Joncherey sits in the southern Territoire de Belfort, close to the Swiss frontier. The commune had 1,451 municipal residents in the 2023 census; that figure covers the whole administrative commune, whose density was 280.1 residents per square kilometre. Its local plan describes a landscape of settlement, farmland, woods and water: the northern part includes the Grand Bois and Bambois forests and the Étang Verchat, while the D19 and the former railway follow the Allaine corridor toward Switzerland. The village’s identity is therefore both residential and cross-border, rather than a single memorial stop.
A carefully documented place of memory
The municipal history page reproduces the local death record for Caporal Jules-André Peugeot: it was drawn up at Joncherey and records his death on 2 August 1914 at 10 a.m. The town’s account places him at a meeting with a German patrol led by Albert Mayer, who also died in the clash. It explicitly says the surviving account cannot establish which man fired first. Peugeot is officially recognized as the first French soldier killed in the First World War; that wording should not be enlarged into a claim that he was the conflict’s first victim anywhere. A first memorial was inaugurated here in 1922 and destroyed during the occupation in July 1940, according to the municipality. The Ministry of Culture’s Mérimée record identifies the monument seen today as the 1959 replacement, designed by architect Schuler and sculptor Traut, and listed as a historic monument on 18 September 1998. A municipal planning document maps a commemorative approach along rue du Caporal-Peugeot from the village toward the monument.
That avenue gives visitors a way to read the memorial in its town setting. The municipal plan also names Saint-André church, Sainte-Véronique chapel and Étang Verchat among the local landmarks; it describes woods and ponds, without establishing that every waterside area is a public recreation site. INSEE counted 20 employer establishments at the end of 2024, twelve in trade, transport and other services, alongside smaller construction, industry, public-service and agricultural groups. The statistics are a snapshot, not a current directory.
Practical orientation
The town website publishes local contacts, businesses and temporary service notices; check it before relying on any counter or opening time. The national public-service directory lists a France Services desk in Grandvillars about 3 km away, but verify its current hours. For cycling, the Department describes a roughly 15 km Thiancourt–Réchésy link through Joncherey intended to connect with FrancoVéloSuisse. Because the project page does not confirm every section’s present condition, check the current map and works notices before setting out. The memorial approach is an urban commemorative route; do not confuse it with a rural hiking circuit.
