General Joseph Gallieni
The saviour of Paris
1914: in the early days of the war, appointed military governor of Paris, his mission was to ensure the defence of the capital against the German threat.
The rest is history
Born on 24 April 1849 in the Pyrenees, in Saint-Béat, a small commune in Haute-Garonne, Joseph Gallieni, the son of an officer, very quickly pursued a military career.
In October 1868, he entered the Saint-Cyr military academy.
On 19 July 1870, France declared war on Prussia.
He was mobilised and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the marine infantry.
On 1 September 1870, he was wounded at Bazeilles, near Sedan.
Taken prisoner, he spent six months in captivity in Germany before being released on 12 March 1871.
On 10 May 1871, under the peace treaty, France lost Alsace and part of Lorraine.
In April 1872, after the French defeat, his military career took a new direction, that of the French colonies.
Successively: 3 years in Réunion, 6 years in Africa, 3 years in Martinique, 2 years in Africa, 4 years in Indochina.
His final journey lasting 9 years took him to Madagascar, where he became Governor General from 1896 to 1905.
His mission was to counter the rise in anti-colonialist demonstrations.
At his instigation, a large number of infrastructures were put in place, including a railway, the Pasteur Institute and secular schools teaching in French.
Joffre, then a colonel, took part in Gallieni's campaign to colonise the island.
In 1905, back in metropolitan France, Gallieni gravitated towards the very highest military spheres, until̀ he was approached to become Commander-in-Chief of the French Army.
However, in 1911 his age and frail health prompted him to step down and hand the reins over to Joffre.
On 25 April 1914, his 65th birthday, Gallieni retired after a very successful career.
On 4 July, he and his wife left Paris to retire to their house in Fréjus.
On 27 July 1914, his wife died suddenly of a haemorrhage.
On 31 July: decree from the President of the Republic, Raymond Poincaré, stipulating that, in the event of mobilisation, Gallieni would be appointed as Joffre's possible successor.
On 2 August 1914, Gallieni was recalled to the Ministry of War in Paris.
On 3 August 1914, Germany declared war on France.
Le 26 août, il est nommé commandant du Camp retranché de Paris.
LOn 26 August, he was appointed commander of the entrenched camp in Paris.
On 2 September, the government, ministries and administrations withdrew from the Paris stations to Bordeaux.
Left on his own, Gallieni's mission was to ensure the defence of the capital, as well as directing General
Maunoury's 6th army, which had retreated to the east of the capital.
The rest is history...
4 September 1914, the French cavalry reconnaissance, ordered by Gallieni and sent out before daybreak, returned.
Gallieni was informed that the road from Paris to Senlis, and the entire northern sector, was clear of the enemy. The capital was therefore not under attack.
For General Gallieni, the opportunity was too good, as the Germans were advancing from the flank.
‘They're marching south-east. So I'll attack them! I'll crush them’.
7.00pm: Paris: Lycée Victor Duruy, back from the British G.H.Q. in Melun, Gallieni and Maunoury were informed of the latest aerial intelligence confirming that Von Kluck's army had slipped in front of Paris.
Gallieni gave Maunoury his final instructions before the latter returned to his headquarters at the Raincy town hall: we must attack!
So, after 9 days of retreat, the order finally came to advance...
8.30pm: from Paris, Gallieni phoned the General Headquarters at Bar-sur-Aube and insisted on talking to Joffre (his former subordinate).
Gallieni informed him of his directives, then tried to convince the hesitant Joffre.
Gallieni indicated that Von Kluck's adventurous troops should be attacked as soon as possible, so as to seize the opportunity to take them by surprise.
Joffre, recognising that Gallieni's arguments had merit, finally agreed with his plan.
Churchill wrote:
‘After that phone call, the Battle of the Marne was won’.
Lord Kitchener said:
‘Luckily for you, Gallieni commanded the Paris armies and set the time for the offensive on the Marne’.
Maunoury wrote:
‘It was Gallieni who, at his peril, gave the order to attack. It was he who took responsibility. The credit for Victory belongs to him’.
Clemenceau said:
‘He was the real saviour of Paris. Without him, victory would have been impossible’.
Von Kluck wrote in 1916:
‘There was only one general who could agree, against all the rules, to take the battle so far ahead of his defences; to my misfortune, it was Gallieni. Out of a hundred governors, there wasn't one capable of doing what Gallieni did’.
10pm: Le Raincy town hall, at the headquarters of the 6th Army, following the Gallieni-Joffre telephone call, General Maunoury received an order from Gallieni, from Joffre's General Headquarters, confirming that he would start moving north-east of Meaux the following morning.
The next day, on 5 September 1914, around midday, the first cannon shot rang out:
The Battle of the Marne had begun...
General Gallieni was Minister for War from 29 October 1915 until 10 March 1916, when he had to interrupt his ministry for health reasons.
He had been suffering from cancer for several years and died following an operation in Versailles, at 27 rue Maurepas, at the Maison de la Santé des Sœurs Augustines. (Commemorative plaque).
After a state funeral in Paris, he was buried in Saint-Raphaël, next to his wife, who had died a week before the outbreak of war...
