Armée des Alpes

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Armée des Alpes ( German  Alpine Army ) was the term for various large formations of the French army that were set up both in the coalition wars and in the First and Second World Wars .

Revolutionary Wars

The Armée du Midi , set up on April 13, 1792 by decree of the king, was divided into the Armée des Alpes (under the command of the Marquis de Montesquiou-Fézensac) and the Armée des Pyrénées on October 1 by order of the National Convention . As early as November 1, 1792, again by order of the National Convention, the Armée des Alpes was divided into the Armée d'Italie and the Armée de Savoie .

After the incorporation of the Duchy of Savoy under the name "Département du Mont-Blanc" into the French Republic, the Armée de Savoie was renamed Armée des Alpes by order of the National Convention of November 29, 1793 . On April 5, 1795, General François-Christophe Kellermann became the commandant of the two armies, Armée des Alpes and Armée d'Italie , which after the unification was mostly called Armée d'Italie . Officially, the Armée des Alpes continued to exist until August 21, 1797. In July 1799, the Armée des Alpes was supposed to be set up again, but the troops then remained with the Armée d'Italie .

Commanders

  • General Anne-Pierre de Montesquiou-Fezensac , October 8th to November 6th, 1792
  • divided up
  • General Jean-François Carteaux , November 18 to December 22, 1793
  • Provisional: General Jean-Louis Pellapra, December 23, 1793 to January 20, 1794
  • General Alexandre Dumas, December 22, 1793 to October 14, 1794
  • Provisional: General Pierre Petitguillaume, October 15 to November 30, 1794
  • General Jean-François Auguste Moulin , December 1, 1794 to October 7, 1795 (from April 5, 1795 under Kellermann)
  • General François-Christophe Kellermann , April 5, 1795 to September 13, 1797, commander of the two armies, Armée des Alpes and Armée d'Italie , referred to as "d'Italie" after unification

First World War

During the First World War , the Armée des Alpes (also "Armée de Lyon") under General Albert d'Amade only existed for a short time at the beginning of the war. It was renamed on August 3rd in "Inspection du Sud-Est" and from the mobilized units of the XIV. And XV. Military region ( Lyon and Marseille ) put together to defend the border in the event of a war against the Kingdom of Italy . The staff was mobilized on August 2nd in Lyon, as were the units belonging to it in the vicinity of Chambéry , Lyon, Avignon , Antibes and Gap. The "Inspection du Sud-Est" was disbanded on August 17th and most of the troops were transferred to the Armée d'Alsace , which was involved in the border fighting in Alsace at that time.

commander

Badge of the Armée des Alpes 1940

Second World War

The Armée des Alpes set up in December 1939 under General René Olry had a nominal number of 176,000 men, but on June 10, only about 85,000 soldiers were at the front. A further 30,000 soldiers were also collected in the Lyon area , but were not deployed due to a lack of training and armament, while around 70,000 older reservists were available but did not enter into combat.

Italian attack on Mentone and the Maritime Alps in 1940

On June 21, Mussolini gave the Italian army the order to attack southern France in order to strengthen its own negotiating position. The offensive then began in the Maritime Alps . Olry faced an unsuccessful attack on the Maginot Line, which was heavily fortified in this section, by the Italian 4th Army (General Alfredo Guzzoni ). The Battle of the Western Alps saw slow French resistance and ended on June 25, 1940 with an armistice.

For reasons of axis policy, the German leadership arranged that their armistice with France only came into effect as soon as France had also surrendered to Italy - a regulation that was perceived as humiliating in both Paris and Rome. In view of the unsuccessful offensive, doubts about the combat strength of the Italian armed forces arose for the first time in the German General Staff .

commander

literature

  • Charles Clerget: Tableaux des armées françaises pendant les guerres de la Révolution, sous la direction de la section historique de l'état-major de l'armée. librairie militaire R. Chapelot, Paris, 1905.
  • Les Armées françaises dans la Grande guerre ( AFGG ) , Tome X / Vol. 1: Ordre de bataille des grandes unités. , Paris 1923, pp. 473-523, digitized on Gallica .
  • l'Armée française durant la période du 10 May to 25 June 1940

Individual evidence

  1. ^ JMO of the Groupe d'Amade. In: Mémoire des hommes (SHD).
  2. ↑ Les Armées françaises dans la Grande guerre ( AFGG ) , Tome X / Vol. 1: Ordre de bataille des grandes unités. , Paris 1923, pp. 527-529, digitized on Gallica .
  3. ↑ Malte König: Cooperation as a power struggle. The fascist axis alliance Berlin-Rome in the war 1940/41. Cologne 2007, p. 24 f.