Sylvain Eugène Raynal (3 March 1867 – 13 January 1939) was a French military officer.

Biography

The

Fort Vaux Fort Vaux (french: Fort de Vaux), in Vaux-Devant-Damloup, Meuse (department), Meuse, France, was a polygonal fort forming part of the ring of 19 large defensive works intended to protect the city of Verdun. Built from 1881 to 1884 for 1,500,00 ...

was commanded by Raynal who started the war in charge of the 7th Regiment of Algerian Tirailleurs. He was injured in the shoulder by a bullet from a machine gun in September 1914, and then severely injured in December when his command post was hit by an artillery shell. After ten months in hospital, Raynal came back to the front 1 October 1915, to be again injured in the leg by shrapnel a few days later; he was then promoted to officer of the

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

. Not being able to walk properly seemed to end his military career; however, later in 1916, the Ministry of War in France decided that officers who could not serve on the front line could instead take command of fortresses and other fortifications. Raynal volunteered himself for the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

, where he was posted commander of the fort Vaux, which would be attacked by the Germans on 2 June 1916. He led a stout defense of Vaux over six days of brutal combat, with his eventual surrender forced by his men literally dying of thirst. The defense was so heroic that the commander of the German army opposing him, Crown Prince Wilhelm, honored him with a sword to replace the one lost during the battle.G.J. Meyer, « A World Undone: The Story of the Great War «, 2006 After being taken prisoner on 8 June 1916, Raynal was placed in captivity 11 June 1916 at the

Mainz Citadel The Mainzer Zitadelle (Citadel of Mainz) is situated at the fringe of , near Mainz Römisches Theater station. The fortress was constructed in 1660 and was an important part of the Fortress Mainz. History The Jakobsberg hill, where the citadel wa ...

. He was then moved to

Brodnica Brodnica (german: Strasburg in Westpreußen or Strasburg an der Drewenz) is a town in northern Poland with 28,574 inhabitants . It is the seat of Brodnica County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. The nearby Brodnica Landscape Park, a prot ...

(''Strasburg in Westpreußen'' or ''Strasburg an der Drewenz'') on 5 November 1917. He was then interned at

Interlaken , neighboring_municipalities= Bönigen, Därligen, Matten bei Interlaken, Ringgenberg, Unterseen , twintowns = Scottsdale (USA), Ōtsu (Japan), Třeboň (Czech Republic) Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and mun ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on 30 March 1918, but liberated 4 November 1918. After the first world war, he was the military commander of the city of

Mayence Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

. Major Raynal was also filled with strong civic engagement: before the war, he had supported the action of Jaurès and Socialist Party. Near the Commander Rossel

Captain Henry Gerard Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

collaborator Jaurès The new Army and Military section of'' Humanity'', he was particularly invested in animation the socialist camp "Grand Air" (See: Gilles Candor and Prochasson "Jaurès and the mid Republican officers"), ''Cahiers Jaurès'', ''3'' in 1994 and ''The People'', 19 June 1916.

References

Translated from fr.wp * ''Le Drame du Fort de Vaux'', journal du Commandant Raynal.

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raynal, Sylvain-Eugene 1867 births 1939 deaths Military personnel from Bordeaux French military officers French military personnel of World War I Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)