La Nécropole Nationale du Natus is a memorial located just off a winding forest road to the south of La Teste-de-Buch, by the Bassin d'Arcachon. It offers a poignant reminder of one of the saddest chapters in the history of the First World War: the lives and deaths of hundreds of soldiers at the Camp du Courneau military base.
In 1914, with war raging in Europe, France made the decision to seek reinforcements from overseas, most notably from Senegal, a French colony at that time. Two transit camps were set up away from the frontlines to welcome, train, organise and rest these extra "
tirailleurs sénégalais" (Senegalese infantrymen). One was in Fréjus on the Mediterranean coast, the other was
Camp du Courneau, on a parcel of newly-irrigated marshland where rice used to be cultivated between La Teste and Cazaux.
From April 1916 until July 1917, the camp accommodated an estimated
27,000 (some say up to 40,000) Senegalese infantrymen who had arrived
by boat in Bordeaux before being ferried by rail to Courneau. The
conditions were rudimentary though and the poor hygiene contributed to the
loss of 940 soldiers – in other words, 940 victims of war who succumbed to illness
rather than enemy fire on the frontline.
On the camp, up to 60 men would squeeze into one of the 400 barracks which measured 6 by 30 metres. The shelters were not waterproof for long and rainwater would seep through into the dwellings. Small stove heaters offered little warmth for the troops who found it hard to adjust to the European climate and damp terrain. Laundry was washed in the canal that ran between Cazaux and the Bassin d’Arcachon. The only electrical power available was in the hospital tent.
In 1917, subsequent to the departure of the Senegalese (those who were still alive had bee
n sent to fight in the
Battle of Chemin des Dames), the camp became home to Russian troops who had been committed to the French front. 16,000 Russian troops were sent to France but many rebelled. Around 6,500 of the reluctant soldiers eventually ended up at
Courneau around the time of the October Revolution in their home country. On the camp, a
laissez-faire atmosphere reportedly reigned; many of the men devoted much of their time to alcohol-fuelled outings to Bordeaux and Arcachon. Twelve Russians died at Courneau and they too are buried at the Natus site.
In January 1918, the camp was transferred to US forces, who had joined allied operations six months earlier. They demanded the departure of the Russians and set about improving conditions on the site, which became known as
Camp Hunt and was mainly used for artillery practice by the 165th then 161st Field Artillery brigades. The Americans (of whom there were almost 16,000 in all) were reportedly popular with locals. One soldier, Jerry Pearce, even ended up marrying a Bordeaux girl and descendants remained in the area.
They too lost a number of men through accidents and illness. 87 bodies were buried on a plot of land just yards away from the Natus grave of the Senegalese and Russian troops. After the Second World War, the remains of those US troops were transferred either back to the States or to the American military cemetery in Suresnes near Paris. The memorial remains.
While there is no way a humble blog item could possibly do justice to such a vast topic, former top rugby player (and now Doctor)
Serge Simon went much further by filming “
Une pensée du Courneau”, a revealing documentary broadcast by France 3 Aquitaine in November 2011. When researching the subject, he uncovered unsettling evidence of experiments which had been carried out on the Senegalese, "who were relegated to the state of human guinea pigs".
One Dr Joseph Kérandel, affiliated with Institut Pasteur in Paris, had been drafted into the camp to eradicate the lobar pneumonia epidemic sweeping through the troops. Though incurable in these pre-antibiotic times, it was hoped the illness could at least be prevented and Kérandel developed a vaccine in under four weeks. The product, which had not been tested on animals, was widely administered to Senegalese soldiers and results were monitored and documented with a view to subsequent capitalisation and more extensive deployment of the vaccine.
When revealed at the time, news of the life-size experiments resulted in Kérandel being dismissed, but a commission decreed that Institut Pasteur and the military could continue to administer the vaccine in order to use up the 6,000 doses they still had. According to Serge Simon, quoted by newspaper
Sud Ouest, “the vaccine was neither dangerous nor effective, but experiments were undeniably carried out on humans. If there hadn’t been all those vaccines to get rid of, the camp may have been abandoned earlier.”
In
research carried out since this Invisible Bordeaux article was originally published, writer Eric Joly has however established that the vaccine was derived from a formula used with success on miners in South Africa. Was Kérandel's dismissal therefore misguided?
 |
| Tall fences surround the former camp. |
Either way, the Nautus memorial offers a disturbing reminder of this painful
heritage. There are still a few remnants of the camp itself,
with visits very occasionally being organised in agreement with the
local military (the zone is part of a wider military base that encompasses an area twice the size of Paris). Most of the time though it is hidden deep in the forest
behind tall impenetrable fences, out of sight... but it is our collective
duty to ensure that what happened there is never out of mind.
On the southern edge of Arcachon Bay, the Port du Canal in Gujan-Mestras is home to a number of oyster farmers, fishermen and ship-builders. It is also here that a record-breaking high-speed catamaran conceived by renowned Arcachon-based sailor Yves Parlier has seemingly been left to rest in peace in full view of all-comers. What is more, at the time of writing, it can be yours for €250,000. 
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