Joseph Alfred Micheler
Joseph Alfred Micheler (born September 23, 1861 in Phalsbourg , Moselle department , † March 17, 1931 in Nice ) was a French officer, most recently Général de division , who commanded armies and temporarily an army group in the First World War .
Life
Micheler was born the son of a military man and attended the Saint-Cyr Military School from 1880 to 1882 . After graduating, he served in Tunisia, among others, before attending the École supérieure de guerre and the Center for Higher Military Studies. Having had the rank of colonel since 1912 , he was Chief of Staff of the VI at the beginning of the First World War. Army Corps. On January 6, 1915, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the 1st Army commanded by Pierre Auguste Roques . From August 1915 to the end of March 1916 he commanded the 53rd Infantry Division, with which he took part in the autumn battle in Champagne , among other things . For a short time he also commanded the XXXVIII. Army Corps before taking on the 10th Army on April 4, 1916, scheduled to take part in the Battle of the Somme .
His rapid rise to high positions continued when he was given command of the newly formed Groupe d'Armées de Réserve (GAR) on January 1, 1917 , which was used from April in the Battle of the Aisne (Nivelle Offensive) . It was his task to achieve a breakthrough on the Chemin des Dames held by the Germans with the three armies under his command . Micheler himself had serious doubts about the chances of success of the attack and conspired behind the back of Commander-in-Chief Robert Nivelle with other generals and politicians in order to achieve a cancellation or at least a change in the plans. When Nivelle threatened to resign in early April if his plans were changed, the conspirators had to back down. The offensive, which quickly led to high losses, had to be broken off after mutinies broke out in the French army . Micheler did not share the fate of Nivelle, who was sidelined and deported to North Africa, but was placed briefly at the head of the 1st Army and later the 5th Army after the dissolution of the GAR . In June 1918, after the success of the German offensive between Aisne and Marne as part of the " spring offensive ", he was, like his colleagues Denis Auguste Duchêne of the 6th Army and Louis Ernest de Maud'huy , released from his command due to parliamentary pressure made available. In April 1919 he took his final leave of his military service. He died in Nice in 1931. After his death, Colonel Émile Emmanuel Herbillon published a volume on him based on Micheler's notes from the First World War.
Micheler's older brother, Frédéric Henry, also served as a general in World War I, and died of a war wound in 1917.
Awards (selection)
- Commander of the Legion of Honor (1916)
- Croix de guerre 1914–1918 with three palm branches
literature
- Spencer C. Tucker (Ed.): World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO, 2014, ISBN 978-1-85109-964-1 , p. 1087.
Web links
- Biography of the principaux acteurs du conflit on crdp-strasbourg.fr
- Joseph Alfred Micheler on firstworldwar.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Micheler, Joseph Alfred |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French officer, most recently Général de division |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 23, 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Phalsbourg , Moselle department |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 17, 1931 |
| Place of death | Nice |