Charly DeCaiche

Sacha DeCaiche (Brother)

Marie DeCaiche (Sister)

Henri DeCaiche (Uncle)

Michael O'Shaunnessey

Charly Aparelle DeCaiche (7 August 1897 - 4 June 1944) was a French soldier and artist active during the 1930s and 40s, he is best known for his works on battle and carnage, depicting the battles of the First World War in an impressionist style.

## Early Life

Charly was born in Brest, France on the 7th of August in 1897 to Oiseau and Marie DeCaiche, the heads of a small poor woodcutter family. He was the oldest of two brothers and one sister. He attended primary school in Brest before his father pulled him out and moved the family to Paris due to their failing business. The family used the remainder of their funds to begin a small tailor shop with Charly's mother stitching, sewing, and fitting clothes. During this time he would meet Lorette DeMoulin and fall in love. The two met in 1914 intended to marry as soon as they finished school a year later.

## Art Career and Service

In 1915 Charly turned 18, and had taken a large interest in painting and photography, taking photos of his friends and family at iconic Parisian monuments. He began attempting to attend art school so he could perfect his amateur style, but was drafted into the military before he could be accepted into any of them. He was placed in the 2nd Army Corps and saw combat in The Battle of Verdun as soon as he exited training. During the war his family fled Paris and left for America, fearing a German invasion of the city. His sister Marie and Lorette both left letters detailing the family's move and money so he could purchase his own ticket to join them when he returned. He was shot in the leg on October 24th 1918 and was discharged from the military as a result. This wound would leave him walking with a limp for the rest of his life. He was later diagnosed with shell shock by a military physician that was overseeing his recovery.

## Charly's Home

Charly's farmhouse in Dernhem, photograph taken by Charly in 1936, Henri DeCaiche visable on the left side of the front porch.

When he returned to Paris he found his family missing, and after realizing that they had left for America, looked for clues as to where they could have gone. Neither Lorette nor Marie had mentioned where they went, only a list of possible destinations. As a result, he bought a boat ticket to New York City, the most likely choice. He lived in the city for 5 years and spent most of his money attempting to find them, searching immigration records and placing ads in papers, but was unable to locate them. In 1924 he returned to Paris, but was unable to live with the memories of his surroundings, finding the city to be an echo of his previous life that he could never return to due to the loss of his family and sanity. He moved to Anneheim, Netherlands in 1926, living with his uncle Henri, who owned a large farm in the small outlying town of Dernhem.

## Move to The Netherlands and WW2

While in Dernhem he continued his artistic pursuits that he was unable to follow in his youth, and built a small art studio in the attic of the farmhouse. To the residents of Dernhem he became known as a reclusive man who never spoke to anyone when he walked into town, and went missing for weeks at a time. The longest of which was for 3 months in 1936. His uncle died in 1938, leaving the farm to Charly. Charly let the farm fall into disuse, and overgrowth covered the fields. In 1940 Nazi Germany invaded the low countries and occupied Anneheim, placing Hauptmann Gerhard Zophel in command of the city. In 1942 he became close associates with Michael O'Shaunnesey, a young boy who was a member of The Anneheim Resistance, as well as Wyatt Sylwester, a local tavern keeper who was rumored to hide Jews and resistance members in his cellar. On September 6th 1943, Gerhard and 3 of his soldiers drove to Charly's house after suspicion of connections to the resistance. The two men talked for 3 hours, and formed a close friendship based on eachother's shared experience in the first World War, and after finding an 1821 Charleville Musket mounted on the wall during a house raid, allowed Charly to hide the gun instead of imprisoning him, as was required by law. Charly, incredibly grateful, offered the man money, but was denied as a show of good will. It was later said that Gerhard knew for sure of Charly's involvement in the resistance and spared him because of their friendship, but the result remains the same. In December of 1943, 15 members of the resistance including the 14 year old Michael were executed in public as a show of force. Charly was sent deep into depression and hysteria, violently throwing things around his house, and when Gerhard approached Charly a month later to give his sympathies he lunged at the man with a knife, attempting to kill him. Gerhard easily overpowered the malnourished Charly and pushed him aside, leaving him alone with the basket of fruit and chocolate he brought.

## Death

In May of 1944 another mass execution was held, this time with Wyatt and Gerald Krutz being in the casualty count. Charly declared the war unwinnable by the allies in his journal, and committed suicide on June 4th 1944, 2 days before the allied landing at Normandy. A few days later, after hearing of the landings, Gerhard returned to Charly to say his goodbyes, as he was going to be re-stationed soon, but was shocked to find the man slumped over on his desk. He went through his belongings and found many of his paintings in the attic, somewhere he neglected to look before, as well as his old uniform and his journal, which was still open to June 4th and was splattered with Charly's blood. Gerhard took all of these objects and drove them to LeClerc Manor, the main operating base and his residence, and hid them under the floorboards along with Dr. Klaus Gardner's Buffalo Brand Books. In 1945 American forces liberated the area, burning Dernhem to the ground on the suspicion it harbored German forces, with Charly's house being caught in the blaze. The LeClerc Manor was also burned down, with only the things Gerhard hid being safe from the fire.

## Paintings

Charly's most famous painting, British at Verdun, painted in 1929.

During his time in The Netherlands, Charly would produce hundreds of paintings and drawings, but most

would be destroyed during the liberation of the Netherlands. Hauptmann Gerhard Zophel was able to save 6 paintings and 2 boxes filled with photographs and sketches, all of which reside in the National Ventian Museum of History Art Wing

## Notes

One of the only objects that survived the fire that destroyed his house was his journal, which provides most of the information on his life. One of the names that keeps appearing in the journal, but has no records connecting it to anyone in Durnhem or Anneheim is Maximilien Lebrun. The name shows up continuously, from 1935 until 1939, when it drops out of use. The man seems to be a traveller of some sort, and he goes by many aliases, if the journal is to be believed.