25 June 1915: Sgt Auguste Louis Jeannin, 175 RI.

Auguste Louis Jeannin was born in Bordeaux on 4 June 1846.

Auguste was a veteran of the Franco-German War of 1870 -71 where he saw action at Orleans and Le Mans.

18, Rue Paul Bert, Roanne, Loire. Taken July 2018 (c) Google Street View 2021

At the time of the outbreak of war in 1914 he was living at 18, Rue Paul Bert, Roanne, Loire.

General Henri Gouraud (commander of the French Army Corps in the Dardanelles and third from the left) and General Maurice Bailloud (commander of the French 2nd Division and on the extreme left), stand with their staff by a wrecked gun in the old fort at Sedd el Bahr, Cape Helles. (C) National Army Museum 2021

Auguste volunteered in August 1914, Auguste was sent to the 175 RI with which he was to see service at Gallipoli from May 1915.

French soldiers at Sedd-el-Bahr, Cape Helles, during the Battle of Gallipoli, 1915. Photo from The War Illustrated, 19 June 1915. Caption reads: :French soldiers sorting out the kits of fallen in their camp at Seddul Bahr, the Turkish fort on the Gallipoli shores that was captured by the allied troops. These photographs were taken by the official photographer with the Dardanelles Expedition.

Auguste was killed by Turkish shelling near Sedd ul Bahr on 25 June 1915; he has no known grave. He was one the oldest men to be killed in action during the First World War; he was 69 - indeed he was three weeks into his 70th year.

Sources: Google Street View; The War Illustrated 1915; Musée des beaux-arts et d'archéologie Joseph Déchelette.

Postcard: National Army Museum 'In the Dardanelles'