The First Army ( French : 1 Armée ) was a field army of France that fought during World War I and World War II . It was also active during the Cold War .
105-563: On mobilization in August 1914, General Auguste Dubail was put in the charge of the First Army, which comprised the 7th , 8th , 13th , 14th , and 21st Army Corps , two divisions of cavalry and one reserve infantry division. It was massed between Belfort and the general line Mirecourt-Lunéville with headquarters at Epinal . First Army then took part, along with the French Second Army , in
210-490: A flag of Nazi Germany , a white bed sheet and blue mechanic's boiler suit . Tedder championed de Lattre's right to sign the document as the French representative, and as a compromise it was signed by Zhukov and Spaatz with Tedder and de Lattre as witnesses. On the nine copies that Zhukov signed first de Lattre was first witness while Tedder signed as first witness on the nine that Spaatz signed first. On 15 June, de Lattre attended
315-526: A Vendée regiment, the 93rd Infantry Regiment [ fr ] . He was promoted to captain on 18 December 1915, and was a company commander and then assistant battalion commander in its 3rd Battalion. As part of the 21st Infantry Division , the 93rd Infantry Regiment fought in the Battle of Verdun , where he was gassed in July 1916. The mustard gas affected his injured lung, necessitating time in hospital. He
420-576: A cadre training centre, this time at Douéra in Algiers. His manner at this time gave rise to the sobriquet Le Roi Jean (King John). On 17 April 1944, de Gaulle informed General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson 's Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in Algiers that de Lattre would be in command of all French forces participating in Operation Anvil , the projected Allied landings in Southern France. He
525-523: A few were in use by 1914. General Victor-Constant Michel , Vice-President of the Supreme War Council and commander-in-chief designate, later claimed that Dubail had privately agreed with his plans to deploy reservists in the front line and to adopt a more defensive war plan; however Michel had to resign when no senior general backed him. Dubail's post was abolished in Messimy's reforms. In 1912 Dubail
630-431: A field near Pont-de-Vaux , whence he and others, including Eugène Claudius-Petit , were whisked away by a British aircraft and taken to London. Simonne and Bernard moved to Paris, where they lived under false names. De Lattre was promoted to the rank of général d'armée by Général de brigade Charles de Gaulle on 11 November 1943. Problems with his damaged lung led to de Lattre being admitted to Middlesex Hospital . He
735-572: A good command of English. However, on the occasion of Montgomery's 63rd birthday in November 1950, Montgomery invited de Lattre to tea. Montgomery cut his birthday cake and gave de Lattre an extra slice for Bernard, who was then serving in French Indochina . What was a spontaneous gesture touched de Lattre deeply. From December 1950 to November 1951, de Lattre commanded French troops in Indochina during
840-517: A government in exile in Germany, although de Lattre's forces did not reach it in time to capture Pétain or Pierre Laval . Ulm was taken by American and French units on 24 April, and they raised the tricolour over the city's old fort, as Napoleon had done. Devers ordered de Lattre to withdraw from the city, and with the mission accomplished, this was done. In a tribute to de Lattre on 13 May, Devers quipped: "For many months we have fought together – often on
945-806: A halt in October. On the eve of the resumption of his offensive in November, de Lattre learned that the Provisional Government wanted to take the 1st Armoured Division and 1st Infantry Division from him for an operation to clear German forces from the Royan pocket on the Gironde Estuary and reopen the port of Bordeaux. De Lattre appealed to Devers, who agreed to seek a postponement of the Bordeaux operation. He ultimately managed to get it postponed until April 1945. De Lattre's attack went ahead on 14 November. Belfort
1050-402: A locality. The following year operations moved on to the rugged Taza Province . De Lattre was critical of the tactics used by Marshal Philippe Pétain , which he regarded as slow, expensive and materialistic. He was slashed in the right cheek by an assailant wielding a dagger on 13 March 1924, resulting in a prominent scar, and he was wounded in the knee by a bullet on 26 August 1925 during
1155-600: A name of glory and victory. For his promotion to Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour: Performed several perilous reconnaissance with remarkable audacity and safety. First wounded on 11 August of a shrapnel during a reconnaissance. Sent on 14 September in reconnaissance, was wounded with a spear and cleared enemy riders who surrounded him by killing two of his hand. An annual military service, involving serving soldiers, veteran associations, and ceremonial carriage of
SECTION 10
#17328374896531260-428: A paintbrush, putty and a rope. De Lattre had noticed that the sentry underneath his window went to wake up his relief in the middle of the night instead of being relieved in place, leaving the window unguarded for up to ten minutes. He also found that with one of the bars on his window removed he was able to squeeze through. On the night of 1 September 1943 he removed the window frame and one bar, squeezed through, and used
1365-562: A previously prepared plan to resist the German occupation. Staff officers informed de Lattre's superior in Avignon of his intentions. The troops did not move, and the Vichy Minister of War, Eugène Bridoux , ordered de Lattre's arrest. He was brought before a special State Tribunal on 9 January 1943, charged with treason and abandoning his post. The former charge was dropped but he was found guilty of
1470-429: A reconnaissance mission. He was promoted to the rank of chef de bataillon ( commandant ) on 25 June 1926. De Lattre returned to France, where he spent several weeks with his parents at Mouilleron-en-Pareds. At a luncheon given by a deputy for Vendée, he met Simonne Calary de Lamazière [ fr ] , the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Paris deputy. They met again at a party on the Île d'Yeu , an island off
1575-504: A third struck him in the chest with a lance , perforating his lung. His troop sergeant took him to a cellar in Pont-à-Mousson, where they hid from German patrols until one from the 5th Hussar Regiment reached them. He received the Legion of Honour on 20 December 1914. In 1915, de Lattre responded to an appeal for cavalry officers to volunteer for service in the infantry , and he joined
1680-462: Is Bernard?" He died on 11 January. De Lattre was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France by the President of France , Vincent Auriol , on the day of his funeral procession, 15 January 1952 at Notre-Dame de Paris , Les Invalides in presence of de Gaulle, Dwight D. Eisenhower , and Montgomery. He was buried in a state funeral lasting five days, in what Life magazine described as
1785-508: The 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment , as the required transport aircraft were committed to the Italian campaign . Operation Brassard was successful, liberating the island in two days of hard fighting between 17 and 19 June. As commander of Army B, de Lattre assisted in the preparations for Operation Anvil, which was renamed Operation Dragoon on 1 August 1944. He was successful in securing Allied agreement for an independent French command, although
1890-499: The 253rd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) in the fighting and halting the German capture of Dunkirk for three days. It is estimated that the First Army's last battle allowed the evacuation of an additional 100,000 men from Dunkirk. The First Army formally ceased to exist on 29 May, though a portion escaped with the British soldiers. The First Army was reconstituted as French Army B under the command of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in
1995-566: The 3rd Division at Freiburg (5th, 12th, and 13th Brigades). The Army controlled the I Corps, the II Corps , and the III Corps as well as Army troops, including Pluton artillery, and three anti-aircraft artillery regiments, the 401, 402, and 403 Regiments d'Artillerie, during the 1980s. After deactivation as the war headquarters for the NATO Central Army Group , Ouvrage Rochonvillers
2100-582: The Army of Africa . These troops had played a major role in the liberation of Corsica (September–October 1943) and the Italian Campaign (1943–44), with about 130,000 men engaged. During the French and German campaigns of 1944-45, these troops formed the core of the First Army. In Autumn 1944, First Army comprised about 250,000 men, half of them Indigenes (Mahgrebian and Black African) and half Europeans from North Africa. From September 1944 onward, 114,000 men of
2205-575: The Colmar Pocket . For this operation, Devers placed the four US divisions of Major General Frank W. Milburn 's US XXI Corps under de Lattre's command. Colmar was liberated on 2 February 1945. On 11 February, de Gaulle visited the city and invested de Lattre with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. The First Army breached the Siegfried Line on 19 March 1945. On 31 March 1945, it crossed
SECTION 20
#17328374896532310-642: The First Army and Army Group East during World War I . Augustin Dubail was born in Belfort on April 15, 1851. He graduated from the military school of Saint-Cyr in 1870 and was commissioned an officer in the infantry. During the Franco-Prussian War Dubail fought at Saarbrücken , Spicheren , Borny before being captured at Metz . After the war Dubail served as a professor at Saint-Cyr, as an officer on
2415-591: The First Indochina War . He was highly regarded by both his French subordinates and Việt Minh adversaries and has been described as the "Gallic version of [General Douglas] MacArthur – handsome, stylish, sometimes charming, yet egocentric to the point of megalomania" and "brilliant and vain" and "flamboyant". After de Lattre's arrival in Vietnam, Việt Minh General Giap proclaimed that his army would face "an adversary worthy of its steel". De Lattre's arrival raised
2520-620: The French 1st Army on 25 September 1944. As summer turned to autumn and units moved into higher altitudes and latitudes of the Vosges , many of them still wearing summer uniforms, the troops began to feel the cold. This was especially true of the Army of Africa and Colonial Army units that made up the bulk of de Lattre's forces, which had come from warmer climates. Many of them had been fighting in Italy since early in
2625-560: The French Forces of the Interior were added to the First Army, replacing many African troops. Eventually, more than 320,000 men would form the First Army during its final advances in Germany and Austria. From 26 September 1944, André Malraux 's Alsace-Lorraine Independent Brigade , formed from the FFI, formed part of the army's reserves. Like other units formed from FFI personnel, Malraux's brigade
2730-531: The French I and II Corps . The French First Army liberated the southern area of the Vosges Mountains , including Belfort . Its operations in the area of Burnhaupt destroyed the German IV Luftwaffe Korps in November 1944. In January 1945 it defended against operation Nordwind , the last major German offensive on the western front. In February 1945, with the assistance of the U.S. XXI Corps ,
2835-531: The II Corps , under Général de corps d'armée Edgard de Larminat , would operate as part of American Lieutenant General Alexander Patch 's US Seventh Army in the initial stages, as would Army B until the American Sixth United States Army Group , under Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers , became active. Juin handed over command of the CEF in Italy to de Lattre on 23 July, and its headquarters
2940-522: The Invasion of Lorraine . The First Army intended to take the strongly defended town of Sarrebourg . Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht , commander of the German Sixth Army , was tasked with stopping the French invasion. The French attack was repulsed by Rupprecht and his stratagem of pretending to retreat and then strongly attacking back. On 20 August Rupprecht launched a major counter-offensive, driving
3045-601: The Rhine at Speyer and Germersheim and advanced through the Black Forest to Karlsruhe and Stuttgart . The Danube was crossed on 22 April. Ulm lay 40 miles (64 km) outside the First Army's zone, but meant a great deal to French people as the site of Napoleon 's victory in the Battle of Ulm in 1805. On the way, they passed through Sigmaringen , to whence the heads of the Vichy government had fled in August 1944 to establish
3150-604: The Rue de Rivoli and the Champs-Élysées . The processions went from the Arc de Triomphe to Notre-Dame and then from Notre-Dame to Les Invalides. The stage of the journey from the Arc de Triomphe to Notre-Dame took place in the evening, and cavalrymen from the Garde républicaine flanked the coffin on horseback bearing flaming torches. Walking behind the soldiers marching in the funeral processions
3255-700: The Second World War the French First Army, under the command of General Georges Blanchard , formed part of the forces ranged against the German Army during the Battle of France . On 10 May 1940, it included the Cavalry Corps , and the 3rd , 4th , and 5th Army Corps , as well as the 1re Division Cuirassée (1st DCR, effectively an armoured division with four battalions of tanks and one of infantry, plus supporting units) and 32nd Infantry Division . When
1st Army (France) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-688: The Wehrmacht invaded France and the Low Countries in 1940, the First Army was one of the many armies including the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that advanced north to stop the German armies. On 21 May 1940 the First Army was one of the armies trapped in a vast pocket with their backs to the sea that would eventually result in the Dunkirk evacuations . As the Germans moved in, what remained of
3465-512: The "biggest military funeral France had seen since the death of Marshal Foch in 1929". His body was moved through the streets of Paris in a series of funeral processions, with the coffin lying in state at four separate locations: his home, the chapel at Les Invalides , the Arc de Triomphe and before Notre-Dame. Those marching in the funeral procession included members of the French cabinet, judges, bishops and Western military leaders. The route included
3570-482: The 3rd Algerian Infantry Division to participate in the Battle of Marseille . The German garrison surrendered on 28 August, and a thanksgiving ceremony was held at Notre-Dame de la Garde the following day. Lyon was taken by the 1st Motorised Infantry Division on 3 September, and on 12 September contact was made with Général de division Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque 's 2nd Armoured Division , which had come from Normandy . This allowed Army B to officially become
3675-401: The Army appears to have controlled I Corps (HQ Nancy, France) with the 4th Armoured Division with its headquarters at Verdun , the 7th Infantry Division with headquarters at Mulhouse , and the 8th Armoured Division with headquarters at Compiègne (2nd, 4th, and 14th Brigades). II Corps was at Koblenz with the 1st Armoured Division at Treves (Trier) (1st, 3rd, and 11th Brigades), and
3780-638: The First Army collapsed the Colmar Pocket and cleared the west bank of the Rhine River of Germans in the area south of Strasbourg . In March 1945, the First Army fought through the Siegfried Line fortifications in the Bienwald Forest near Lauterbourg . Subsequently, the First Army crossed the Rhine near Speyer and captured Karlsruhe and Stuttgart . Operations by the First Army in April 1945 encircled and captured
3885-892: The French Army . In March 1947 he became the vice-president of the Conseil supérieur de la guerre . From 1948 to 1950 he served as Commander-in-chief of the Western Union 's ground forces. In 1951 he was the High Commissioner, commander-in-chief in Indochina and commander-in-chief of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps , winning several battles against the Việt Minh . His only son was killed there, and then illness forced him to return to Paris where he died of cancer in 1952. He
3990-447: The French armies out. Dubail was replaced in 1915. A frantic 1916 saw four different commanders command the First Army; an even more frantic 1917 saw five different commanders at the helm (including François Anthoine during the Battle of Passchendaele ). By the time of Passchendaele, the French First Army was composed of two corps - the 1st Army Corps (composed of 4 divisions) and the 36th Army Corps (composed of 2 divisions). During
4095-529: The French border against a German attack. In 1915 he was promoted to commander of Army Group East (G.A.E) on the Western Front , around Belfort and Verdun . He became convinced that a major German offensive was coming against Verdun. He called for reinforcements and heavy artillery and the new Allie tanks for the Verdun sector, but the French commander-in-chief, Joseph Joffre , wasn't convinced that an attack
4200-406: The French people should be making a bigger contribution. De Lattre sought to address this by incorporating units of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) into the Army, which would enable him to replace his losses and relieve the burden on African units of his Army. The French authorities were eager to bring the estimated 200,000 armed men of the FFI under control as soon as possible, but this
4305-496: The German XVIII S.S. Armee Korps in the Black Forest and cleared southwestern Germany. At the end of the war, the motto of the French First Army was Rhin et Danube , referring to the two great German rivers that it had reached and crossed during its combat operations. The First Army was mainly composed of North African troops ( Maghrebis , French Pied-Noirs and a significant number of escapees from occupied France) drawn from
1st Army (France) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4410-403: The Germans invaded the unoccupied portion of France ; de Lattre, Commander of the 16th Military Division at Montpellier, refused the orders not to fight the Germans and was the only active general to order his troops to oppose the invaders. He was arrested but escaped and defected to Charles de Gaulle 's Free French Forces at the end of 1943. From 1943 to 1945 he was one of the senior leaders of
4515-515: The Germans and Italians occupying Vichy France; Juin, a native of North Africa, was more concerned with the security of Algeria. De Lattre may have also hoped that he would have been appointed head of the French forces in North Africa instead of Juin. Nonetheless Juin recommended de Lattre for promotion. He was promoted to général de corps d'armée on 2 January 1942, but Weygand had been recalled to France in October 1941, and on 2 February 1942 de Lattre
4620-407: The Germans could organise their defence. He sent General de division Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert 's 3rd Algerian Infantry Division to encircle Toulon while General de brigade Diego Brosset 's 1st Motorised Infantry Division attacked along the coast and Magnan's 9th Colonial Infantry Division, which had been landed early, attacked in the middle. Toulon was encircled on 21 August, and the port
4725-848: The Liberation Army, commanding the forces that landed in the South of France on 15 August 1944 , then fought up to the Rivers Rhine and Danube. He commanded large numbers of American troops when the US XXI Corps was assigned to his First Army during the battle of the Colmar Pocket . He was also the French representative at the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin on 8 May 1945. He became Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in Germany in 1945, then Inspector General and Chief of Staff of
4830-453: The National Order of the Legion of Honour: Young leading division commander. In the midst of the hard fights from 14 May to 4 June 1940, was by his valor as much as by the wisdom of his dispositions, one of the main elements of the recovery of the entire army of the Aisne. Rethel, where six times it rejected the enemy in the Aisne, will be inscribed on the flags and standards of the 14th division as
4935-731: The Navy, and to prepare he went to the College de Vaugirard, where Henri de Gaulle was a teacher. He passed the written examinations for the Navy but missed the oral examination owing to illness. He then went to the Corniche [ fr ] at Lycée privé Sainte-Geneviève in Versailles to prepare for the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr , where he won a place in 1908. Before he entered, his father sent him to Brighton in England to improve his English. As
5040-404: The River Aisne . On 9 June, the German Twelfth Army launched a major assault on the 14th Infantry Division's positions. Although it managed to hold on, the divisions on its flanks could not, and de Lattre was forced to retreat to the Marne , and then the Loire . Part of his division was cut off at Chalons . Although it lost about two-thirds of its strength, the division retained its cohesion in
5145-433: The Vendée coast. They were married on 22 March 1927, at Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot in Paris. They had one child, Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny , who was born on 11 February 1928. De Lattre was also "generally suspected of homosexual leanings." (Driving with him on his daily tour of inspection in January 1945, the seventeen-year-old John Julius Norwich recalled: "I did have a little trouble keeping his hand off my thigh in
5250-541: The Việt Minh. However, the United States was preoccupied with the Korean War . The US sent de Lattre some transport planes and trucks and other equipment: a "significant contribution" but "scarcely enough to turn the tide for France" in Vietnam. On 20 November 1951, illness forced de Lattre to return to Paris for medical treatment for prostate cancer . He entered the Clinique Maillot in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 18 December. His condition deteriorated in January. His last words before losing consciousness on 9 January were: "Where
5355-489: The activation of new divisions. Eventually they relented, and among the reactivated divisions in February 1945 was de Lattre's old command, the 14th Infantry Division. Once agan, he opened a training centre, this time at Rouffach near Colmar. The Americans envisaged a passive role for the First Army in view of its logistical difficulties, but de Lattre pressed for a more active role. A combination of stubborn German resistance and bad weather brought operations in Alsace to
SECTION 50
#17328374896535460-412: The border and in Algeria , where in 1901 he became colonel of the 3rd Zouaves. In 1904–1905 Dubail served twice as chief of staff of the French Minister of War Maurice Berteaux . Promoted to brigadier general, Dubail commanded the 53rd Infantry Brigade, the 5th Infantry Brigade and the 14th Infantry Brigade and was commandant of Saint-Cyr (1906–1908) before being appointed to the technical committee of
5565-419: The car on the way home...but nothing serious." ) De Lattre commanded a battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment , which was stationed at Auxerre , and prepared for the entrance examination for the École de guerre , coached by Captain Augustin Guillaume , an officer he had met while serving in Morocco. He managed to pass the examinations, and entered the École de guerre as the senior officer of his year. One of
5670-473: The ceremonial accoutrements on the coffin, which included the posthumously-awarded marshal's baton and his son's képi . The family line became extinct with his death. The coffin was lowered into the ground and the Marshal was laid to rest beside his only son, Bernard, who had been killed fighting under his father's command in Indochina about eight months earlier. De Lattre was awarded the following awards and decorations: For his promotion to Grand Officer of
5775-428: The chance of success led to de Lattre securing a postponement of the operation from 25 May to 17 June. The rapid advance of the Allied forces, which captured Rome on 5 June, caused the need for the operation to be questioned, but the Germans showed no sign of immediately withdrawing from the area north of Rome, nor from Elba. Operation Brassard therefore went ahead, although Wilson cancelled the planned parachute assault by
5880-419: The commander-in-chief of troops in the protectorate of Tunisia. De Lattre opened another military instruction centre there at Salammbô near Carthage , modelled on the one at Opme. He clashed with his superior, Général de Corps d'Armée Alphonse Juin , over the best way to defend Tunisia against a British attack. De Lattre was determined to resist on the frontier, fearing that a fighting withdrawal might lead to
5985-408: The defence of Strasbourg on 5 January; he had already acted to save it on his own initiative and contrary to his orders. Despite heavy pressure from the advancing German forces, which came within 10 miles (16 km) of the city, he managed to hold it. The German offensive was finally halted by the US VI Corps in the north and the 1st Motorised Division in the south. De Lattre then moved to eliminate
6090-516: The end of the year he joined the 49th Infantry Regiment [ fr ] , which was stationed at Bayonne . From 1921 to 1926, he was in Morocco, where he participated in the campaigns of the Rif War . He became the head of the Third Bureau (the staff section responsible for operations) of the Meknes area, and directed operations in Upper Moulouya. These normally involved two or more columns, each with between four and eight battalions of infantry and attached artillery and transport, converging on
6195-442: The first meeting of the Allied Control Council . The First Army was dissolved on 24 July, and he succeeded as Commander in Chief of the French Army of Occupation by Général de Corps d'Armée Marie-Pierre Koenig three days later. On 4 August 1945 de Lattre departed. Colour parties from each of the regiments of the First Army were drawn up along the banks of the Rhine at Kehl , and he saluted each one in turn. In July 1945, de Lattre
6300-509: The forces in North Africa being re-equipped by the Americans. Army B was as an amalgam of Free French forces, the Army of Africa forces and volunteers, with a strength of 256,000, including 5,000 women of the AFAT ( auxiliaire féminine de l'armée de terre – Women's Auxiliary Army). In the first half of 1944 over 100,000 personnel departed for Italy, where they formed the French Expeditionary Corps (CEF) under Juin's command. This left de Lattre with just three divisions. Once again, he opened
6405-497: The frontier with Germany and still wore red riding breeches and a helmet with a plume. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 October 1912. He was still serving there when the First World War broke out in August 1914. On 11 August 1914, he was wounded for the first time when he was hit in the knee by a shell fragment during a reconnaissance mission. On 14 September, he was wounded a second time, in an engagement with four Bavarian Uhlans during which he killed two with his sword, but
SECTION 60
#17328374896536510-405: The infantry. During the Agadir Crisis in 1911 Dubail was Chief of Staff of the Army, reporting to the new War Minister, Adolphe Messimy . Messimy and Dubail tried to have the Army adopt 105mm heavy guns, but French generals saw them as a drag on the offensive (preferring to use the lighter and more mobile " Soixante-Quinze " gun) and better used as a defensive weapon like machine guns, so only
6615-422: The latter and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. De Lattre was initially held at Montluc prison , but was later transferred to Riom . Simonne secured accommodation where the garden adjoined the prison wall and worked with de Lattre's driver, Louis Roetsch, and accomplices inside the prison to plan an escape. They managed to smuggle in tools, including a hammer, screwdriver and gimlet , along with paint,
6720-521: The massive Việt Minh formation. Giap retreated after three fierce days of combat that killed 6,000 and wounded 8,000. De Lattre had anticipated Giap's attacks and had reinforced French defences with hundreds of cement blockhouses and new airfields. In March 1951, at the Battle of Mạo Khê near the port of Haiphong , de Lattre again defeated Giap, who had underestimated de Lattre's army's ability to deploy naval guns and to move reinforcements aboard assault boats on deep estuaries and canals. However, Bernard
6825-431: The midst of chaos. When the Armistice of 22 June 1940 ended the fighting, the 14th Infantry Division was at Clermont-Ferrand . Following the armistice de Lattre remained in the Army of Vichy France . He was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour on 12 July for his handling of the 14th Infantry Division in the Battle of France , an award Weygand, to whom he remained loyal, conferred on him in person. De Lattre
6930-421: The military governor of Strasbourg , Général d'armée Pierre Héring [ fr ] . Hering retired in March 1939, and was succeeded by Général d'armée Victor Bourret . On 20 March, de Lattre was promoted to général de brigade . De Lattre became the chief of staff at general headquarters of the Fifth Army on 2 September 1939. The following day France declared war on Germany again. In January 1940, he
7035-510: The morale of French troops significantly and inspired his forces to inflict heavy defeats on the Việt Minh. He won three major victories at Vĩnh Yên, Mạo Khê and Yen Cu Ha and successfully defended the north of the country against the Việt Minh. At the Battle of Vĩnh Yên , he defeated 2 Việt Minh divisions, totalling 20,000 men under Giap's personal command. He personally took charge of the outnumbered French forces, flying in reinforcements and mustering every available aircraft for airstrikes against
7140-484: The office in 1817. In turn, Roger de Lattre succeeded his father-in-law as mayor in 1911, and still held the office forty years later. An ancestor had added the suffix "de Tassigny" to the family name in 1740, after the family property of Tassigny near Guise . He had an older sister, Anne-Marie, who later became the Comtesse de Marcé. From 1898 to 1904 de Lattre attended the College of Saint-Joseph in Poitiers , where his father had gone. He then decided that he would join
7245-420: The once-formidable First Army was hopelessly surrounded at Lille but counterattacked and resisted fiercely in a delaying action aiming to buy time for the beleaguered Anglo-French defenders of Dunkirk. General Jean-Baptiste Molinié 's 40,000 remaining men engaged seven German divisions (including the 4th , 5th , and 7th Panzer Divisions , roughly 110,000 men and 800 tanks), capturing General Fritz Kuhne of
7350-485: The rope to descend, although it proved to be several feet too short. Bernard threw a rope ladder over the prison wall, allowing de Lattre to scale it. They then departed in two cars that Roetsch provided, along with false papers identifying de Lattre as Charles Dequenne, his headquarters clerk who had been killed in the fighting in June 1940. They hid on a farm near Compains until 1 October, when some of his prison break accomplices were arrested. De Lattre then made his way to
7455-413: The same side." On 8 May 1945, de Lattre flew to Berlin , where he went to headquarters of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov for the official German surrender ceremony. Already there was Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder , General Carl Spaatz and Admiral Sir Harold Burrough . No preparations had been made for a French representative, but some Russian women improvised a tricolour from
7560-504: The staff exercises involved command of an invading force tasked with capturing Cherbourg from the sea. After graduation in 1928, he was assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment [ fr ] at Coulommiers as a battalion commander. In 1931, de Lattre was assigned to the 4th Bureau of the Ministry of War , responsible for logistics . He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel [ fr ] on 24 March 1932. On 20 June, he joined
7665-519: The staff of the Conseil supérieur de la guerre , serving under the vice president, Général d'armée Maxime Weygand . During this posting, he was tasked mainly with following foreign international policies, internal politics, and the challenges of complex military budget initiatives. He became embroiled in the Stavisky affair and had to appear before a parliamentary commission.With the retirement of Weygand, who had reached mandatory retirement age, de Lattre
7770-556: The summer of 1944. It landed in southern France after Operation Dragoon , the Allied invasion of the area. On 25 September 1944, French Army B was redesignated French First Army . Liberating Marseilles , Toulon , and Lyon , it later formed the right flank of the Allied Southern Group of Armies (also known as the U.S. Sixth Army Group ) at the southern end of the Allied front line, adjacent to Switzerland . It commanded two corps,
7875-407: The war at Opme, Douera and Rouffach, where they would be schooled in citizenship. To address the shortage of instructors, he devised a system whereby the national servicemen would train themselves. Careers in the post-war army would be open to the best regardless of their social status. In his personal selection, though, de Lattre tended to favour those who had served with the First Army. De Lattre
7980-414: The wartime army and building a new one. Most of the officer corps had spent the war since 1940 in prisoner of war camps in Germany, and their training was out of date. To build a force that was both democratic and national, he resolved to create a conscript army rather than a professional one. To prepare the 1946 conscripts, de Lattre opened a dozen new training centres modelled on those he had created during
8085-520: The year, and had become exhausted by the rapid advance up the Rhône Valley . Equipment wore out even faster, and the French logistical system was stretched to its limit just to provide the army with its daily requirements of food, fuel and ammunition. On occasion they encountered an apathetic local population, and what de Lattre regarded as a dangerous sentiment arose among the North African troops that
8190-417: The youngest soldiers in de Lattre's army. The Operation Dragoon landings commenced on 15 August, and de Lattre came ashore the following evening. The American advance had proceeded faster than anticipated, and the 9e division d'infanterie coloniale to arrive early. In a characteristically aggressive move, de Lattre moved immediately on Toulon and Marseille in the hope that they could be secured before
8295-695: Was wounded five times, surviving the war with eight citations, the Legion of Honour , and the Military Cross . During the Interwar period , he took part in the Rif War in Morocco , where he was again wounded in action. He went on to serve in the Ministry of War and the staff of Conseil supérieur de la guerre under the vice president Général d'armée Maxime Weygand . Early in World War II, from May to June 1940, he
8400-871: Was abruptly relieved of his responsibilities as Chief of Staff in March 1947, although he remained Inspector General, and was elevated to Inspector General of the Armed Forces in the spring of 1948, and on 2 June 1948 he was made vice president of the Conseil supérieur de la guerre, positions which had little authority in peacetime. From September to November 1947, he led a diplomatic and economic mission to South America where he held numerous talks with presidents from Argentina , Chile , Uruguay , and Brazil and high-ranking ministers, including French communities there. He also took part in several related economic and diplomatic conferences. From 4 October 1948 to 13 December 1950, de Lattre
8505-494: Was absorbed into that of Army B, with Juin's chief of staff, General de brigade Marcel Carpentier , becoming de Lattre's. De Lattre embarked for France from Toronto on a Polish liner, the MS ; Batory . Accompanying him was Bernard. Fearing that at age sixteen he would soon become eligible for forced labour in Germany, Simmone and Bernard had fled to Algiers via Spain. Bernard was then sent to Douera for training, becoming one of
8610-406: Was also placed in charge of Operation Brassard , the invasion of Elba . This involved landing a force of about 12,000 under Général de brigade Joseph Magnan, and largely drawn from his 9th Colonial Infantry Division on Corsica. Increases in the size of the German garrison, a need to provide more amphibious warfare training for the assault troops, and a desire to minimise casualties and maximise
8715-706: Was also recalled. Returning to France, de Lattre took charge of the 16th Military Division, based in Montpellier . The post was a backwater, and one usually held by an officer of lower rank. Following the Allied landings in French North Africa on 8 November 1942, German and Italian troops occupied southern France and disbanded the Vichy Army. De Lattre received orders from Vichy that troops were to remain in their barracks, which he decided to disobey, instead carrying out
8820-531: Was appointed to command the 13th Military Division, the military district at Puy-de-Dôme in the Massif Central , where he established a training centre for officers and non-commissioned officers at Château d'Opme . He was promoted to général de division on 26 June 1941. In September 1941 Weygand, now the Delegate-General of The Vichy government in North Africa, summoned de Lattre to North Africa as
8925-424: Was back with the 21st Infantry Division in time to participate in the ill-fated Nivelle offensive in April 1917. In an attack on 5 May, his battalion suffered 300 casualties, but captured 500 prisoners. De Lattre received his eighth mention in despatches . He was hospitalised again that month, and did not return until December, when he became an intelligence officer on the 21st Infantry Division staff. The division
9030-653: Was decimated in the Third Battle of the Aisne in May 1918, but it was reconstituted and fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive later that year, during which de Lattre liaised with the staffs of three divisions of the United States Army . In February 1919, de Lattre was assigned to the 18th Military District section at Bordeaux , where his duties included providing recreation for American troops prior to their repatriation. At
9135-576: Was designated as the First Army's war headquarters in the 1980s. In 1990 the army staff left Strasbourg and moved to the Château de Mercy in Mercy-lès-Metz , Moselle . The army's last commander was General Jean Cot . The 1st Army was disbanded on 31 August 1993. Auguste Dubail Augustin Yvon Edmond Dubail (15 April 1851 – 7 January 1934) was a French Army general . He commanded
9240-524: Was discharged from hospital on 11 December, and on 19 December he flew from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to Algiers , where he met with de Gaulle. He then went to see the Commander-in-Chief of the French forces in North Africa, Général d'Armée Henri Giraud . On 26 December, Giraud appointed him the commander of the Second Army, which was renamed Army B on 23 January 1944. This put him in change of all
9345-508: Was elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France posthumously in 1952 during his state funeral. Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny was born on 2 February 1889 in Mouilleron-en-Pareds , Vendée , in the same village as World War I leader Georges Clemenceau . He was the son of Roger de Lattre de Tassigny and Anne-Marie Louise Henault, the daughter of the mayor of Mouilleron. Her grandfather had been his predecessor, assuming
9450-449: Was given command of the 14th Infantry Division , which was holding the sector between Sarreguemines and Forbach . On 14 May, four days after the main German offensive began, the 14th Infantry Division was ordered to move to Rheims , where it came under the command of André Corap 's Ninth Army . De Lattre engaged the German forces around Rethel , where his division resisted for an entire month, repelling German assaults in front of
9555-458: Was given command of the IX Corps and in 1914 he became a member of the Supreme War Council. When the war broke out Dubail was given command of the First Army , which would start the invasion of Germany by taking Lorraine together with de Castelnau's Second Army . The armies met strong German resistance and were repulsed out of Lorraine with heavy casualties. They were able to reform and defend
9660-506: Was his uncle, and henceforth de Lattre refused to have anything to do with the instructor. He ultimately graduated 201st out of 210 in his class, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 1 October 1910. He then went on to the Cavalry School in Saumur . De Lattre was assigned to the 12th Dragoon Regiment [ fr ] , which was stationed at Toul and Pont-à-Mousson near
9765-471: Was imminent. When the German offensive began at Verdun , Joffre partly blamed Dubail, who was fired in March 1916, publicly humiliated. He claimed to have been made a scapegoat for Joffre's lack of foresight, although he had himself public played down the likelihood of a German attack at Verdun. Dubail was hired again in April 1916, becoming military governor of Paris , a position he kept until June 1918, when he
9870-520: Was killed in action in the Battle for Nam Định , in late May 1951. He had obeyed his father's orders to hold the town at all costs against three Việt Minh divisions. After three weeks of battle the French victory halted Giap's offensive in the Red River Delta. On 20 September 1951, de Lattre spoke at The Pentagon to request American aid and warned of the danger of the spread of communism throughout Southeast Asia if northern Vietnam fell completely to
9975-562: Was no easy task; the soldiers were suspicious of the discipline and reliability of FFI units, and resented the ranks and titles its leaders had accorded themselves. The FFI were also suspicious of the army, but by the end of the year 137,000 had enlisted in the French Army for the duration of the war. Uniforms and equipment had to be provided by the Americans, but while they agreed to equip security battalions and five regiments to replace North African ones, they were reluctant to provide equipment for
10080-448: Was offered the position of Inspector General of the Army an honorific position he regarded as beneath the status that he had earned as commander of the First Army. He declined and asked to be retired instead. De Gaulle then offered to combine the position with that of the Chief of Staff of the French Army , and de Lattre accepted, assuming the post on 29 November 1945. His task was demobilising
10185-463: Was replaced by General Guillaumat. Dubail died on January 7, 1934, aged 82. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny (2 February 1889 – 11 January 1952) was a French général d'armée during World War II and the First Indochina War . He was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1952. As an officer during World War I , he fought in various battles, including at Verdun , and
10290-458: Was retained on the general headquarters staff of Général Alphonse Joseph Georges . On 20 June 1935, he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the 151st Infantry Regiment [ fr ] at Metz . Between 1937 and 1938, he studied at the Centre des hautes études militaires (CHEM), an advanced staff college for generals. In July 1938 he became Chief of Staff at the headquarters of
10395-683: Was subsequently incorporated into the French Army as a regular unit (and was retitled the 3rd Demi-Brigade of Chasseurs). During the Cold War the First Army was again active. Army headquarters was at Strasbourg , and may have also been at Metz for a period. For a time the army commander was also the Military Governor of Strasbourg (see Hôtel des Deux-Ponts ). Among army commanders were Generals Emmanuel Hublot [ fr ] (1969–72), André Biard [ fr ] (1977–79) and Claude Vanbremeersch [ fr ] (1979–80). In 1970
10500-449: Was taken by the 9th Colonial Infantry Division five days later. Meanwhile, de Lattre had already moved on Marseille, which was reached by General de brigade Aimé Sudre's Combat Command 1 of the 1st Armoured Division on 21 August. De Lattre had not intended to rush the city, but Sudre's arrival sparked a popular uprising, enabling Combat Command 1 to reach the old port. The progress of operations against Toulon allowed de Lattre to release
10605-506: Was taken on 25 November, but his attempt at encircling the German forces did not cut off any many as he hoped, although 17,000 prisoners were taken. In December, the Battle of the Bulge briefly halted the Allied advance, and for a while it seemed they would have to abandon Alsace and Strasbourg. This was not a politically feasible option for de Gaulle, especially since Strasbourg had so recently been liberated. De Lattre assumed responsibility for
10710-421: Was the custom in the French Army, he also served in the ranks for four months, in his case, with the 29th Dragoon Regiment [ fr ] at Provins , south east of Paris. He was a cadet at Saint-Cyr from 1909 to 1911 ( Mauritanie promotion). One instructor expressed the hope that de Lattre was not related to the one who had raised the white flag of Henri, Count of Chambord over Saint-Cyr in 1873. This
10815-690: Was the first commander-in-chief of Western Union Defence Organisation ground forces in Western Europe. While in that post he often came into conflict with British Field Marshal Lord Montgomery , the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Union forces. The two clashed over many issues, the most important of which was whether the Allies were prepared to meet a Soviet attack on the Rhine, something Montgomery tried hard to get his government to accept. De Lattre insisted on speaking to Montgomery in French, although he had
10920-557: Was the lone figure of the Marshal's widow, Simonne de Lattre de Tassigny, who was dressed in black and prayed as she walked. Thousands of people lined the funeral route, forming crowds that were ten-deep. The pageantry included the tolling of bells, and flags being flown at half-mast. The final stage of the funeral was a journey of 400 kilometres (250 mi) to his birthplace of Mouilleron-en-Pareds, in western France. There his 97-year-old father, Roger de Lattre, aged and blind, ran his hands over
11025-617: Was the youngest French general. He led the 14th Infantry Division during the Battle of France in the battles of Rethel, Champagne-Ardenne, and Loire, until the Armistice of 22 June 1940 . During the Vichy Regime he remained in the Armistice Army , first in regional command posts then as commander-in-chief of troops in Tunisia . After the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942
#652347