FRENCH GENERAL STAFF

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 November 1939, Page 11

FRENCH GENERAL STAFF

THEIR MILITARY CAREERS The Ministry of Information recently issued the following biographical notes about the French General Staff says the Manchester Guardian: — Chjef of the General Staff of National Defence and AVar and Comman-der-in-chief of the land forces, General Gamelin is an active, extremely intelligent, and practical man of the world. He is, besides, a good conversationalist, and although he does not speak English he always gets on very well with English people. He represented the French Army at the funer,al of King George V and again at the coronation of the present King.. General Gamelin is 65 and can look back on a long and brilliant military career. He was first commissioned in 1893, and passed through the French Staff College in 1899. After being on the staff of the Fifth Corps hnd A.D.C. to General Joffre, he- was given the command of a battalion in 1911. From the outbreak of the war until 1916 he was on the general staff, and after, commanding a brigade of chasseurs and becoming chief of staff ,to General Joffre, he commanded a division throughout 1917 and 1918. After the war he was in charge of a military mission to Brazil and was Commander-in-Chief of troops in the Levant. In 1929 he was made Commander of the 20th (Nancy) Region, and in 1931 he became Chief of the French General Staff. ' ' -

General Lelofig, the popular French military attache in London, is an infantry Officer and a. graduate of the Ecole de Guerre. He was first commissioned in 1902, and became general de brigade in 1936. He has been in London since July of that year, and has become w'ell knovm for his vivacity, his cheerfulness, and his friendly manner. Before the war he was attached to the Russian Army. During 1914-1918, in addition to serving in France, he was assistant military attache in Russia, and managed also to visit England on several occasions. After the war he was made chief of staff to General Gamelin during the latter’s appointment as chief of the French Military Mission to Brazil. He has also been military attache in Rome.

General Weygand, who is half Belgian, was born in 1867 and joined the cavalry from St. Oyr in 1886. He was chief instructor at the cavalry school at Sainnur from 1909 to 1912. In 1913 he underwent a course at the Centre of Advanced Military Studies. The outbreak of war found him a lieuten-ant-colonel commanding the sth Dragoon Regiment at Nancy. On August 28, 1914, he was appointed chief of staff to General Foch, and he served throughout the war as Foch’s chief of staff. He was head of the French Military Mission to Poland in 1920, and was Chief of Staff to Marshal Foch on the Allied Military Committee of Versailles from January, 1920, to April, 1923, with the status of corps commander. From 1925 to 1930 he was commandant of the Centre of Advanced Military Studies, and from 1931 to 1935 he was vice-president of the Superior War Council. He is now retained on the active list with full pay for life. He holds three British decorations —the C. 8., the K.C.M.G. and the G.C.M.G. GENERAL NOGUES Born in 1876, General Nogues passed out of the Ecole Polytechnique as an artillery officer in 1899 He took part in the Morocco operations in 1913, and quickly gained a local knowledge which he put to good use later. During the Great AVar he had much varied experience in the War Ministry, on Marshal Joffre’s staff, and in field commands. He was promoted lieutenantcolonel in 1918, and 1924 found him again in Morocco, where he greatly distinguished himself as general de brigade.

For the next four years he held the appointment of Commandant de I’Ecole d’Application, and in 1929 he was attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent to Rabat, where his tact and knowledge of native psychology were largely instrumental in the final pacification of the tribes. In 1930 he was promoted Lieu-tenant-general in Command of the 10th Division in Paris, and in 1933 he was transferred with the rank of general, to the command of the 19th Army Corps in Algeria. He was also appointed to the Superior AVar Council. His intimate knowledge of North African affairs led in 1936 to his appointment as resident general in Morocco, and in 1939 as Inspector-general of North Africa.

The general is a grand officer of the Legion of Honour. Another distinguished general in the French Army, General Georges, is 64 and, like many other French officers destined to acquire fame, began his military career in Algeria. He passed through the French Staff College in 1905, and during the Great War was successively on the staff of the 2nd Army in command of an infantry battalion, Deputy Chief of Staff, Armee de I’Orient, and on the staff of Marshal Foch. After the war he again saw much service in North Africa, and in command of native troops, among his appointments being those of Chief of Staff to General Petain in Morocco in 1925, command of an Algerian division in 1923, and of the forces in Morocco in 1929, and Inspector-general des Troupes Nord Africains dans la Metropole. General Georges is regarded as one of France’s most distinguished officers and an authority in North Africa. He is a most popular figure, with an attractive personality and a remarkable power of putting people at their ease.

The general was severely wounded at Marseilles when King Alexander was assassinated.