Louis Félix Marie Franchet d'Espèrey
Louis Félix Marie Franchet d'Espèrey (born May 25, 1856 in Mostaganem , Algeria , † July 3, 1942 in Saint-Amancet , Tarn Department ) was a French general and Marshal of France .
Life
Born the son of a colonial officer, Franchet d'Espèrey graduated from the Saint-Cyr Officers School in 1876. He then served in Indochina , China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and Morocco .
After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Franchet d'Espèrey commanded the 1st Army Corps during the Battle of the Sambre and St. Quentin . From September 3, 1914, he was the successor of the hapless General Lanrezac Commander-in-Chief of the 5th Army . The 5th Army was decisively involved in the Battle of the Marne and the Battle of the Aisne . Between March 1916 and May 1918 he commanded two army groups . First he led the Army Group East in Lorraine and from December 1916 the Army Group North on the Somme.
Under his leadership, the defeat at Chemin des Dames took place in the course of the third Battle of the Aisne in May 1918. On June 17, 1918 he was recalled from the Western Front and replaced General Adolphe Guillaumat as commander in chief of the Allied troops on the Macedonian front .
On September 15, 1918, a major offensive began against the Scholtz Army Group of the Central Powers . Bulgaria was forced to withdraw from the war; Taking advantage of the success of the breakthrough on the Vardar, Franchet d'Espèrey began an assault through the Balkans , which only ended shortly before the Hungarian border. Troops under his command then intervened temporarily in the Russian Civil War in Crimea and Odessa until they had to withdraw in April 1919.
Franchet d'Espèrey remained Commander in Chief of French troops in the Balkans until 1920. On February 19, 1921, he was appointed Marshal of France and then served as Inspector General of the Troops in North Africa. In 1934 he was accepted into the Académie française .
swell
- Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)
- Biography on Chemins de mémoire
Web links
- Newspaper article about Louis Félix Marie Franchet d'Espèrey in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Franchet d'Espèrey, Louis Félix Marie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general and Marshal of France |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 25, 1856 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mostaganem , Algeria |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 3, 1942 |
| Place of death | Saint-Amancet , Tarn department |