A Farm Labourer and Resistance Fighter

Maurice Manchet was the son of Maxime Abel Manchet (born in 1884 in Gy-en-Sologne, Loir-et-Cher), a day labourer and Célestine Couture (born in 1890 in Epeigné-les-Bois, Indre-et-Loire). His parents were married in April of 1910 in Saint-Martin-le-Beau (Indre-et-Loire); they were both gagistes (which in the agricultural vocabulary of the time designates people receiving wages for a service rendered, without however being a servant). Maurice was their first child. A second son Robert was born in 1914, while his father was already mobilized, but died at Azay-sur-Indre (Indre-et-Loire) at the age of 8 months. 

Maxime Manchet was mobilized in August 1914, and sent as a soldier in the 312th Infantry Regiment, where he was killed at Verdun on December 8, 1916. As he was killed in action, he was declared to have 'died for France' and Maurice Manchet, fatherless at the age of 3, became a ward of the State after the War. In the 1926 census, he was living with his mother, a farmer in Azay-sur-Indre. In 1944, married to Yvette Emilie Lanneau, he was living in Dolus-le-Sec (Indre-et-Loire) where he worked as a farm labourer. He joined the Resistance and joined a maquis group in the region of Loches (Indre-et-Loire).

On August 16, 1944, the town of Loches was liberated for the first time by the joint action of several local maquis. But four days later, on August 20, German troops recaptured the town, a strategic point on their retreat south of the Loire. Violent fighting then took place between groups of maquisards and German troops in Loches and in several neighbouring municipalities, resulting in the death of about twenty Resistance fighters. In the municipality of Chanceaux-près-Loches, on the western outskirts of Loches, seven Resistance fighters were killed (four of whom were not identified). Among the three maquisards identified was Maurice Manchet. His body was not discovered until September 2, 1944, around 5:00 p.m. (and recognized on September 3 by his family) at a place called La vallée des Châtaigniers, in the municipality of Chanceaux, "the individual had his right leg shot through and his skull shattered". This description suggests that he may have been wounded and then summarily executed.

He obtained the mention "Died for France" on January 29, 1948 and his name is inscribed on the monument of Dolus-le-Sec. His name is engraved on the memorial erected in Dolus (Manchet and an unknown, sergeant Bouboule?) as well as in Chanceaux on the monument surmounted by a cross of Lorraine, and on the plaque to the victims of the wars located in the church.

 Bouboule is an odd name, like a nickname for someone who is short and fat.

Source: https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article212141, notice MANCHET Maurice, Abel par Annie Pennetier, Michel Thébault, version mise en ligne le 1er mars 2019, dernière modification le 15 avril 2020.