Memorial Corporal Peugeot Joncherey

Memorial for Corporal Peugeot with the inscription:

"Killed here on Sunday, August 2, 1914.
Corporal Jules André Peugeot
of the 44th R.I.
More than thirty hours before
declaring war on France, imperial and royal
Germany shed the first French blood"

Jules André Peugeot (1893 –1914), teacher by profession, was a French corporal in the 6th company of the 44th regiment of the 27th infantry brigade.

On the morning of August 2, 1914, a German cavalry unit led by Second Lieutenant Albert Mayer patrolled French territory. At the French-German border, Mayer stabbed a French border guard with his saber before moving deeper into France.
Jules-André Peugeot and his fellow soldiers were having breakfast in Joncherey in the house where they were billeted. Around 9:30 am, a resident daughter of the homeowner came to tell them that a German patrol had been seen in the village.
The soldiers immediately started looking for the German patrol and met at 9:59 am. Peugeot shouted that the German unit was surrounded by the French army. Mayer then pulled his gun and shot Peugeot in the shoulder. Peugeot fell while shooting at Mayer, missing Mayer. Other soldiers from the French patrol then shot at Mayer, who died on the spot, hit in the abdomen and head. Jules-André Peugeot died a little later on the steps of the house where he was billeted.

Although the First World War did not officially start until August 3, 1914, it is generally accepted that both Albert Mayer and Jules-André Peugeot are the first dead soldiers on the German and French sides respectively.

On the Belgian side was Antoine Fonck. He was shot dead by a German patrol on August 4, 1914. He is buried in Thimisger-Clermont (B).