Géraud François Gustave Réveilhac (16 February 1851 – 26 February 1937) was a French

général de division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He gained infamy for the Souain corporals affair in 1915 when four

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

s were executed as an example to other troops he commanded who had refused to attack a heavily-defended position on the Western Front. His actions were an inspiration for Humphrey Cobb's novel ''Paths of Glory''; the 1957 film of the same name was made by

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

.Military Directory of 1913 web.genealogie.free.fr
In 1916 he was relieved of front line duty. He was made a commander in the French reserves until the end of the war.

Early life and career

Born on 16 February 1851 in

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, Réveilhac went on to graduate from the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in August 1870, as a sub-lieutenant. He became a prisoner of the

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ns in December the same year, but was released on 8 January the following year. He took part in putting down the uprising in

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in April 1871, garnering praise from his superiors. Réveilhac was subsequently regularly promoted, being sent to

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to command a company in 1889, and was made général de brigade on 21 December 1909 as commanding officer of the 42nd Infantry Brigade. He was preparing for retirement by 1914 when

broke out.

World War I

At the beginning of

, Réveilhac was commanding the 119th Infantry Brigade, part of the 60th Infantry Division, under Général de division Maurice Joppé, whom he replaced on 25 September 1914 as commanding officer of the division. Réveilhac was promoted to acting

on 6 October 1914. ;Souain corporals affair In March 1915, after two attempts to take a strong German position near Souain-Perthes-lès-Hurlus had failed, he ordered the 21st company of the 336th Infantry Regiment to make a bayonet charge against the position. But before the attack began, a preceding French barrage shelled their own side's trenches. Unscathed German machine guns quickly cut down the first wave. The remaining troops in the 21st company then refused to leave their trenches. On hearing this, Réveilhac ordered his divisional artillery to shell them in order to force them to attack. ''Les damnés de la guerre – Les crimes de la justice militaire (1914–1918)'' However, the artillery commander, Colonel Raoul Berube, refused to obey without a written order. Réveilhac did not issue one. After the assault's failure, Réveilhac quickly ordered that 24 men from the infantry units involved should be tried by a war tribunal. Although all of those men were inevitably sentenced to death for failing to obey the order to attack, 20 men were given stays of execution, while four othersall corporalswere executed by firing squad as an example to the entire regiment. One of those shot was Théophile Maupas, an exemplary soldier, who had simply been chosen by lot. ;Relieved of command Réveilhac continued to treat his men with scant regard. In another case he ordered his troops to relaunch an attack, asserting that the percentage of acceptable losses had not been reached for that day. In February 1916, he was relieved of duty and forced by the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

to take three months leave. According to a confidential letter from General Joffre, he "seem dto have arrived at the limit of his physical and intellectual capacity". On his return to active service he was given a command in the reserves for the rest of the war.

Post-war

At the end of the war, General Réveilhac was made Grand Officier of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

."Paris Muckraker"
''

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''. 2 December 1935. He retired to his country estate in

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, and died in his bed on 26 February 1937.

Reputation

Réveilhac's actions in Souain were revealed in 1921 to much scandal, and he was condemned even in the military press. Réveilhac wrote a letter defending his actions, but it was censored by Minister of War

Louis Barthou Jean Louis Barthou (; 25 August 1862 – 9 October 1934) was a French politician of the French Third Republic, Third Republic who served as Prime Minister of France for eight months in 1913. In social policy, his time as prime minister saw the ...

who believed publishing it would only increase the considerable notoriety of the affair. The widow of Théophile Maupas, one of the corporals executed, fought to restore her husband's reputation, and was successful after nineteen years. Humphrey Cobb's 1935 novel ''Paths of Glory'' and

's 1957 film with the same title are partly based on these events.

References

External links

"Géraud-François-Gustave Reveilhac"

École supérieure de guerre École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...