarily signed up for five years at Rochefort. He was not a trained sailor. Destiny led him to the “Léon-Gambetta”. “These events were forgotten very quickly because from May 7, 1915, all attention was focused on the British transatlantic liner “Lusitania” sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland with more than 1,200 passengers (including 200 Americans), which will change the position of neutrality of the Americans. »
The body of Clément Alexis Barbarin was never found. The cenotaph was then used by the Barbarin family to bury their dead. “It is a remarkable monument which must be preserved. »
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