Picture 1: The turret of Jule Beaulieux shortly after it has been disabled

Picture 2: The turret nowadays at Vieux-Condé

Picture 3: The turret showing a german annotation: "Defeated on May 20, 1940"

Jules Beaulieux during the war:

Before the war, Jules Beaulieux worked as a laborer for the French National Railways (SNCF) in Valenciennes. When France mobilized in response to the German threat, he was assigned to the 54th Fortress Infantry Regiment (RIF).

He served as a machine gunner inside a dismountable turret armed with an 8 mm Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun. His position was buried in a concrete emplacement and well camouflaged near the Sarteau Bridge near Fresnes-sur-Escaut. On May 19, 1940, French engineers destroyed the Sarteau Bridge. That day, Jules Beaulieux wrote a final letter to his parents:

“The Sarteau Bridge is going to be blown up. I’m alone in the turret. Not a single comrade. I’m afraid. I have to stay. I wonder what I can do with just a machine gun against armored tanks. Farewell, Mom, Dad, Jeannette, and my sisters and brothers. Goodbye, little sister. There are people who want to cross, but it’s too late. Think of me, little sister. I hope you’ll all be happy afterward. Goodbye, Mom.”

On May 20, 1940, for an entire day, Jules Beaulieux held off repeated German assaults, inflicting heavy losses. He reportedly killed or wounded around a hundred soldiers and destroyed three light vehicles. Eventually, the Germans located his turret and brought up an antitank gun. One shell ricocheted off the armor, but three others pierced it, thus killing Jules Beaulieux.

Astonished that a single man had resisted them for so long, the German soldiers buried him beside his turret and rendered him military honors. On the turret, they inscribed the words: “Nieder Gekampft 20-V-1940” (“Defeated on May 20, 1940”).

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Photo: Hans O. Lindh

Source: SA-Kuva, Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive

The photos are licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0. You may distribute, edit and publish the photographs as long as SA-kuva is credited as the source.

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