Soldiers who died during the Second World War
The Ministry of Defence puts on-line on the site Memory of the Men the file of military registry office of the World War II.
The Ministry of Defence puts on-line on the site Memory of the Men the file of military registry office of the World War II. This useful initiative deserves to be greeted, by avoiding however being mistaken. The here presented elements indeed gather all the servicemen died during the operations which took place, on undoubtedly multiple fronts, between 1939 and 1945. They integrate so much the soldiers who fought under the cross of the Lorraine where the committed Vichy government servicemen of the strengths in the East or in North Africa. They mix colonial and undergrounds, draftees and servicemen of active, regular and resistant soldiers - when these last ones benefited, it was for fictitious title, from a military status following the example of Jean Moulin. This variety signs not at all a moral judgment. The authors of the site, in other words, did not want to create a virtual memorial to greet all the fallen soldiers. They more prosaically wished to give families and researchers - genealogists in particular - a base allowing to redraw individual routes.
The consultation will answer, at least let us hope for it, in these plural waits. Index cards, elaborated from the files of instruction, include mainly the name, the first name, the unity, the date, the place and the born department, as well as the date, the place and the cause of the death - to whom is added the mention "Died for France" when it was freed. So, this easily accessible tool will allow to answer a lot of questioning that settle both the close relations and the historians.