Stalner, Eric - 1 Original colour drawing - Albert Roche - 2025

His name may not ring a bell. And yet he is one of the greatest heroes of the First World War… In 1914, when all men are called to the Front, Albert Roche, a small peasant from Drôme, is discharged as unfit, judged too frail by the military doctors. Yet the young Alpine hunter longs to fight and join his comrades on the battlefield. Thanks to his determination, and also a touch of insolence, he is sent to the front line. In the midst of bloody combats, the young man racks up exploits. And in 1918, the record is astonishing: Albert Roche was wounded nine times and took 1,180 German prisoners in three years of war. An extraordinary hero. But a forgotten hero…