France Military Records

Military Records Overview
Military records are from times of war and times of peace. They identify individuals who served in the armed forces or who were eligible for service. Military records may help individuals learn more about ancestors who served their nation. These wiki pages teach terminology and describe the contents, uses, and availability of major sets of records created mostly by governmental entities. They may be used to learn about communal, departmental, and national sources. The wiki pages discuss only sources that identify personal information about individuals in the armed forces and their units. They do not discuss historical sources about military institutions weapons, battles, or tactics. The Wiki pages for the separate departments have more information about departmental military records.

It should be known that there is an effort put forth by the National Archives to digitize and make available online all Registres matricules militaires or military registration records. Currently, the goal is to do so up to 1921. However, it will be on a departmental and archival basis and will differ from one to another. The good thing is they are working on it. Military records identify individuals who served in the military or who were eligible for service. Most young men were required to serve in or register for military service in France. Evidence that an ancestor actually served may be found in family records, civil registrations, biographies, censuses, probate records, military conscription records, and church records.

Some French military records begin as early as the 1500s but are rare. They may give information about an ancestor's military career, such as promotions, places served, pensions, and conduct. In addition, these records may include information about his age, birthplace, residence, occupation, physical description, and family members.

The records you will find include:


 * Conscription records (in the 1800s).
 * Muster rolls.
 * Personnel files.
 * Regimental files.
 * Lists of officers
 * Pension records.
 * Correspondence.

Many of these records have been centralized at the Military Archives in Vincennes, but the conscription records are kept at the departmental archives. The FamilySearch Library has not filmed military records, except for a few conscription records in the department of Bas-Rhin from 1817 to 1856.

Confidentiality
Military records are kept confidential for more years from the soldier's birth. Other sources (such as church records and civil registration) are more easily available and contain much of the same information.

To use French military records, you will have to determine the soldier's specific regiment or ship the sailor served. If you do not know this information, it may be possible to learn which units were raised in the area where your ancestor lived. To do this, you must know at least the district [arrondissement] where the individual was living when he was of age to serve in the military.

Restriction to Research by Privacy or Confidentiality Laws by Record Types

A guideline to avoid conflict with a privacy law when searching military records is to make sure that the soldier would have been older than 150 years in the present year when researching.

Privacy restrictions:

120 years for personnel records

150 years for former combatants’ records

100 years for military justice records after the file was closed

150 years for medical records from the respective person’s date of birth.

150 years for military service records (also known as matricule registre), ,

Military Records of Genealogical Value
Research use: Useful for following movements of young men, military regiment assignment and substitute for missing civil registers.

Content: Birth registers and lists of 17-21 year old males, their parents, residence, physical descriptions, current status such as exempt, moved away, deceased, etc.

Military censuses or conscription records may help determine where a person was from. They are not indexed. They are compiled year by year and listed alphabetically in each locality for men who are age 19 and 20. The towns are grouped in cantons and districts. Each department has several districts. Because of this, a search of conscription records can be time consuming. You will need your relative's birth year and birth department before hiring somebody to search conscription records in departmental archives.

Records of French troop assignments [contrôles de troupes] start in 1716. They are arranged by regiment name and the date each company in the regiment was raised. The list shows where the company was raised, commanders, and number of men. It cites the archive number of the company's records and the types of information in the records (such as names of parents and dates and places of birth). Troop assignments from 1716 to 1789 are listed in:

Corvisier, André. Les contrôles des troupes de l'Ancien Régime (Troop assignments of the Ancien Régime). Four Volumes. [S.n.]: Concours du C.N.R.S., 1970. (FS Library book ; not on microfilm.) Volume 2 infantry; Volume 3 cavalry, artillery, militia, French guards, Swiss troops, disabled companies, and colonial navy; Volume 4 indexes by name of the regiment, commanders, or company.

The military archives in Vincennes have not been microfilmed. Archivists occasionally answer letters, but you must know the exact name of the person, time period, rank, and regiment or ship. Do not expect to obtain much information from before 1800.

The following books help you locate French military records:

France. Archives nationales. Archives de la marine, série B service général (Navy archive index). Paris, France: S.E.V.P.E.N., 1969. (FS Library book ; film item 2.) An alphabetical index to places, names, subjects, and ships mentioned in subseries B 1-3.

France. Ministère de la Marine. Officiers civils, 1645-1817 (Index of civilian officers attached to the French navy). Paris, France: Chadwyck-Healey France, 1988. (FS Library fiche .)

For more historical information about the French military campaigns, use:


 * Dupuy, R. Earnest, and Trevor N. Dupuy. Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 B.C. to the Present. (Revised Edition) London, England and Sidney, Australia: Jane's Publishing, 1980. (FS Library book ; not on microfilm.) Text in English.

Percentage in FamilySearch Library: 2%.

Additional military histories are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under:


 * FRANCE - MILITARY HISTORY
 * FRANCE, [DEPARTMENT] - MILITARY HISTORY
 * FRANCE, [PROVINCE] (REGION) - MILITARY HISTORY

World War I Grand Mémorial Database
A new database, the Grand Mémorial of military records, history, and documents focusing on World War I was launched in November 2014. Thus far, the following departmental archives in France have contributed to the various databases:

- Ain - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence - Côtes-d'Armor - Haute-Marne - Pyrénées-Atlantiques - Hautes-Pyrénées - Mayenne - Saône-et-Loire - Sarthe - Seine-Maritime - Yvelines - Somme - Tarn - Var - Vaucluse - Vendée

Additional records will be added over the next four years. Documents from various former colonies are also included. By the time the project is completed in 2018 the Grand Mémorial database will document about 8.5 million soldiers.

Many records have been indexed. Both simple and expanded search options are available. Index entries lead to images of the actual service records of soldiers with enlistment years between 1887 and 1921. The website also included links to regimental journals, a war graves index, and historical documents.

Multiple Wars
Also at MyHeritage ($) Also at: MyHeritage ($)
 * 1793-1896 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
 * 1802-1977 France, Legion of Honor at MyHeritage; index & images ($)
 * 1867-1921 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1865-1932 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1867-1921 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

Thirty Years War
1618-1648: Thirty Years War. Many records destroyed in eastern France. Severe devastation in German areas.

King William's War
1689-1697: King William's War. In England, it was called the War of the Grand Alliance.

Queen Anne's War
1703-1713: Queen Anne's War. Also known as War of Spanish Succession.

King George's War
1744-1748: King George's War.

French and Indian War
1756-63: Seven Years War also known as French and Indian War. Britain consolidates colonial power at the expense of France.

American Revolution
1778-1783: French assistance in the American Revolution.


 * 1778-1783 at FamilySearch; index & images


 * Bodinier, Gilbert. Dictionnaire des officiers de l'armée royale qui ont combattu aux Etats-Unis pendant la guerre d'Indépendance 1776-1783 (Officers in the Royal French Army who fought in the United States during the American War for Independence, 1776-1783). Vincennes, France: Service historique de l'armée de terre, 1983. (FS Library book ; not on microfilm.)


 * Les combattants français de la guerre américaine, 1778-1783 (French soldiers in the American Revolution). Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969. Originally published as: United States Congress. 58th Congress, Second Session. Senate. Document number 77. (FS Library book ; film item 5.) Includes index.


 * Captain Joachim Merlant.Soldiers and Sailors of France in the War of American Independence (1776-1783). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. FS Library Digital book
 * translated and edited by Howard C. Rice, Jr., & Anne S. K. Brown. The American campaigns of Rochambeau's army : 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783.Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, c1972.

National Park Service - Yorktown Battlefield
 * French Units at Yorktown
 * French Naval Casualties
 * French Army Casualties at Yorktown

French Revolutionary Wars
1792-1800: French Revolutionary Wars. France invaded Germany and Italy.

Napoleonic Wars
1800-1815: Napoleonic Wars surge back and forth across Europe.

Crimean War
1853-1856: Crimean War. France, Britain, Türkiye fight Russia.

Franco-Prussian War
1870-1871: Franco-Prussian War. German Empire founded upon defeat of France and took Alsace and Lorraine to form Alsace-Lorraine (Elsass-Lothringen).
 * 1870 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index

World War I

 * Grand Mémorial
 * 1914-1918: World War I. France regains Alsace and Lorraine at the end.
 * 1914-1918 Web: France, World War 1 Volunteers from Schools and Universities, 1914-1918 at Ancestry; index ($)
 * 1914-1918 Web: France, World War 1 Casualty Lists - Partial, 1914-1918 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1914-1961 France, Military Death Index, 1914-1961 at MyHeritage; index ($)
 * The World Remembers - WWI Deaths
 * World War I French Insignia Chart. National Archives Catalog. NAID

World War II

 * 1940 France, World War II Prisoners of War at MyHeritage; index ($)

Other Military Online Resources

 * 1887-1921 France, Military Conscripts of Seine at MyHeritage; index & images ($)
 * France, Military Enlistees and Conscripts of Nord at MyHeritage; index ($)