(1872-09-20)20 September 1872 Paris, Third French Republic
Died
18 April 1958(1958-04-18) (aged 85) Paris, Fourth French Republic
Parents
Zéphyrin Auguste Joseph Gamelin (father)
Pauline Adèle Uhrich (mother)
Alma mater
École Spéciale Militaire
Military service
Allegiance
France
Branch/service
French Army
Years of service
1891–1940
Rank
General
Commands
51st Infantry Brigade
Battles/wars
First World War
Great Syrian Revolt
Second World War
Battle of France
Maurice Gustave Gamelin (French pronunciation:[mɔʁisɡystavɡamlɛ̃]; 20 September 1872[1] – 18 April 1958[2]) was a French general. He is remembered for his disastrous command (until 17 May 1940) of the French military during the Battle of France in World War II and his steadfast defence of republican values.
The Commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces at the start of World War II, Gamelin was viewed as a man with significant intellectual ability. He was respected, even in Germany, for his intelligence and "subtle mind", though he was viewed by some German generals as stiff and predictable. Despite this, and his competent service in World War I, his command of the French armies during the critical days of May 1940 proved to be disastrous. Historian and journalist William L. Shirer presented the view that Gamelin used World War I methods to fight World War II, but with less vigor and slower response.[3]
Gamelin served with distinction under Joseph Joffre in World War I. He is often credited with being responsible for devising the outline of the French counter-attack in 1914 which led to victory during the First Battle of the Marne. In 1933 Gamelin rose to command the French Army and oversaw a modernisation and mechanisation programme, including the completion of the Maginot Line defences.
Édouard Daladier supported Gamelin throughout his career, owing to Gamelin's refusal to allow politics to play a part in military planning and promotion, and his commitment to the republican model of government; this was not a trivial matter at a time when Communists on the left and Royalists and Fascists on the right were openly advocating regime change in France.
^Government of the French Republic. "Birth certificate of Gamelin, Maurice Gustave". culture.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 29 September 2020.
^Government of the French Republic. "Death certificate of Gamelin, Maurice Gustave". culture.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 29 September 2020.
^William L. Shirer, The Collapse of the Third Republic, 1969
Maurice Gustave Gamelin (French pronunciation: [mɔʁis ɡystav ɡamlɛ̃]; 20 September 1872 – 18 April 1958) was a French general. He is remembered for his...
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interned Léon Blum, Édouard Daladier, Paul Reynaud, Georges Mandel and MauriceGamelin as political prisoners at the fort. After the Riom Trials, Reynaud...
East Front in 1939 and 1940. Opposing the plan by supreme commander MauriceGamelin to move the best Allied forces into the Low Countries, he was overruled...
Daladier and Paul Reynaud, former commanders-in-chief Maxime Weygand and MauriceGamelin, Charles de Gaulle's elder sister Marie-Agnès Cailliau, right-wing...
by Marshal MauriceGamelin, the commander-in-chief of the French military. The British historian Martin Alexander wrote: "As far as Gamelin was concerned...
no-confidence in the Daladier government. When war was declared in 1939, MauriceGamelin was France's commander in chief, with his headquarters at the Château...
from the Ardennes by a pincer attack. The French commander-in-chief, MauriceGamelin also believed the area to be safe from attack, noting it "never favoured...
agreements with Italy very much alarmed the French who sent out General MauriceGamelin to visit Belgrade in September 1937, followed by the Foreign Minister...
World War II, in part due to the German occupation. In 1940, General MauriceGamelin commanded the French Army, headquartered in Vincennes on the outskirts...
Swedish Armed forces to horse and foot" in 1716 by King Charles XII. MauriceGamelin French Army France 1939 His rank was général d'armée, but his title...
Affairs General Tadeusz Kasprzycki and Commander of the French Army MauriceGamelin. The military convention was army-to-army, not state-to-state, and...
French were invited to fill it. The French Commander in Chief General MauriceGamelin was more than interested in including the Dutch in his continuous front...
military analysis greatly influenced France's hesitation. General MauriceGamelin, for instance, informed the French government that challenging Germany...
The government appeared likely to be restructured, as Daladier and MauriceGamelin (commander-in-chief) were under attack in the aftermath of the Allied...
fight a defensive war, forcing the Germans to come to them. General MauriceGamelin ordered his troops to stop no closer than 1 km (0.62 miles) from the...
Prime Minister Paul Reynaud dismissed his supreme military commander, MauriceGamelin, and replaced him with the 73-year-old Maxime Weygand. He also named...
vulnerable to a pincer attack and destroyed. The French commander-in-chief, MauriceGamelin, also believed the area to be of a limited threat, noting that it "never...
to do so, and resigned. Philippe Pétain was prime minister in 1940. MauriceGamelin commanded the French military during the critical days of May 1940...
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