Thought Frenchman was trapped in the wreckage (10)
I believe the answer is:
rumination
'thought' is the definition.
(rumination is a kind of thought)
'frenchman was trapped in the wreckage' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'frenchman' could be 'm' (abbreviation for Monsieur - like 'Mr') and 'm' is found within the answer.
'in' is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rumination that I've seen before include "thinking" , "Musing" , "Thought" .)