Adrien Paul Alexandre Chrétien was a French general who participated in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He spent the war commanding the 30th Army Corps at throughout several battles of the Western Front.

Biography

Born in

Auxonne Auxonne ( or ) is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Auxonnais'' or ''Auxonnaises''. Auxonne is one of the sites of the defensive struc ...

, Côte-d'Or on September 12, 1862, he graduated from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1883 as a second lieutenant in the . In 1892, he was a captain in the

3rd Algerian Tirailleurs Regiment Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

. When

broke out, he was a colonel, but from October 19, 1914, he was given the interim command of an infantry brigade. On December 18, 1914, he was appointed brigadier general, then promoted to division general on December 23, 1915. He commanded the 30th Army Corps on January 19, 1916. On January 26, he alerted the high command to the deplorable state of the defenses in the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

. Chrétien was wounded twice, first disfigured by a bullet which hit him in the right ear during the

Tonkin Campaign The Tonkin campaign was an armed conflict fought between June 1883 and April 1886 by the French against, variously, the Vietnamese, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and the Chinese Guangxi and Yunnan armies to occupy Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and ...

, then hit in the knee on September 6, 1914. General Chrétien was made Commander of the Legion of Honor on March 25, 1915. In February 1916, when the Battle of Verdun broke out, he commanded the 30th Army Corps, whose headquarters was located at Fort Souville. He after the war, he retired to Harcourt in 1921. In 1932, he became president of the as well as a member of the .

Personal life

He married Marié à Jeanne Woitier and had one son, Marcel Adrien who was born on February 28, 1898, but was killed in action on August 8, 1918, during World War I as a member of the .Annuaire des contemporains; notices biographiques

Awards

* Legion of Honor, Grand Officer (December 10, 1921) **Commander on March 25, 1915 **Officer on December 30, 1906 **Knight on July 5, 1887 *

Croix de guerre 1914–1918 Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

(1 Palm) * 1914–1918 Inter-Allied Victory medal *

Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal The Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal (french: Médaille commémorative de l'expédition du Tonkin) was awarded to all the French soldiers and sailors who took part in the battles of the Tonkin campaign and the Sino-French War between 1883 and ...

* 1914–1918 Commemorative war medal

Foreign Awards

*: Croix de guerre *: Order of the Crown of Italy, Grand crown and grand cross *:

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross (german: Kriegsverdienstkreuz) was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Meri ...

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

, Knights Companion *

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

: Nichan Iftikhar (July 28, 1900)

References

Bibliography

* ''Annuaire officiel de l'armée française'', Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1897, p. 103 * « Le général Chrétien », in '' Le Pays de France'', no. 171, January 24, 1918, p. 3 * ''Les armées françaises dans la grande guerre'', Imprimerie nationale, 1934 * * G. Douare, ''Verdun sauvé par le général Chrétien et le 30e corps d'armée, 21-25 février 1916'', Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1953, p. 144 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chrétien, Paul 1862 births 1948 deaths French military personnel of World War I People from Côte-d'Or French generals École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Italy) Recipients of the War Merit Cross (Italy) Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium)