"Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature The position of Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford was founded in 1918 shortly after the end of the First World War. Ferdinand Foch, or ""Marshal Foch"", was supreme commander of Allied forces from April 1918 onwards. The chair was endowed by an arms trader, Basil Zaharoff, in Foch's honour; he also endowed a post in English Literature at the University of Paris in honour of the British Field Marshal Earl Haig. Zaharoff wanted the University of Paris to have a right of veto over the appointment, but Oxford"
"situation, I am attacking"" English Translation: ""Peoples will stop living when they stop remembering"" English Translation: ""A committee should have an odd number of members, and three is already too many"" Ferdinand Foch Marshal Ferdinand Jean Marie Foch (; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general and military theorist who served as the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. An aggressive, even reckless commander at the First Marne, Flanders, and Artois campaigns of 1914–1916, Foch became the Allied Commander-in-Chief in late March 1918 in the face of the all-out German spring offensive, which pushed"
"Joseph Joffre Marshal Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (; 12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931), was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916. He is best known for regrouping the retreating allied armies to defeat the Germans at the strategically decisive First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. His political position waned after unsuccessful offensives in 1915, the German attack on Verdun in 1916, and the disappointing results of the Anglo-French offensive on the Somme in 1916. At the end"
"January 7, 1934, aged 82. Augustin Dubail Augustin Yvon Edmond Dubail (15 April 1851 – 7 January 1934) was a French Army general. He commanded the First Army and Army Group East during World War I. Augustin Dubail was born in Belfort on April 15, 1851. He graduated from the military school of Saint-Cyr in 1870 and was commissioned an officer in the infantry. During the Franco-Prussian War Dubail fought at Saarbrücken, Spicheren, Borny before being captured at Metz. After the war Dubail served as a professor at Saint-Cyr, as an officer on the border and in Algeria, where in"
"René Fonck Colonel René Paul Fonck (27 March 1894 – 18 June 1953) was a French aviator who ended the First World War as the top ""Allied"" fighter ace, and when all succeeding aerial conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries are also considered, Fonck still holds the title of ""all-time Allied Ace of Aces"". He received confirmation for 75 victories (72 solo and three shared) out of 142 claims. Taking into account his probable claims, Fonck's final tally could conceivably be nearer 100 or above. He was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1918 and later"
"René Fonck Colonel René Paul Fonck (27 March 1894 – 18 June 1953) was a French aviator who ended the First World War as the top ""Allied"" fighter ace, and when all succeeding aerial conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries are also considered, Fonck still holds the title of ""all-time Allied Ace of Aces"". He received confirmation for 75 victories (72 solo and three shared) out of 142 claims. Taking into account his probable claims, Fonck's final tally could conceivably be nearer 100 or above. He was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1918 and later"
"without bearing the official title, then Robert Nivelle and Philippe Pétain. Général Ferdinand Foch was the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Zone under Joseph Joffre in autumn 1914; this role later crystallised into command of French Army Group North, a position which Foch held until December 1916. Subsequently, Foch became Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front with the title Généralissime in 1918 then was designated as « Commandant en Chef des Armées Alliées » (English:Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces) starting 14 May 1918. Foch was promoted to Marshal of France prior the planning of the offensive that led to the"
"1983. Augustin Guillaume Augustin Léon Guillaume (30 July 1895 – 9 March 1983) was a French general. He served in the French Army beginning in 1913, during World War I and World War II. From August 1951 to May 1954, he served as the Resident-General in French Morocco, and was responsible for the deposition and exile of Mohammed V. He ended his career as Chief of the Defence Staff and Chairman of the NATO Chief of Staffs' Committee from 1954–1956. He was born in Guillestre, Hautes-Alpes department, where he retired and served as the town's mayor. He died in Guillestre"
"Augustin Dubail Augustin Yvon Edmond Dubail (15 April 1851 – 7 January 1934) was a French Army general. He commanded the First Army and Army Group East during World War I. Augustin Dubail was born in Belfort on April 15, 1851. He graduated from the military school of Saint-Cyr in 1870 and was commissioned an officer in the infantry. During the Franco-Prussian War Dubail fought at Saarbrücken, Spicheren, Borny before being captured at Metz. After the war Dubail served as a professor at Saint-Cyr, as an officer on the border and in Algeria, where in 1901 he became colonel of"
"Augustin Guillaume Augustin Léon Guillaume (30 July 1895 – 9 March 1983) was a French general. He served in the French Army beginning in 1913, during World War I and World War II. From August 1951 to May 1954, he served as the Resident-General in French Morocco, and was responsible for the deposition and exile of Mohammed V. He ended his career as Chief of the Defence Staff and Chairman of the NATO Chief of Staffs' Committee from 1954–1956. He was born in Guillestre, Hautes-Alpes department, where he retired and served as the town's mayor. He died in Guillestre in"
"Order of battle for the Battle of France The Order of Battle for the Battle of France details the hierarchy of the major combatant forces in the Battle of France in May 1940. The bulk of the forces of the Allies were French, although the United Kingdom (British Expeditionary Force), Netherlands, and Belgium had significant forces in the battle opposing Germany. Supreme Command was held by the French Commander-in-Chief Général d'armée Maurice Gamelin, his deputy Général d'armée Alphonse Joseph Georges was appointed Commander of the North Western Front. The 1st Army Group guarded the north-east frontier of France, ready to"
"168,000 casualties. The battle ended with the French recapturing most of the ground lost to the German Spring Offensive in May 1918. Adolf Hitler, the future Führer of Nazi Germany, earned and was awarded the Iron Cross First Class at Soissons on August 4th 1918. Battle of Soissons (1918) The Battle of Soissons (also known as the Battle of the Soissonnais and of the Ourcq () was a battle during World War I, waged from 18 to 22 July 1918, between the French (with American and British assistance) and German armies. Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Supreme Commander, launched the offensive"
"Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Allied Commander Allied Expeditionary Force. The invasion was to be conducted by the 21st Army Group (General Bernard Montgomery), which would command all Allied troops in France until Eisenhower established his ground forces HQ in France. Lieutenant-General Frederick Morgan, Chief of Staff, Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC) and his staff had been preparing invasion plans since May 1943. Montgomery studied the COSSAC plan and at a conference on 21 January 1944, advocated a landing on a wider front between Quinéville in the west and Cabourg les Bains on the east side of the Orne river."
"Dietrich von Choltitz Dietrich von Choltitz (; 9 November 1894 – 5 November 1966) was a German General who served in the Royal Saxon Army during World War I and the German Army during World War II. He is chiefly remembered for his role as the last commander of Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944, when he disobeyed Adolf Hitler's orders to level the city, but instead surrendered it to Free French forces. He has been called the ""Saviour of Paris"" for preventing its destruction. Choltitz later asserted that his defiance of Hitler's direct order stemmed from its obvious military futility, his"
"Georges Louis Humbert Georges Louis Humbert (8 April 1862 – 1921) was a French general during World War I. He was the son of Émile Siméon Humbert, a gendarme and Nathalie Augustine Eulalie Breton. He participated in the Tonkin Campaign (1885–1887), the Second Madagascar expedition (1895–1896) and the Tunisia Expedition of 1906.<br> On 23 June 1907, he became Colonel of the 96th Infantery Regiment and on 23 March 1912 General of the 56th Infantry Brigade. In World War I, he led the ""Division marocaine"" during the Battle of the Marshes of Saint-Gond, as part of the First Battle of the"
"and was buried in Rue. In June 2003, amid pomp and ceremony, a bridge was named for him in Innsbruck. Antoine Béthouart Marie Émile Antoine Béthouart (17 December 1889 – 17 October 1982) was a French Army general who served during World War I and World War II. Born in Dole, Jura in the Jura Mountains, Béthouart graduated from Saint-Cyr military academy and served as a platoon leader in the 159th Alpine Infantry Regiment during World War I. After the First World War, he served as an advisor to the Royal Yugoslav Army and was named an instructor at the"
"Stanisław Maczek General Stanisław Maczek (; 31 March 1892 – 11 December 1994) was a Polish tank commander of World War II, whose division was instrumental in the Allied liberation of France, closing the Falaise pocket, resulting in the destruction of 14 German Wehrmacht and SS divisions. A veteran of World War I, the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish–Soviet Wars, Maczek was the commander of Poland's only major armoured formation during the September 1939 campaign, and later commanded a Polish armoured formation in France in 1940. He was the commander of the famous 1st Polish Armoured Division, and later of the I"
"Armistice of 11 November 1918. Following the armistice, Marshal Ferdinand Foch was elevated to the digniity of the Marshal of Great Britain and Poland. Chief of the Defence Staff (France) The Chief of the General Staff of the Armies () (acronym: C.E.M.A.) is the chief () of the general staff headquarters () of the Armies () of France and leading senior military officer responsible for usage of the French Armed Forces, ensuring the commandment of all military operations (under reserve of the particular dispositions relative to nuclear deterrence). C.E.M.A. is currently held by Général François Lecointre. The Chef d'État-Major des"
"later renamed to Eighth Army. Between 31 March and 31 December 1916 he was in charge of the First Army, after which he returned to the Eighth Army for the rest of the war. He commanded the eighth Army for an initial period during Allied occupation of the Rhineland until he retired on 21 October 1919. During this period he supported the separatist movement and advocated the formation of a independent Pfalz republic. Master of the Grand Orient de France in 1921 and 1922. He died in 1926 and was buried in Les Invalides in Paris. Augustin Gérard Augustin Gérard"
"was allowed for in the constitution, the Japanese army did not operate a General Headquarters during the war. After April 1918 all Allied troops on the Western Front were placed under the command of the , a multi-national general staff that developed from the Supreme War Council. The GQGA was on similar lines to the GQG and came under General Ferdinand Foch, who had overall command of all Allied troops. Grand Quartier Général (1914–1919) The ' (abbreviated to GQG or ' in spoken French) was the general headquarters of the French Army during the First World War. It served as"
"Henri Gouraud (general) Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud (17 November 1867 – 16 September 1946) was a French general, best known for his leadership of the French Fourth Army at the end of the First World War. Henri Gouraud was born on Rue de Grenelle in Paris on 17 November 1867 to Doctor Xavier Gouraud and Mary Portal, the first of six children. The Gouraud family originally came from Vendée, but had left during the French Revolution for Angers, then Paris. Gouraud was educated at home and at the Collège Stanislas de Paris. His decision for a military career was, like"
"great emphasis on aggression and close quarter tactics. In August 1914, the French Armed Forces numbered soldiers. During the Great War the French Armed Forces reached a size of soldiers, of which about 300,000 came from the colonies. During the war around 1,397,000 French soldiers were killed in action, mostly on the Western Front. It was the most deadly conflict in French history. The main generals were: Joseph Joffre, Ferdinand Foch, Charles Mangin, Philippe Pétain, Robert Nivelle, Franchet d'Esperey and Maurice Sarrail (See French Army in World War I). At the beginning of the war, the French Army was wearing"
"on 9 June 1918. He remained in the army however and was made a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur on 16 June 1920. He retired in 1924 as head of the III Corps. Denis Auguste Duchêne Denis Auguste Duchene (23 September 1862 - 9 June 1950) was a French World War I general. He was born on 23 September 1862 at Juzennecourt, Haute-Marne and died on 9 June 1950 at Bihorel, Seine-Inférieure. He was promoted General de Brigade (brigadier-general) on 27 October 1914, then acting General de Division (equivalent to the Anglophone rank of major-general) on 12 March 1915"
"in honour of General Allard. Jean Victor Allard General Jean Victor Allard & Two Bars, ED, CD (12 June 1913 – 23 April 1996) was the first French Canadian to become Chief of the Defence Staff, the highest position in the Canadian Forces, from 1966–1969. He was also the first to hold the accompanying rank of general. Allard was the only boy of seven children. His sisters were Anaïs, Judith, Thérèse, Marie, Irène and Madeleine. When he was seven years old, he and his sisters became orphans. He proposed to his future wife, Simone Piché, on 11 November, and was"
"in the Invalides. His son Guy (1908-1972) became also a General. Antoine Baucheron de Boissoudy Antoine Baucheron de Boissoudy (Cherbourg, France, 12 October 1864 – Paris, 17 March 1926) was a French General in the First World War. He was the son of Admiral Philippe Baucheron de Boissoudy and studied at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and the École supérieure de guerre. At the start of the First World War, he was Chief of Staff of the XXI Army Corps with which he fought in the Battle of the Frontiers. On 3 March 1915, he became Chief of Staff"
"Victor Cordonnier Victor Louis Émilien Cordonnier (23 March 1858, Surgy, France – 1936) served France during World War I as a general and was called """"one of France's finest generals"""" by Geoffrey Blainey. After finishing in the military academy of St. Cyr in 1879, he was assigned as a sub-lieutenant in the infantry. He graduated from the École de Guerre eight years later. He alternated between staff and regimental service, serving in Algeria and the Alps. In 1905, he was chosen to be an instructor at École de Guerre, after serving as director of studies and commander of the cadet"
"also elected member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques in 1974. Fernand Gambiez Fernand Gambiez (27 February 1903 – 29 March 1989) was a French Army general and military historian, he fought in World War II, First Indochina War and Algerian War, during the Algerian War he was commander-in-chief of the French Army in Algeria. Gambiez was born in Lille, graduated from Saint Cyr in 1925. He served with the Foreign Legion in Morocco before studying at the Superior War School in 1935. He was a captain in command of a company during the Battle of France. He"
"Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière, also Count de Lariboisière, was a general of artillery of the First French Empire. He fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and died of fatigue at Königsberg in East Prussia on 21 December 1812, during the Grand Army's retreat from Moscow. A superb organizer and tactician, Baston de Lariboisière rose rapidly through the artillery ranks and reliably directed the artillery park for the initial engagements of the War of the First Coalition in 1793–1794. He also directed the investment and, if necessary, the sieges of Mainz,"
"Raoul Salan Raoul Albin Louis Salan (; 10 June 1899 – 3 July 1984) was a French Army general. He served as the fourth French commanding general during the First Indochina War. He was one of four generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation. He was the founder of the Organisation armée secrète. He was the most decorated soldier in the French Army. Salan was born on 10 June 1899 in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He graduated from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr. He served in the French Army during World War I. Salan served as the commander of French"
"and Chevalier grades on October 8, 1813. Eight days later he was taken prisoner in Leizpeg. He returned to France in September 1814 and was assigned to the 13th Régiment Infanterie Légère where he served until he was dismissed following Napoleon's abdication in 1815. Conrad returned to military service in 1816 serving in both the Upper and Lower Rhine as an adjutant. Joseph Conrad (French colonel) Joseph Conrad (December 8, 1788 – June 2, 1837) was a French Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and in the French Foreign Legion serving in Algeria and Spain during the First"
"War, he moved to his hometown Metz again and died here in 1925. He was buried at Les Invalides. On 20 July 1920 he had become Grand officer of the Légion d'honneur. Henri Putz Henri Gabriel Putz (Metz, 26 January 1859 – Metz, 22 February 1925) was a French Army general during World War I. He was born in Metz in 1859 as the son of military Jean-Baptiste Henry Putz (1824–1903), who became Brigade General in 1881 and Commander of the Légion d'honneur. When Metz became German after the Franco-German War, the Putz family applied for French citizenship. Despite they"
"Jean César Graziani Jean César Graziani (; Bastia, Corsica, 15 November 1859 – Paris, 8 February 1932) was a French Army general during World War I. He started his studies at the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in October 1878. He participated in the Algerian and Tunisian campaigns and by 1909 commanded the 96th Infantry Regiment.<br> In 1912 he became director of the Infantry at the Ministry of Defence. On 29 January 1913, by now a Brigadier General, he became head of the cabinet of the Minister of Defence. One month after the outbreak of World War I, he became"
"""La Pacification de Mauritanie. Journal des marches et opérations de la colonne de l'Adrar"", 1910 ; ""Souvenirs d'un Africain, Au Soudan"", 1939 ; ""Zinder-Tchad. Souvenirs d'un Africain"", 1944 ; ""Mauritanie-Adrar"", 1945 ; ""Au Maroc"", 1946 Henri Gouraud (general) Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud (17 November 1867 – 16 September 1946) was a French general, best known for his leadership of the French Fourth Army at the end of the First World War. Henri Gouraud was born on Rue de Grenelle in Paris on 17 November 1867 to Doctor Xavier Gouraud and Mary Portal, the first of six children. The Gouraud family"