Gaston Cros

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Gaston Cros
First World War
AwardsCommander of the
Mentioned in Despatches

Colonel Marie Augstin Gaston Cros (known as Gaston Cros) (6 October 1861 – 10 May 1915) was a French army officer and archaeologist. He was born in

French protectorate of Morocco from 1913, seeing action in the Zaian War
.

Upon the outbreak of the

Moroccan Division Memorial at Vimy
.

Early life

Marie Augstin Gaston Cros was born at 2.00am on 6 October 1861 to Hippolyte Cros, a lawyer, and Marie Petronille Reine Scherb at

Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr as a cadet, from which he graduated on 1 October 1883, ranked 261 out of 342 in his class.[2][3] Cros was commissioned into the 128th Infantry Regiment as a sub-lieutenant and attended the L'Ecole du Tir (marksmanship school) in 1885 where he ranked 25th out of 76 participants.[2][3]

Cros transferred to the 4th Tonkinese Rifles on 3 June 1887 and saw active service in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) from 19 June 1887 to 14 September 1888, joining the 105th Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant on 5 October 1887.[3][4] He was awarded the Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal for his work in the country.[4]

On 25 January 1889 Cros transferred to the 4th

Order of the Dragon of Annam and a member of the Tunisian Order of Glory on 10 October 1889 in recognition of his service in Tonkin and Tunisia.[6] He was promoted to captain on 10 July 1894 and became a chevalier of the Legion of Honour on 29 December 1896.[3][7] Cros transferred to the 39th Infantry Regiment on 5 April 1898 and served with them in Algeria from 11 November 1899 to 1 June 1900.[3][4]

Archaeological work at Tello

votive
dog excavated by Cros from Tello in 1904

From December 1901 Cros was placed in charge of the French-led Tello Expedition to the archaeological site of

Muntafiq Arabs against the Ottoman Empire which created a hostile environment for the archaeologists.[9] Cros' knowledge of archaeology, like Sarzac's, came from a purely amateur interest in the subject though he had a thorough understanding of desert topography from his surveying days.[8][10] One of Cros' first acts was to move the site of the French camp nearer to the excavation area, having been previously situated an hours ride away.[5] This made it less defensible and further from the water supply but he solved these problems by negotiating protection from the local Karagul Arabs and co-ordinating the construction of a new reservoir supplied with water by caravan convoys.[5]

One of the Cuneiform Tello tablets

Cros undertook numerous excavations at Tello producing significant numbers of artefacts, some dating from the earliest periods of Sumerian civilization.[5] One of his achievements, considered his most important at Tello, was the tracing of the great city wall which was 32.5 feet (9.9 m) thick.[11][12] In 1903 he discovered a doorway in the vicinity of de Sarzac's famous cuneiform tablets that provided evidence that the tablets were stored as part of a state administrative archive.[13]

During his time at Tello he remained nominally with the 39th Infantry Regiment, transferring to the

chef de bataillon (roughly equivalent to major), in the 116th Infantry Regiment, on 24 June 1905 and by appointment as an officer of the Legion of Honour on 12 March 1906.[3][14]

Cros transferred to the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques for his academic work.[1] A replacement was eventually found in 1914 but the outbreak of war prevented his assuming the post and the next chief of the French mission wasn't appointed until 1928.[8]

Cros was later promoted to

Kasbah Tadla.[17][18]

First World War

A wounded Cros directs his men from a horsedrawn carriage as drawn in a contemporary issue of L'Illustré National

After the outbreak of the

mention in dispatches and, later, his description as "bravest of the brave".[20][22] After two days spent following his unit in a horse-drawn carriage he was forced to leave his command.[2]

On 15 September Cros received temporary promotion to colonel and on 20 October was given command of the 2nd Moroccan Brigade at the Battle of the Yser.[1] His promotion was confirmed as permanent on 1 November 1914 and he became a commander of the Legion of Honour on 10 April 1915.[2][23] He also received a further mention in dispatches as "a brave soldier, an experienced great leader, wise, prudent, with natural authority" and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm.[2] In the spring he wrote to an archaeological colleague, Léon Heuzey, telling him that "I continue with my work as an archaeologist. As at Tello I record earthworks, but instead of artefacts of Gudea I find German shells, it is not without excitement".[20]

The Vimy Ridge Moroccan Division Memorial bearing Cros' name

Later that year Cros led his brigade, as part of the

esprit de corps in his men and on the eve of the attack told them: "I am your father and you know that I love you as my children, if you want to show me that you love me in return, fight and kill lots of Boche".[25] At 10 AM on 9 May 1915 Cros' brigade advanced in conjunction with the division's 1st Brigade, a French Foreign Legion unit led by Colonel Pein.[24] The five-hour preliminary bombardment was largely ineffective and the division took heavy casualties in reaching the German lines, 3 miles (4.8 km) distant.[24] However they managed to push the Germans out and some units even reached the villages of Vimy and Givenchy-en-Gohelle.[24] The next morning, hit by their own artillery and under German counter-attack, the French were forced to withdraw to their own lines in the course of which Cros was killed.[2] Cros was one of almost 2,000 men of the Moroccan division killed in that action, as was fellow brigade commander Colonel Pein.[24]

Cros' colleague Huezey described him later as "a trainer of men and a keen naturalist whose integrity was matched by his intelligence and bravery.

Moroccan Division Memorial at Vimy.[26][27]

To the fallen of the Moroccan Division


Without fear, without mercy


To the memory of Colonel Pein, Commander of the 1st Brigade, of Colonel Cros, commander of the 2nd Brigade, officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Moroccan Division who gloriously gave their lives on 9, 10 and 11 May 1915. On 9 May 1915, the regiments of the Moroccan Division at 10AM launched their offensive from the Berthonval trenches and successfully overcame fierce resistance from the German side to claim victory over Hill 140, their objective - breaking through enemy lines for the very first time

— Translation of the inscription on the
Moroccan Division Memorial at Vimy.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Boÿ, Général de brigade Jean. "Historique de la 66e promotion de l'Ecole spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (1881–1883), promotion d'Egypte" (PDF) (in French). Association des élèves et anciens élèves de l'école spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Charvát, Petr. "Dějiny archeologických výzkumů na Blízkém Východě" (in Czech). Západočeská univerzita v Plzni (Pilsen University, Czech republic). Retrieved 29 December 2012.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Legion of Honour records - page 14". Base Léonore. Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d "Legion of Honour records - page 15". Base Léonore. Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4068-2717-0
    .
  6. ^ "Legion of Honour records - page 21". Base Léonore. Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  7. ^ "Legion of Honour records - page 17". Base Léonore. Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  8. ^
    S2CID 162753589
    .
  9. ISBN 978-1405189880
    .
  10. ISBN 90-5693-035-4
    .
  11. ISBN 9780766149120
    .
  12. ISBN 9781417977215
    .
  13. ISBN 9780931464966
    .
  14. ^ "Legion of Honour records - page 1". Base Léonore. Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  15. S2CID 163941416
    . Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  16. ISBN 978-1-4051-8988-0
    .
  17. ^
    ISBN 978-0-312-12529-5
    .
  18. ^ Lyautey, Louis Hubert Gonzalve (1954). Lyautey l'africain: textes et lettres du maréchal Lyautey, Volume 2 (in French). Plon. pp. 187 & 196.
  19. ^ Recouly, Raymond (1920). Foch, the winner of the war. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 91.
  20. ^ a b c d Heuzey, Léon (2 July 1915). "Éloge funèbre de M. le commandant Gaston Cros, tué à l'ennemi". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (in French). 59 (4): 244–5. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  21. ISBN 9781419133695
    .
  22. ^ a b c Recouly, Raymond (1920). Foch, the winner of the war. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 104.
  23. ^ "Legion of Honour records - page 3". Base Léonore. Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  24. ^
    ISBN 978-0-00-653174-6
    .
  25. ISBN 978-2-600-04098-3
    .
  26. ^ "Chromamix I" (PDF) (in French). Musée Zoologique de la Ville de Strasbourg. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  27. ^ a b "Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia 1914–1919" (PDF). Forgotten Heroes North Africans and the Great War 1914–1919. Forgotten heroes 14-19 foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2012.

External links

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