Maxime Weygand
Maxime Weygand | |
---|---|
Eugène Debeney | |
Succeeded by | Maurice Gamelin |
Minister of National Defence | |
In office 16 June 1940 – 11 July 1940 Serving with War Minister Louis Colson | |
High Commissioner of the Levant | |
In office 19 April 1923 – 29 November 1924 | |
Preceded by | Robert de Caix (acting)[1] |
Succeeded by | Maurice Sarrail |
Personal details | |
Born | Brussels, Belgium | 21 January 1867
Died | 28 January 1965 Paris, France | (aged 98)
Nationality |
|
Alma mater | École Spéciale Militaire |
Signature | ![]() |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() ![]() |
Branch/service | French Army |
Years of service | 1887–1942 |
Rank | Army general |
Battles/wars | List
|
Maxime Weygand (French pronunciation: [vɛɡɑ̃]; 21 January 1867 – 28 January 1965) was a French military commander in World War I and World War II, as well as a high ranking member of the Vichy regime.
Born in Belgium, Weygand was raised in France and educated at the
In May 1940, Weygand was recalled for active duty and assumed command of the French Army during the German invasion. Following a series of military setbacks, Weygand advised armistice and France subsequently capitulated. He joined Philippe Pétain's Vichy regime as Minister for Defence and served until September 1940, when he was appointed Delegate-General in French North Africa. He was noted for exceptionally harsh implementation of German Anti-Semitic policies while in this position. Despite this, Weygand favoured only limited collaboration with Germany and was dismissed from his post in November 1941 on Adolf Hitler's demand. Following the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, Weygand was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned at Itter Castle in Austria until May 1945. After returning to France, he was held as a collaborator at the Val-de-Grâce but was released in 1946 and cleared of charges in 1948. He died in January 1965 in Paris at the age of 98.
Early years
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Van20derSmissen-Alfred.jpg/220px-Van20derSmissen-Alfred.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Time_Maxime_Weygand_10_30_33.jpg/220px-Time_Maxime_Weygand_10_30_33.jpg)
Weygand was born on 21 January 1867 at 39 Boulevard de Waterloo in
Regardless, throughout his life, Weygand maintained he did not know his true parentage. While an infant he was sent to Marseille to be raised by a widow named Virginie Saget, whom he originally took to be his mother.[6][7][page needed] At the age of seven, he was transferred to the household of David Cohen, an Italo-Belgian leather merchant in Marseille, with partner Thérèse Denimal (later de Nimal). Then-called Maxime de Nimal, he attended schools in Cannes and then Asniéres, fees likely paid by the Belgian royal household or government, where his scholastic accomplishment were recognised.[8] He was transferred to a boarding school in Paris and thence to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand where Maxime was baptised Catholic.[9] After a disciplinary issue he was expelled and barred from Parisian schools, ending up at schools in Toulon and then Aix-en-Provence. Returning to Paris some years later, he was rejected from the French Navy and decided to seek admission to the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr. Admitted in the top half of the class, he was denied a full French uniform due to his unclear heritage, but the slight ignored he graduated in the top ten of his class.[10] Highly competent at fencing and horsemanship, he was accepted as a junior cavalry officer at Saumur – connecting him to a network of upper-class officers – but again rejected as a non-citizen. David Cohen secured after some payments, however, an adoption by an accountant in Arras called Francis-Joseph Weygand. Taking the name Maxime Weygand, he was posted to a French cavalry regiment in October 1888.[11]
He says little about his youth in his memoirs, devoting to it only 4 pages out of 651. He mentions the gouvernante and the aumônier of his college, who instilled in him a strong Catholic faith. His memoirs essentially begin with his entry into the preparatory class of Saint-Cyr Military School in Paris.[citation needed]
Military career
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Maxime_Weygand_jeune_officier.jpg/220px-Maxime_Weygand_jeune_officier.jpg)
During the Dreyfus affair, Weygand was one of the most anti-Dreyfusard officers of his regiment, supporting the widow of Colonel Hubert-Joseph Henry, who had committed suicide after the discovery of the falsification of the charges against Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
He was promoted to captain in 1896.[12] Weygand chose not to attempt the difficult preparation to the École Supérieure de Guerre (the French staff college) because of his desire, he said, to keep contact with the troops. This did not prevent him from later becoming an instructor at the cavalry school at Saumur. Along with Joseph Joffre and Ferdinand Foch, Weygand attended the Imperial Russian Army manoeuvres in 1910; his account mentions a great deal of pomp and many gala dinners, but also records Russian reluctance to discuss military details.[13] Promoted with unusual rapidity to lieutenant colonel in 1912,[12] he attended in 1913 the Centre des Hautes Etudes Militaires, set up in January 1911[14] to teach combined arms operations and staff work,[12] despite not having been "breveté" (passed staff college).[15] During his studies, he was noticed for his brilliance in staff work by Joffre and Foch.[16] Weygand attended the last pre-war French grand manoeuvres in 1913 and commented that it had revealed "intolerable insufficiencies" such as two divisions becoming mixed up.[17]
First World War
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Maarschalk_Ferdinand_Foch_%281851-1929%29%2C_Bestanddeelnr_158-1095_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Maarschalk_Ferdinand_Foch_%281851-1929%29%2C_Bestanddeelnr_158-1095_%28cropped%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Waffenstillstand_gr.jpg/300px-Waffenstillstand_gr.jpg)
Early war
At the outbreak of the war, he was posted as a staff officer with the
The professional partnership between Foch and Weygand was close and fruitful, with Weygand operating as a highly competent subordinate able to translate Foch's instructions into clearer orders, analyse ideas, and collate information. Foch referred to Weygand with praise, believing that their views were practically identical.[19] Weygand finalised the plans for the 9th Army's attack at the First Battle of the Marne and, in doing so, became one of the first staff officers to reconnoitre the battlefield from the air.[20] Weygand supported Foch, who was appointed to coordinate the Belgian, British, and French forces in the northern sector, during the Race to the Sea and First Ypres.[21] Weygand was promoted to full colonel in early 1915.[21]
The mounting French casualties over the course of 1915 were reflected in Weygand's campaign notes; the need for further cooperation between French and British armies utilised Weygand's communicative skills and he developed a working relationship with some British counterparts.
After Joffre was replaced by
Supreme War Council
British prime minister
The new prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, wanted Foch as PMR to increase French control over the Western Front, but was persuaded to appoint Weygand, seen very much as Foch's sidekick, instead.[31] Clemenceau told US President Woodrow Wilson's envoy, Colonel Edward M. House that he would put in a "second- or third-rate man" as PMR and "let the thing drift where it will".[32]
Weygand was the most junior of the PMRs (the others being the Italian
However, Clemenceau only agreed to set up an Allied General Reserve if Foch rather than Weygand were earmarked to command it. The Reserve was shelved for the time being at a SWC Meeting in London (14–15 March 1918) as the national commanders in chief, Philippe Pétain and Sir Douglas Haig, were reluctant to release divisions.[31]
Supreme Allied Command Staff
Weygand was in charge of Foch's staff when his patron was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in the spring of 1918, and was Foch's right-hand man throughout his victories in the late summer and until the end of the war.
Weygand initially headed a small staff of 25–30 officers, with Brigadier General Pierre Desticker as his deputy. There was a separate head for each of the departments, e.g. Operations, Intelligence, Q (Quartermaster). From June 1918 onwards, under British pressure, Foch and Weygand poached staff officers from the French Commander-in-Chief Philippe Pétain (Lloyd George's tentative suggestion of a multinational Allied staff was vetoed by President Wilson). By early August Colonel Payot (responsible for supply and transport) had moved to Foch's HQ, as had the Military Missions from the other Allied HQs; in Greenhalgh's words this "put real as opposed to nominal power into Foch's hands". From early July onwards, British military and political leaders came to regret Foch's increased power, but Weygand later recorded that they had only themselves to blame as they had pushed for the change.[35]
Like Foch and most French leaders of his era (Clemenceau, who had lived in the US as a young man, was a rare exception), Weygand could not speak enough English to "sustain a conversation" (German, not English, was the most common second language in which French officers were qualified). Competent interpreters were therefore vital.[36]
Weygand drew up the memorandum for the meeting of Foch with the national commanders-in-chief (Haig, Pétain and John J. Pershing) on 24 July 1918, the only such meeting before the autumn, in which Foch urged (successfully) the liberation of the Marne salient captured by the Germans in May (this offensive would become the Second Battle of the Marne, for which Foch was promoted Marshal of France), along with further offensives by the British and by the Americans at St Mihiel.[37] Weygand personally delivered the directive for the Amiens attack to Haig.[38] Foch and Weygand were shown around the liberated St. Mihiel sector by Pershing on 20 September.[39]
Weygand later (in 1922) questioned whether Pétain's planned offensive by twenty-five divisions in Lorraine in November 1918 could have been supplied through a "zone of destruction" through which the Germans were retreating; his own and Foch's doubts about the feasibility of the plans were another factor in the seeking of an armistice.
Paris Peace Conference
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/1_FI_1_28_-_Le_mar%C3%A9chal_Foch%2C_les_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9raux_Weygand_et_Gouraud_au_garde_%C3%A0_vous%2C_place_Broglie._21_novembre_1920.jpg/220px-1_FI_1_28_-_Le_mar%C3%A9chal_Foch%2C_les_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9raux_Weygand_et_Gouraud_au_garde_%C3%A0_vous%2C_place_Broglie._21_novembre_1920.jpg)
Weygand agreed with Foch that French security – the consequences of which were impressed during a tour of the liberated German-occupied zones in late 1918 – required territorial expansion to the
Foch's untactful expression of his views unnerved the Big Four civilian leaders at the peace conference: American president Woodrow Wilson, British prime minister David Lloyd George, French president Georges Clemenceau, and Italian prime minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando.[42] Weygand harboured similar disdain, calling them in a diary "the four old men". Because of Foch's popularity as victor of the war, he could not be easily criticised. Attacks therefore fell on Weygand who was conspiratorially accused, by among others Woodrow Wilson and Lloyd George, as driving Foch's radical positions.[43]
Interwar
Poland
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Misja_aliancka_w_Polsce_%281920%29.jpg/220px-Misja_aliancka_w_Polsce_%281920%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Gare_de_l%27Est_-_arriv%C3%A9e_du_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral_Weygand_au_retour_de_Pologne.jpg/220px-Gare_de_l%27Est_-_arriv%C3%A9e_du_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral_Weygand_au_retour_de_Pologne.jpg)
During the
Weygand travelled to
At the station at Warsaw on 25 August he was consoled by the award of the Virtuti Militari, 2nd class; at Paris on the 28th he was cheered by crowds lining the platform of the Gare de l'Est, kissed on both cheeks by the premier, Alexandre Millerand.[44] Promoted to général corps d'armée and advanced to Commandeur in the Legion of Honour,[46] Weygand could not understand what had happened and admitted in his memoirs what he said to a French journalist already on 21 August 1920: "the victory was Polish, the plan was Polish, the army was Polish".[47] As Norman Davies notes: "He was the first uncomprehending victim, as well as the chief beneficiary, of a legend already in circulation that he, Weygand, was the victor of Warsaw. This legend persisted for more than forty years even in academic circles".[44]
Levant and CHEM directorship
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/French_Mandate_for_Syria_and_the_Lebanon_map_en.svg/220px-French_Mandate_for_Syria_and_the_Lebanon_map_en.svg.png)
Weygand returned from Poland to his duties with the interallied council overseeing the implementation of the Versailles treaty and the renegotiation of peace with Turkey after they rejected the Treaty of Sèvres. Weygand declined to serve on a proposed French occupation force to occupy the Ruhr valley after Germany refused to meet reparation payments; he similarly refused appointment to Poland.[49]
In 1922, the Poincaré ministry appointed Weygand
Weygand returned to France in 1925 embittered, seeing his recall as the product of political machinations and intra-army rivalries. Regardless, he was awarded the
Head of the army
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Maxime_Weygand%2C_Joseph_Paul-Boncour%2C_Maurice_Gamelin%2C_1932.jpg/220px-Maxime_Weygand%2C_Joseph_Paul-Boncour%2C_Maurice_Gamelin%2C_1932.jpg)
The opening of the question of succession as chief of the general staff from 1927 placed Weygand again in the spotlight: Foch, for his part, supported his protégé and made his views clear before his death in 1929. The left-wing war minister Paul Painlevé supported Louis Maurin. But after Petain's announced his support for Weygand and buttressed it with the recommendation that Weygand should be further appointed inspector-general on Petain's retirement (designating Weygand as commander-in-chief on mobilisation), the topic of the appointment became thoroughly politicised.[58] The end of Briand's government in November 1929 led to a right-wing government under André Tardieu until February 1930 that made André Maginot war minister. Attacked as a right-wing Catholic cavalry officer with aristocratic haughtiness and designs against the Third Republic with profligate plans for military expenditure in a time of austerity, Weygand was forced to disavow in a statement to Parliament any political activities and affirm his loyalty to the republican regime.[59] The eventual compromise saw Weygand made chief of staff with the more politically-safe Maurice Gamelin as deputy; Weygand was appointed chief of staff on 3 January 1930 at the age of 63.[60][61] On Petain's retirement to the post of air defence inspector on 10 February 1931, Weygand took up the vice presidency of the Conseil supérieur de la guerre as well as inspector-general of the army; Gamelin was appointed chief of staff in his place.[62][63]
Weygand's remained as vice president of the Conseil until his mandatory requirement at the age of 68 in February 1935.
Retirement and return to the Levant
From 1931 he had been admitted to the
Weygand was recalled for active service in August 1939 by Édouard Daladier's government and appointed again to the Levant, resigning his position in the Suez Canal Company. The government may have sought to keep him away from Gamelin's command. Regardless, he was officially dispatched to negotiate with Turkey, Greece, and Romania for French security interests. He also was tasked with inspecting and training the colonial garrisons.[75]
Second World War
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Weygand-mai_1940-A.jpg/220px-Weygand-mai_1940-A.jpg)
Weygand's service during the Second World War is controversial and debated. His reputation was came under substantial criticism from
Recall to service
By late May 1940 the military disaster in France after the German invasion was such that the Supreme Commander—and political neutral—Maurice Gamelin, was dismissed, and Weygand—a figurehead of the right—was recalled from Syria to replace him.
Weygand arrived on 17 May and started by cancelling the flank counter-offensive ordered by Gamelin, to cut off the enemy armoured columns which had punched through the French front at the Ardennes. Thus he lost two crucial days before finally adopting the solution, however obvious, of his predecessor. But it was by then a failed manoeuvre, because during the 48 lost hours, the German Army infantry had caught up behind their tanks in the breakthrough and had consolidated their gains.
Weygand then oversaw the creation of the Weygand Line, an early application of the hedgehog tactic; however, by this point the situation was untenable, with most of the Allied forces trapped in Belgium. Weygand complained that he had been summoned two weeks too late to halt the invasion.[82] [83]
Armistice
On 5 June the German second offensive (Fall Rot) began.[84] On 8 June Weygand was visited by Charles de Gaulle, newly appointed to the government as Under-Secretary for War. According to de Gaulle's memoirs Weygand believed it was "the end" and gave a "despairing laugh" when de Gaulle suggested fighting on. He believed that after France was defeated Britain would also soon sue for peace, and hoped that after an armistice the Germans would allow him to retain enough of a French Army to "maintain order" in France. Weygand later disputed the accuracy of de Gaulle's account of this conversation, and remarked on its similarity to a dialogue by Pierre Corneille. De Gaulle's biographer Jean Lacouture suggests that de Gaulle's account is consistent with other evidence of Weygand's beliefs at the time and is therefore, allowing perhaps for a little literary embellishment, broadly plausible.[85]
The French government moved to Bordeaux on 14 June. At Cabinet on 15 June Reynaud urged that they should follow the Dutch example, that the Army should lay down its arms so that the fight could be continued from abroad. Pétain was sympathetic,[90] but he was sent to speak to Weygand (who was waiting outside, as he was not a member of the Cabinet).[91] After no more than fifteen minutes Weygand persuaded him that this would be a shameful surrender. Camille Chautemps then proposed a compromise proposal, that the Germans be approached about possible armistice terms.[90] The Cabinet voted 13–6 for the Chautemps proposal.[91]
After Reynaud's resignation as Prime Minister on 16 June, President Albert Lebrun felt he had little choice but to appoint Pétain, who already had a ministerial team ready, as prime minister. Weygand joined the new government as Minister for Defence, and was briefly able to veto the appointment of Pierre Laval as minister of foreign affairs.
Vichy regime
The
In North Africa, he persuaded young officers, tempted to join the
Weygand acquired a reputation as an opponent of collaboration when he protested in Vichy against the Paris Protocols of 28 May 1941, signed by Admiral François Darlan. These agreements authorized the Axis powers to establish bases in French colonies: at Aleppo, Syria; Bizerte, Tunisia; and Dakar, Senegal. The Protocols also envisaged extensive French military collaboration with Axis forces in the event of Allied attacks against such bases. Weygand remained outspoken in his criticism of Germany.[92]
Weygand opposed
Last years
After returning to France, Weygand was held as a
Beirut still holds his name on one of its major streets, Rue Weygand.
Decorations
France:
- Légion d'honneur
- Knight (10 July 191?)
- Officer (10 December 1914)
- Commander (28 December 1918)
- Grand Officer (1 September 1920)
- Grand Cross (6 December 1924)
- Médaille militaire (8 July 1930)
- Croix de Guerre 1914–1918with 3 palms
- Croix de Guerre 1939–1945with 2 palms
- Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures with 1 palm
- Médaille Interalliée de la Victoire
- Médaille Commémorative de la Grande Guerre
Belgium:
- Commander of the Order of the Crown
- Croix de guerre
United States: Distinguished Service Medal
Morocco: Grand Cross of the Ouissam Alaouite Chérifien
United Kingdom:
- Companion of the Order of the Bath
- Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Sweden: Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (1939)[93]
Latvia: Order of Lāčplēsis, 2nd class.[94]
Kingdom of Yugoslavia: Order of the White Eagle[95]
References
- ^ Sources de l'histoire du Proche-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord dans les archives et bibliothèques françaises (in French). 1996. p. 1225.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 3, noting that the birth certificate of that date gives no parental names and that the address was a storehouse.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 4–5.
- ISBN 978-2-87386-301-2.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 5.
- ^ Singer 2008.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 6.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Clayton 2015, p. 12.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 23.
- ^ "100 ans de formation des futurs chefs de la Défense" (PDF). Direction de l'Enseignement Militaire Supérieur (in French). Centre des hautes études militaires. 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 May 2024.
En janvier 1911, débute à Paris, sur le site de l'École militaire, la première session du CHEM... lieutenant-colonel Maxime Weygand (session 1913)
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 11.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 18.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 13, noting deployment in 28 July, war with Germany on 3 August, and promotion to Foch's staff on 17 August.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 17–18, noting Foch's remark: "Ask Weygand, it is the same".
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 21. "At one point he flew with one of France's earliest military avaiators, Marcel-Georges Brindejonc des Moulinais, to make a personal reconnaissance of the battlefield, at the time a novel achievement for a senior staff officer".
- ^ a b Clayton 2015, p. 21.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 26, noting as exception Edward Spears.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, p. 70.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 27–28.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 28–30.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 30.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 31.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 32.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 266.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, p. 171.
- ^ a b Jeffery 2006, pp. 206–11, 219–20.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, p. 173.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, p. 180.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, p. 178.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, pp. 229–231.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, pp. 9, 229–31.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 322.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2005, p. 248.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 335.
- ^ Greenhalgh 2014, p. 362.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 45–46.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 46.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 46–47. "Portrayed a Foch's evil genius[, ] Wilson demanded his removal. Lloyd George noted at meeting Weygand would whisper in Foch's ear... Wilson now claimed that Weygand was using Foch to further his own personal political aims".
- ^ a b c d Davies 2003, p. 222.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 49.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 50.
- OCLC 24085711., also reprinted in: "Generał Weygand o zwycięstwie". Gazeta Polowa. 28 August 1920. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
- ^ a b Clayton 2015, p. 53.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 51.
- ^ Arguing that a university had existed in Damascus since 1919, but that Weygand joined three separate departments into what was then called the Syrian University: Mubayed, Sami (2018). "The founding of Damascus University 1903–1936: an essay in praise of the pioneers". Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. 18: 179–200.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 53–54, noting Sarrail was promptly removed after he shelled Damascus during the Great Syrian Revolt.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 54.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 55, 56–57.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 55–56 (noting the left-wing government's fear of a professional military and opposition to French military adventurism), 57–58 (noting Weygand's article in 1921 "in which he foresaw armoured divisions composed of fast tanks and self-propelled artillery... supported by aircraft strikes" as well as Weygand's doubts over tank speed and reliability in 1926).
- ^ Weygand, Maxime (1921). "La Cavalerie de la « Revue de Cavalerie »". Revue de Cavalerie. 31 (1): 2–9.
La guerre de demain sera plus encore que celle d'hier une guerre de machinisme... Que la cavalerie aille donc vers la machine, convaincue, par ailleurs, que celle-ci n'est pas pour la faire disparaître, mais pour lui donner un supplément de force
[The war of tomorrow will be even more than that of yesterday a war of machinery... Let the cavalry therefore go towards the machine, convinced that this is not to end it, but to strengthen it] - ^ Clayton 2015, p. 58.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 58–59.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 59–60.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 61.
- ^ "Décret portant affectation d'un officier général". Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et décrets (in French). 3 January 1930. p. 101 – via Gallica.
- ^ "Conseil supérieur de la guerre et inspection général de l'armée". Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et décrets (in French). 63 (34): 1776. 10 February 1931 – via Gallica.
- ^ "État-major général de l'armée". Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et décrets (in French). 63 (34): 1776. 10 February 1931 – via Gallica.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 70.
- ^ "Biography of General Maxime Weygand". Generals.dk. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 63–66.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 69.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 67, 70.
- ^ House, Jonathan M (1984). "Toward combined arms warfare: a survey of 20th-century tactics, doctrine, and organization" (PDF). Combat Studies Institute. p. 61.
Chief of Staff Maxime Weygand took significant steps towards motorization and mechanization during the early 1930s... seven infantry divisions became motorized... In 1934, Weygand continued the trend towards armored cavalry by forming the first "light mechanized division" (Division Légère Mèchanique, or DLM...)
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 73.
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 74.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 70–71, noting also on p. 72 that France had by the late 1930s come into a serious population disadvantage vis-à-vis Germany.
- ^ Weygand, Maxime (1937). La France, est-elle défendue?. Flammarion.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 73, 74.
- ^ Clayton 2015, pp. 75–76.
- ISSN 0269-1191.)
Weygand is a controversial figure in French history... De Gaulle's hatred of Weygand was by moments absurd, for example when he criticised the choice of Weygand as generalissimo because he was 'without a drop of French blood in his veins'
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link - ISSN 0269-1191.)
Controversial figure in twentieth-century French history...
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link - ISSN 1947-5020.)
This balance [in the historical record] was destroyed, along with Weygand's reputation, by Charles de Gaulle's hijacking of the liberation of France, by the post-war insistence on trying Weygand as a security risk to the state along with Marshal Pétain, and by de Gaulle's petty refusal in 1965 to permit a funeral mass in the church of Saint Louis des Invalides for the 98-year-old general who had served France faithfully and well.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link - ^ Clayton 2015, p. x. "In the climate of the Liberation, de Gaulle and the Resistance were presented as the only paths of honour, and any senior figure who had served Vichy was considered to have been dishonourable and probably treacherous".
- ^ Clayton 2015, p. 140. "For many [Weygand] made a convenient scapegoat, especially in timeswhen his most bitter critic, de Gaulle, towered of his country's life".
- ISSN 1543-7795.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link - ^ Current Biography 1940, p[page needed]
- ^ Lacouture 1991, pp. 206–7.
- ^ Lacouture 1991, p. 189.
- ^ Lacouture 1991, p. 193.
- ^ Lacouture 1991, pp. 195–6.
- ^ Lacouture 1991, p. 197.
- ^ Lacouture 1991, p. 201.
- ISBN 978-0-141-02926-9– via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b Atkin 1997, pp. 82–6.
- ^ a b Williams 2005, pp. 325–7.
- ISBN 978-0-226-43893-1.[page needed]
- ^ Official Calendar
- OCLC 38884671.
- ^ Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 641.
Bibliography
- Atkin, Nicholas (1997). Pétain. Profiles in Power (1st ed.). London: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-07037-0.
- Bryant, F Russell (1990). "Lord D'Abernon, the Anglo-French Mission, and the Battle of Warsaw, 1920". Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas. 38 (4): 526–547. JSTOR 41052701.
- Clayton, Anthony (2015). General Maxime Weygand, 1867–1965: Fortune and Misfortune. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01585-3.
- Davies, Norman (2003) [1972]. White eagle, red star (New ed.). London: Pimlico. ISBN 978-0-7126-0694-3.
- Greenhalgh, Elizabeth (2005). Victory Through Coalition. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-09629-4.
- Greenhalgh, Elizabeth (2014). The French Army and the First World War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-60568-8.
- Jeffery, Keith (2006). Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: A Political Soldier. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820358-2.
- Lacouture, Jean (1991). De Gaulle: the rebel ; 1890-1944. New York: W W Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-02699-3.
- Marrus, Michael Robert; Paxton, Robert O (2019) [1981]. Vichy France and the Jews [Vichy et les juifs] (2nd ed.). Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-1-5036-0982-2.
- Paxton, Robert O (2001) [1972]. Vichy France: old guard and new order, 1940–1944 (2001 ed.). Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12469-0.
- Singer, Barnett (2008). Maxime Weygand: A Biography of the French General in Two World Wars. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3571-5.
- Williams, Charles (2005). Pétain. London: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-86127-4.
Further reading
Memoirs
- Weygand, Maxime (1953). Idéal vécu. Mémoires (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Flammarion.
- Weygand, Maxime (1957). Mirages et réalites. Mémoires (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Flammarion.
- Weygand, Maxime (1950). Rappellé au service. Mémoires (in French). Vol. 3. Paris: Flammarion.
- Weygand, Maxime (1952). Recalled to service: the memoirs of Maxime Weygand. Translated by Dickes, E W. London: Heinemann. LCCN 52028115.
Polish period
- ISBN 978-0-88355-429-6.
- Wandycz, Piotr S (1 October 2017). "France and the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–1920". The Polish Review. 62 (3): 3–15. ISSN 0032-2970.
- Wandycz, Piotr S (1960). "General Weygand and the Battle of Warsaw of 1920". Journal of Central European Affairs. 19 (4).
Second World War
- Bankwitz, Philip C F (1961). "Maxime Weygand and the Army-Nation Concept in the Modern French Army". French Historical Studies. 2 (2): 157–188. JSTOR 286093.
- Bankwitz, Philip C. F. (1959). "Maxime Weygand and the Fall of France: A Study in Civil-Military Relations". Journal of Modern History. 31 (3): 225–242. JSTOR 1875584.
- Barber, Noel (1976). The week France fell. New York: Stein and Day. ISBN 978-0-8128-1921-2.
- Danan, Yves Maxime (1963). La vie politique à Alger de 1940 à 1944. Bibliothèque de droit public (in French). Vol. 52. Paris: Librairie générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence. ASIN B08ZJFRQ22.
- Destremau, Bernard (1989). Weygand (in French). Paris: Perrin. ISBN 978-2-262-00690-7.
- Kitson, Simon (2005). Vichy et la chasse aux espions nazis, 1940-1942: complexités de la politique de collaboration. Collection Mémoires (in French). Paris: Autrement. ISBN 978-2-7467-0588-3.
- Langer, William (1947). Our Vichy Gample. New York: Alfred Knopf.
- Merglen, Albert (1993). Novembre 1942, la grande honte. Collection Chemins de la mémoire (in French). Paris: Éd. l'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-7384-2036-7.
- Michel, Henri (1966). Vichy: année 40. L'histoire que nous vivons. Paris: Robert Laffont.
External links
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