Henri Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot (born December 7, 1861 in Feurs , Loire department , † January 29, 1931 in Paris ) was a French general during the First World War . He served as chief of staff under Joseph Joffre .
Life
In 1883 Berthelot graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military School , and was subsequently employed in Algeria and then in Indochina .
In 1907 he was transferred to the General Staff . During this time he worked with General Joseph Joffre on Plan XVII . This was an offensive war strategy based on the mistakes in the lost Franco-German War of 1870/1871 . This attack plan was used by General Joffre against the German armies of attack in the summer of 1914, but failed.
In 1913 he was promoted to Général de brigade and worked as an adjutant to General Noël de Castelnau in the Army Administration of the War Ministry.
In 1914 he was Chief of Staff under General Joffre during the First Battle of the Marne . In November 1914, the Berthelot High Command handed over command of the reserve units, which failed in the attack in the Battle of Soissons (1915) . Later he was given command of the 53rd Division and the XXXII. Army Corps.
During the Battle of Verdun in 1916, the general distinguished himself by successfully storming Le Mort Homme (Dead Man Hill) under his command.
In view of the difficult situation on the newly opened Romanian front , Berthelot was appointed head of the French military mission in Romania on October 16, 1916 . His first assignment was to help defend the capital, Bucharest . He was instrumental in the plans to attack the Danube Army , which culminated in the Battle of the Argesch . After the lost battle and the capture of Bucharest by the troops of the Central Powers , Berthelot concentrated on the reorganization and training of the Romanian army. In the summer of 1917, the troops won by General Alexandru Averescu the battle of Marasti and launched a counter-offensive with the aim of as much Romanian territory as possible recapture. This campaign was stopped by the heavy losses in the battles of Mărăşeşti and Oituz . After the Russian October Revolution , all the troops of the Tsarist Empire were ordered back. Romania, now separated from its allies, was forced to sign an armistice with the Central Powers in December 1917 . As a result, the French military mission had to be canceled and the French had to leave the country.
After his return to France, Berthelot was entrusted with the organization of the US troop transports to France. On July 5, 1918, he was appointed commander of the 5th Army by General Ferdinand Foch . In the front section of Reims he fought with an army during the last great summer offensive against the German armies.
After the successful offensive on the Salonika Front , which forced Bulgaria to surrender, Romania re-entered the war against the Central Powers on November 10, 1918. A day later the war in Western Europe was over.
On November 11, 1919, during the Allied Victory Parade in Paris, General Berthelot said to General Foch upon seeing the Romanian detachment:
“Foch, saluez! C'est la famille. (Foch, Salut! This is [our] family.) "
From 1919 to 1922 Berthelot served as Military Governor of Metz and Commander in Chief in Lorraine . From 1920 to 1926 he was a member of the Conseil supérieur de la guerre (Supreme War Council), and was involved in the planning for the construction of the Maginot Line . From 1923 to 1926 the general served as the military governor of Strasbourg . In 1926 Berthelot went into retirement. He died in Paris in 1931 and was buried in Nervieux ( Loire department ).
Berthelot's legacy in Romania
Grateful for the French contribution to the liberation of Romania, especially through the role of General Berthelot during the fighting against the Central Powers in 1917, the Romanian parliament made Berthelot an honorary citizen of Romania. Furthermore, the Romanian king rewarded the French general with lands near the Transylvanian village of Fărcădin. He was given a property with a manor house, which previously belonged to the Hungarian-Austrian paleontologist , geologist and naturalist Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás . He was driven from his property and from then on lived in Austria. In addition to the manor house, the property included a little farmland and an orchard.
In 1923 the local council of Fărcădin decided to rename the village General Berthelot in honor of the French honorary citizen .
In 1926 Berthelot was made an honorary member of the Romanian Academy . In his will he bequeathed all his possessions in Fărcădin to this academy.
During the communist dictatorship in Romania, the mansion was looted and eventually used as a grain storage facility. In 1965 the name of the village was changed to "Unirea" (Union). In 2001, after the fall of the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu , the village was renamed General Berthelot again after a referendum was held .
Several schools, streets and boulevards bear his name in Romania.
Orders and awards
- Honorary Citizen of Romania
- Bearer of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
- Carrier of the Croix de guerre 1914–1918
literature
- Glenn E. Torrey: Henri Mathias Berthelot: Soldier of France, Defender of Romania. Center for Romanian Studies, Portland OR 2001, ISBN 978-973-9432-15-3 .
- Spencer C. Tucker : World War I: Encyclopedia, [a Political, Social, and Military History], Volume 1. 2005.
- Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich, Irina Renz: Encyclopedia First World War , Paderborn, Schöningh 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76578-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Berthelot, Henri |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Berthelot, Henri Mathias (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general during the First World War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 7, 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Feurs |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 29, 1931 |
| Place of death | Paris |