Deuxnouds-aux-Bois –
Franco-German aerial combat on October 10, 1915
Recently, while taking before-and-after photographs in the small village of Deuxnouds-aux-Bois at the local cemetery, which during wartime also served for the burial of fallen German soldiers, a single, typical French soldier’s grave was found. The cross bears the inscription:
MAHIEN HENRY
MORT POUR LA FRANCE le 10.10.1915
It soon became clear that this grave must be related to several photographs of German soldiers showing a burial at this cemetery. One of these photographs bears the handwritten note: “Burial of 2 French aviators. 10.10.15.”
Research based on the name given on the grave cross as “Henry Mahien” initially yielded no clues, specifically not indicating that this soldier was one of the French aviators mentioned in the photograph. Assumptions that, despite the matching date, it might after all just be another war-related death among many were not confirmed. Pierre Lenhard, a French military historian and accredited battlefield guide from Romagne-sous-les-Côtes, upon a request for assistance, discovered that the name given on the grave cross is incorrect and that the fallen Frenchman is actually Henri Joseph Mahieu. This information then revealed further connections:
Henri Joseph Mahieu was born on January 1, 1891, in the northern French city of Valenciennes. In 1908, he enlisted as a volunteer in the French army and initially served in the 23e régiment d’infanterie coloniale. On July 6, 1915, he earned his pilot’s license number 2116 and from then on served in the rank of sergent pilote in the French escadrille MF 63.
On October 10, 1915, Sergeant Mahieu took off in a French Maurice Farman F.11 and in formation with other aircraft from a field airfield near Verdun for his first combat flight. He was accompanied by Second Lieutenant Henri Francois Mérillon, serving as observer and gunner, born on August 11, 1882, in Le Bouscat, Département Gironde. Their mission was to take photographs of the large German supply railway station near Vigneulles-les-Hattonchâtel. In the area of the Meuse Heights, they became embroiled in aerial combat with German aircraft and were also fired upon from the ground by German anti-aircraft defense. Around 15:00 on October 10, 1915, the French aircraft was hit and so severely damaged that it crashed on the height called „le Rompu“ west of Deuxnouds-aux-Bois. Both occupants lost their lives.
Following the tragic event, the fallen were recovered by German soldiers, presumably members of the Rheinischen Fußartillerie-Regiments 8 (8th Foot Artillery Regiment), and later buried in the local cemetery of Deuxnouds-aux-Bois in a dignified ceremony. In 1915, this was still customary, even in honor of enemy pilot comrades. The exact time of the funeral unfortunately remains unclear, but contrary to the handwritten note on the photograph at the time, it will in any case have taken place several days after the crash. The photos also suggest that a woman dressed in black, possibly the mother of one of the two French soldiers, attended the funeral.
The German aircrews who engaged in defensive combat with the French attackers belonged to Bayerische Feldflieger-Abteilung 3 (3rd Bavarian Field Aviation Detachment) (FFA 3 b) from Oberschleißheim. At that time, the unit was stationed at the German field airfield near Marimbois Ferme (today: Marin Bois) in the Woëvre Plain (D 903 between Dampvitoux and St.-Benoît-en-Woëvre). A member of this unit was the Bayreuth-born orderly officer and later Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) Robert Greim. According to the records in the logbook cited below, as an onboard gunner he succeeded in shooting down the French aircraft near the village of Deuxnouds-aux-Bois:
“Repeated attack by 2 and 3 M.F. combat aircraft and 1 Caudron. Attack accepted, but broken off again due to a cartridge jam. The French aircraft followed for a short time and then changed their mode of attack with one attacking from below and two from above. After a short air combat, the lower M.F. was shot down. It crashed in flames onto the heights west of Deuxnoud. Occupants: Officer observer Lt. (second lieutenant) Mérillon and civilian pilot Mahieu dead. Aircraft was from Fliegerabt. 63 of Verdun.”
Even though, according to accounts by other French crews involved in the fighting, the decisive hit was said to have been made by German anti-aircraft fire from the ground, the young German aviator was credited with the shootdown.
Robert Greim later earned his pilot’s license himself and achieved a total of 28 aerial victories during the course of the First World War. In October 1918, already decorated with the Orden Pour le Mérite, he was ennobled by the award of the Bavarian Militär-Max-Joseph-Ordens. From then on, he bore the name Robert Ritter von Greim. During the interwar period, he completed a law degree in Munich and was involved for several years as an advisor in the buildup of the Chinese air force. In 1934, he joined the newly founded German Luftwaffe. There he made a rapid career and, during the course of the Second World War through his appointment as commander of Luftflotte 6 (East) and in the final days of the war as Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal) and Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, attained dubious notoriety. Ritter von Greim died by suicide on May 24, 1945, in a Salzburg hospital after being informed by his American guards that his extradition to the Red Army was imminent.
The design of the grave site in the municipal cemetery of Deuxnouds-aux-Bois suggests that the actual resting place of the French pilot Henri Joseph Mahieu is located there, although his name is also listed on the family grave in Valenciennes. The Verein Le Souvenir Francais has been informed of the necessity for a correction of the name. The whereabouts of the French observer, Sous-Lieutenant Heni Francois Mérillon, on the other hand, remain unclear to date. It is likely that his remains were transferred by relatives to his hometown of Le Bouscat after the end of the First World War.
were AI-edited (notice pursuant to Art. 50 Regulation (EU) 2024/1689).