Adolphe Messimy
Adolphe Messimy | |
---|---|
Minister of War | |
In office 27 June 1911 – 14 January 1912 | |
Preceded by | François Goiran |
Succeeded by | Alexandre Millerand |
In office 13 June 1914 – 23 August 1914 | |
Preceded by | Théophile Delcassé |
Succeeded by | Alexandre Millerand |
Personal details | |
Born | Lyon, Rhône, France | 31 January 1869
Died | 1 September 1935 Charnoz-sur-Ain, Ain, France | (aged 66)
Adolphe Marie Messimy (31 January 1869 – 1 September 1935) was a French politician and general. He served as Minister of War in 1911–12 and then again for a few months during
Early and personal life
Born in Lyon on 31 January 1869,[1] Adolphe Messimy was the eldest son of notary Paul Charles Léon Messimy and Laurette Marie Anne Girodon. He married Andrée, the daughter of Victor Cornil, whom he divorced in 1921. His second marriage, in 1923, was to Marie-Louise Blanc (née Viallar), a widow. He had two children from each marriage.[2]
Tuchman described him as “an exuberant, energetic, almost violent man, with … bright peasant’s eyes behind spectacles and a loud voice”.[3]
His hobbies were mountain-climbing and collecting weapons and furniture.[4]
Early career
Messimy entered the military academy of
After leaving the Army he became a journalist, writing on military matters for a number of Paris newspapers including
He also became an administrator of the General Company of Niger.[9]
Prewar political career
He was elected to the
He was re-elected as a Gauche radicale-socialiste, again at the second round, on 20 May 1906, by 11,894 votes to 5,438 for his opponent Fraguier. On 8 May 1910, once again at the second round, he was re-elected as a Républicain radicale-socialiste by 9,462 votes to 7,182 for his opponent Grangier.[11]
His prewar writings included: "The Armed Peace, France can Lighten the Burdens" (1905), "General Considerations on the Organisation of the Army" (1907), "The Army and its Cadres" (1909) and "Our Colonial Work" (1910).[12]
Peacetime war minister
Messimy became
From 27 June 1911 to 14 January 1912 Messimy served as
Until 1911 the vice-president of the Conseil Supérieur de Guerre (a body of senior generals, chaired by the President of the Republic) was commander-in-chief designate in the event of war but had no planning staff, whilst the Army Chief of Staff reported to the War Minister and dealt solely with administrative matters.[15] The vice-president, General Victor-Constant Michel, proposed that the French Army adopt a more defensive war plan and attach a regiment of reserves to each regular regiment. Messimy, in common with senior French generals, thought that these plans would blunt the fighting spirit of the French Army. He described them as “comme une insanité” and Michel a “national danger” and helped to ensure his removal.[16]
Messimy abolished the job of vice-president, and created a new post – soon given to General Joseph Joffre – of Chief of the General Staff (and Commander-in-Chief designate). There were to be two sub-chiefs, one heading the General Staff, based in the ministry and a member of the War Minister's military cabinet, whilst the other was chief of staff to the Commander-in-Chief and dealt with mobilisation and concentration. Alexandre Millerand abolished the former post (in his 1912–13 tenure), helping to create the situation where Joffre acquired enormous power in his hands during the early years of the First World War.[17] Messimy was suspicious of Joffre's choice of the clericalist right-winger General de Castelnau as his chief of staff.[18]
As War Minister Messimy proposed other reforms. He advocated that the manpower of the French Army should be enhanced with large contingents of black Africans, a view which he shared with General
Out of office
Returning to his native district, Messimy was, on 25 February 1912, elected deputy for the arrondissement of Trévoux (the Ain) for the Parti républicain radical et radical socialiste, replacing Donat-Auguste Bollet, who had become a senator. Messimy polled 9,734 votes against 4,648 for Ducurtyl and 3,420 for Nanssex, out of 18,186 ballots cast.[22]
After visiting the Balkans and seeing the advantage held by Bulgarians in their inconspicuous uniforms, Messimy also proposed replacing the red kepi and pantalon rouge (red trousers) worn by the French Army since 1830 by a grey-blue or grey-green uniform (the British Army had recently switched from scarlet to khaki and the Germans from blue to field-grey). This plan was blocked by French generals and politicians. Messimy later wrote of the “blind and imbecile attachment to the most visible of all colours”.[23]
He was re-elected for his Ain seat unopposed on 26 April 1914, obtaining all of the 11,713 votes cast and holding the seat until his defeat in 1919.[24]
War Minister in 1914
July Crisis
On 13 June 1914 he entered the government, led by
News of the German Kriegesgefahr (announcement of danger of war) was announced around 5.30pm on 31 July. Messimy, who had been tipped off an hour earlier by a banking friend in Amsterdam, told the cabinet it was “une forme hypocrite de la mobilisation”. Joffre, who had previously been ordered to keep French troops 10 km away from the frontier, arrived and demanded French mobilisation, but was only allowed to send a “covering order” because of
The next morning (1 August), after the German ultimatum to Russia, the cabinet agreed that the mobilisation order could be issued but Messimy was required to keep it in his pocket till 3.30pm. Public posters appeared at 4pm, but that evening Messimy had to order the Army, in the president's name, to keep out of the 10 km zone, on pain of court martial. Not even patrols were permitted, and special orders were issued to General Foch, commander of XX Corps, who was suspected of patrolling aggressively.[27] Until the Germans were confirmed to have entered Belgium, Messimy forbade any French troops to enter in case reports were a trick to make the French into the violators of Belgian neutrality.[28]
Messimy was keen to bring the Colonial Corps from North Africa to France. In the fraught atmosphere of the Crisis he was challenged to a duel on 2 August by Navy Minister Armand Gauthier, who had forgotten to send torpedo boats into the English Channel but now wanted to redeem his reputation by using the French Navy to attack the German warships Goeben and Breslau, currently in the Mediterranean, before Germany and France were actually at war. He eventually embraced Messimy tearfully and was persuaded to resign on grounds of health.[29]
French defeat and defence of Paris
The Germans attacked the outermost Liège forts on 5 August. Three cavalry divisions under General Sordet were to enter Belgium on 6 August to reconnoitre east of the Meuse. Like President Poincare, Messimy would have preferred to send five corps, but this did not meet with Joffre's approval.[30]
Messimy called in General Hirschauer of the engineers on 13 August and ordered him to have the Paris defences ready in 3 weeks, as a precaution.[31] General Gallieni, who had been designated as Joffre's successor "in case of accident" went to Vitry (14 August) to lobby Joffre as Messimy refused to go, believing (wrongly) that Joffre would be more likely to listen to his former superior.[32] Messimy rang GQG on the night of 18/19 August “in anguish” at the weakness of the French left wing. He spoke to General Berthelot, who assured him that the German centre was weak and he agreed that Joffre should not be wakened.[33]
With the French armies falling back in retreat, and the Paris defences still not ready, Messimy sent for Gallieni and offered him the job of Military governor of Paris in place of General Michel. He shook Gallieni's hand effusively and kissed him when he agreed, promising him three active corps to avoid “the fate of Liège and Namur”, asking him to return later when he hoped to have cabinet authority to appoint him.[34] Messimy fully supported Joffre in his purge of unsuccessful generals, even suggesting that, as in 1793, some of them simply ought to be executed.[35]
Messimy then learned from General Ebener, GQG's representative at the War Office, that Joffre had ordered 61st and 62nd Reserve Divisions up from Paris to the Amiens sector (where they would form part of a new
Messimy and Poincaré had studied the decrees of 1913 and agreed that in wartime the commander-in-chief had “extended powers” across the whole country and “absolute power”, including over the civilian authorities, in the Zone of the Armies. They wished to avoid a repetition of
On 25 August Messimy complained to Joffre that German cavalry were running amok in Belgium and that “Sordet, who has had very little fighting, is asleep. This is inadmissible.” This was unfair criticism.[38]
Resignation
Messimy now learned that his job was at risk as the price of getting Millerand back into the government (
Poincaré later wrote that Messimy had been too gloomy, warning of imminent defeat.[40] Greenhalgh writes that he was “temperamentally unsuited … and not strong enough to withstand the strain” of being War Minister.[41]
After his resignation Messimy came to say goodbye to Joffre on 1 September. Joffre told him that he expected to renew the offensive on 8 September at Brienne-le-Chateau, a town between the Marne and the Seine – the counterstroke which would become the First Battle of the Marne. Messimy wrote that he had been impressed by his calm.[42] At the time his feelings may have been less cordial: in late December 1914 he complained to Abel Ferry that Joffre was responsible for the “divorce” between GQG and the troops, and that bad intelligence had been responsible for the near disaster of Charleroi and for Joffre's partial and costly attacks.[43]
Wartime military service
Messimy rejoined the army as a staff captain on the staff of XIV Corps. He soon became head of the deuxième bureau (intelligence) and acted as a liaison officer.
Messimy and his brigade took part in the
The brigade attacked again on 12 September. At 1.05pm Messimy learned that his men had taken the German Third Position west of the Bapaume-Peronne road. He asked for and was sent two more battalions from the 44th and 133rd Infantry Regiments. At 6.39pm they advanced again across the final line of trenches, followed by three companies of chasseurs exploiting without orders, into Bouchavesnes village. By 7.30pm they had taken 500 prisoners and ten guns. A statue of Foch now stands nearby.[48] The German front had been pushed back 3 km, part of a broader Sixth Army advance which took 6 km of the German Third Line. Fayolle, normally highly critical of his subordinates, wrote “Messimy’s spirit was superb”.[49] In common with other French successes on the Somme, this was overshadowed by the Battle of Verdun and received – then and now – less recognition than it deserved. The following day (13 September) the City of Verdun was awarded the Legion d’Honneur and the British Military Cross.[50]
Flanking attacks having failed – Fayolle thought Foch mad to demand a further attack now the German defence was stiffening up – Messimy's brigade attacked the Bois St Pierre Vast from the south-west on 5 November. His men waded through knee-deep mud, but the attack failed and they had to withdraw to the start-line.[51] Messimy issued his final order to his chasseurs on 17 November 1916, praising their performance. The brigade had lost 71 officers and 3000 men.[52]
In early April 1917 Messimy warned Prime
During the war he received eight citations and ended with the rank of général de brigade à titre definitif.[56] He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, and was a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur.[57]
Later political career
After the end of the war Messimy re-entered active politics but he was defeated for re-election in 1919. On 15 November he came only sixth out of the list of candidates for the union républicaine et démocratique, receiving only 16,494 votes out of 68,762 cast.[58][59]
He was elected a
He died, still a senator, on 1 September 1935 at Charnoz-sur-Ain from the effects of a cerebral haemorrhage.[62]
In his posthumous memoirs (1937, pp350–1) Messimy once again argued that unsuccessful generals in 1914 should have been executed, quoting the names of six who were sent to the guillotine in 1793–1794.[63]
References
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 46–7
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 46–7
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 46–7
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 15
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 46–7
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 15
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 48–9
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 10
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 46–7
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 230
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 47–8
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 1 Greenhalgh gives his rank at the time as Colonel, which appears to be an error
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 92–3
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 95
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 127
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 149–50
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 176
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 338–9
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 233
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 245–6
- besiegedin the Franco-Prussian War
- ^ Terraine 1960, p. 113
- ^ Tuchman 1962, pp. 338–40
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 340
- ^ Spears 1930, p. 221
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 342
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 342
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 67
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 392
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 67
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Tuchman 1962, p. 343
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Philpott 2009, p. 353
- ^ Philpott 2009, p. 345
- ^ Philpott 2009, p. 355
- ^ Philpott 2009, p. 412
- ^ Philpott 2009, pp. 399–400
- ^ Philpott 2009, p. 445
- ^ Philpott 2009, p. 470
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- General de Division, a rank not attributed to him on the French Parliamentary website
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ This election was conducted under Proportional representation by department, replacing the usual two-round system of voting by arrondissements in use since 1889.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Lebrun became President of the Senate that year, before becoming President of the Republic the following year
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)". www. assemblee-nationale.fr. Archives Nationales. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 67
Books
- Greenhalgh, Elizabeth (2014). The French Army and the First World War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-60568-8.
- Philpott, W. (2009). Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-1-4087-0108-9.
- Terraine, John (1960). Mons, The Retreat to Victory. Wordsworth Military Library, London. ISBN 1-84022-240-9.
- Tuchman, Barbara (1962). ISBN 978-0345476098.
- Biography of Messimy on the website of the French Parliament (French)