Victor Boudon, a sergeant in the 276th Infantry Regiment
in Charles Péguy's 19th company
A key witness to Péguy and the fighting in the Battle of the Marne.
Victor Boudon, a soldier in the 276th Infantry Regiment, in the same company as Péguy, provides us, through his accounts and writings, with a wealth of detail about the fighting in the Battle of the Marne in September 1914.
He was born on 7 November 1887 in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne).
Orphaned at an early age, at 20 he was appointed as one of the secretaries of the Human Rights League.
He married in 1910.
In August 1914, at the time of general mobilisation, he was 26 years old and a sales representative, when he was called up for military service as a reservist with the 276th Infantry Regiment at Coulommiers.
He was posted as a sergeant to Lieutenant Péguy's 4th section, 19th company.
On 5 September 1914, he fought at Villeroy in Péguy's company, which was soon decimated.
A survivor of the fighting, Victor Boudon was shot in the right foot the next day on the battlefield of Barcy.
Widowed, he remarried in Paris in July 1918, just before being posted to the 1st Cuirassiers Regiment.
He was demobilised after the war and subsequently moved to Maisons-Alfort.
In recognition of his bravery during the Great War, Victor Boudon was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1962.
Every September, he would faithfully attend the commemorations of the Battle of the Marne with Charles Péguy's family and his comrades in arms, including Alphonse Tellier.
The last of Péguy's companions, he died on 31 May 1979, aged 92.
He is buried in the Charenton-le-Pont cemetery.
In 1916, he wrote a book entitled "Avec Charles Péguy. De la Lorraine à la Marne" ("With Charles Péguy. From Lorraine to the Marne").
In 1964, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Marne, the book was republished and expanded under the title: "
On that occasion, he gave first-hand accounts on Belgian television of the fighting at Villeroy on 5 September 1914.
He truly was a key witness to the Battle of the Ourcq, drawing numerous sketches of the battlefield, writing and commenting on other works, and providing a wealth of detail and commentary on the Battle of the Marne.