Skirmish at Joncherey

The Skirmish at Jonchery was the first fight on the Western Front during World War I. The skirmish took place before war had been officially been declared by Germany on France, which would be on August 3.

The Skirmish
At around 6 am on August 2, Leut. Albert Otto Walter Mayer and his small Cavalry patrol passed into the French border. Two times that morning they had exchanged shots with small pockets of French infantry. At 9:50 am Mayer attacked a French sentry who was on lookout at the entrance to Joncherey. Jules Andre Peugeot and 4 other soldiers were inside of a billet house eating breakfast at the time. The daughter of the owner of the house came back inside from fetching water and reportedly said "The Prussians! The Prussians are coming!"

Around 9:59 Peugeot and his 4 comrades went to arrest the Germans, upon meeting Mayer, he fired 3 shots at Peugeot. One hit his shoulder, Peugeot fired back as he was falling. Peugeot's comrades opened up on the patrol with pistols. Mayer was shot in the stomach, but seconds later was killed instantly with a shot to the head. Three others were injured, one managed to escape for a few days by hiding in the woods, he was eventually captured. One of the German soldiers was never seen again, and two escaped safely back to Germany.

Peugeot stumbled back to the billet house where he died at 10:37 am.