The man who saved Vitrival from the fires.
Seeing the Germans setting fire to the homes close to his house, Joseph Genard couldn't accept it: he had to intervene. He headed towards the one who seemed to command the troop – a mounted officer with a steel helmet – came up to him and, when up close, saw that he knew him!
- 'Mr Officer, you are Engineer X...'
- 'And you, you are Joseph Genard, we built the Anseremme Bridge together twenty years ago.'
- 'Mr Officer, your men are burning down the village: why?'
- 'All the inhabitants have left, they are Franc-Tireurs!'
- 'No, Mr Engineer, they are poor people who took fright and are now in France. Leave them their houses!'
- 'Genard, in memory of the bridge we built together, you will keep your village.'
And nothing more was burned. That's how Joseph Genard saved the village of Vitrival in 1914.
